Hey Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
I have a problem understanding the nature of obedience to God’s laws. I read and hear that obedience is required for salvation, but no man (besides Jesus) has obeyed perfectly, so please help me understand the nature of the obedience required to please God and enter His eternal abode. Is part of that obedience doing what’s necessary when I sin (confess and repent)? How much obedience is what the Lord demands of me? I desire to please God and walk in His ways. I’m just weak in my understanding of obedience. How can I make sure I’m totally forgiven before the Lord?<\/p>\n\t
You are actually asking about the difference between justice and mercy. When a person breaks the law, justice demands that the lawbreaker be punished, but mercy overrides judgment. “For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment<\/i>” (James 2:11-13). “Mercy” means giving less than what was deserved. “The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust<\/i>” (Psalms 103:6-14).<\/p>\n
The law demands obedience to the law. How much obedience is demanded? Complete obedience. But none of us are able to keep the law perfectly. While God does not want us to break the law, He is merciful and will forgive us, if we leave our sin and admit that we were wrong (II Corinthians 7:10-11; I John 1:8-2:1).<\/p>\n
How do you know if you are forgiven? We keep reading in I John: “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked<\/em>” (I John 2:3-6). If we obey God as best we know how then we know that God is with us. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin<\/em>” (I John 1:6-7).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hey Jeffrey, I have a problem understanding the nature of obedience to God’s laws. I read and hear that obedience is required for salvation, but no man (besides Jesus) has obeyed perfectly, so please help me understand the nature of the obedience required to please God and enter His eternal abode. Is part of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1571,523,519,54],"class_list":["post-54520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-forgiveness","tag-justice","tag-mercy","tag-obedience"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15058,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-believe-that-the-only-way-to-heaven-is-by-accepting-jesus-as-your-savior-and-not-by-good-deeds-or-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":54520,"position":0},"title":"Do you believe that the only way to heaven is by accepting Jesus as your Savior and not by good deeds or grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the church of Christ believe that the only way to heaven is through the Lord Jesus Christ, by accepting Him as your Savior and not by good deeds or grace? Thanks. Answer: \"If you love Me, keep My commandments\" (John 14:15). You cannot claim to accept the Lord\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58371,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-obedience-of-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":54520,"position":1},"title":"The Obedience of Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve Dewhirst via Gospel Power, Vol. 12, No. 17, April 24, 2005. How odd, that one of the Bible's most fundamental teachings should have become so puzzling to folks. God is not the author of confusion, but man is. And during the centuries since Jesus walked the earth, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59413,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-scheme-of-redemption-in-perfection-and-presentation\/","url_meta":{"origin":54520,"position":2},"title":"The Scheme of Redemption in Perfection and Presentation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Vinson via\u00a0The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 12, October 1952. In the survey thus far of the development of God's purposed and planned redemption of man from sin, we have reached the point wherein the promised Messiah has come in fulfillment of Divine prophecy. While here on earth, prior\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37861,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-and-the-concept-of-patterns\/","url_meta":{"origin":54520,"position":3},"title":"God and the Concept of Patterns","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer The nature of typology shows that God is a God of patterns. Without even going through a process of trying to \"establish\" authority, God shows through His overall record that He is a God of patterns. This is evident right from the beginning when God made a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65424,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/obeying-god-in-everything\/","url_meta":{"origin":54520,"position":4},"title":"Obeying God in Everything","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong \"Legalist?\" \"Legalism?\" Is it wrong and sinful to attempt to obey God in everything? Is it wrong to attempt to keep all the teachings and doctrines of Jesus? Is it sinful to strive to never sin? Can one strive for such things and yet not rely on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58392,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/obeying-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":54520,"position":5},"title":"Obeying the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 58, No. 8, Feb. 20, 2009. Question: How can one talk about \"obeying the Lord\" in the light of what is said in\u00a0Titus 3:5\u00a0and\u00a0Ephesians 2:8? Answer: First, let us notice what these two passages say: \"Not by works done in righteousness, which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}