by Steve Wolfgang<\/p>\n
The relationship between grace and the human response through the obedience of faith (see the bookended inclusio of Romans 1:5 and 16:25) has been true even in the Old Testament, often erroneously viewed as a primitive, works-based covenant. But, truly, even the Mosaic law itself, as well as the Abrahamic covenant, were fundamentally expressions of faith in accepting and receiving the gifts of God’s grace:<\/p>\n
“The promise to Abraham was effective because he believed it and acted upon it, continuing to do so long after it had become humanly impossible. The exodus was promised by God, but it would not have happened if the Israelites had not responded to the leading of Moses, and even then some of them did so reluctantly. The same people received the promise of the land, but because their faith and obedience failed at the crucial point, they never received it and perished in the wilderness. And so it goes on all the way through scripture. The promise comes as the initiative of God’s grace and always depends on his grace. But that grace has to be accepted and responded to by faith and obedience.”
\n[Christopher J.H. Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), p. 68, LOGOS edition].<\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Steve Wolfgang The relationship between grace and the human response through the obedience of faith (see the bookended inclusio of Romans 1:5 and 16:25) has been true even in the Old Testament, often erroneously viewed as a primitive, works-based covenant. But, truly, even the Mosaic law itself, as well as the Abrahamic covenant, were…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,54],"class_list":["post-87261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-grace","tag-obedience"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91555,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-baptism-a-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":87261,"position":0},"title":"Is Baptism a Work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Vicky Buckwalter It is not uncommon to hear some insist that baptism is not a work. Yet I fear that, in responding to criticism from denominational voices who accuse the Lord's church of legalism, we have grown hesitant to admit that baptism is indeed a work-specifically, a work authorized\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":83018,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/mercy-and-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":87261,"position":1},"title":"Mercy and Grace","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Are mercy and grace the same? As with many things, metonymy can combine multiple things under a single word (i.e., faith often includes obedience and being saved by grace). Even with that example, faith and works are distinguishable. Faith is inward first (like mercy), being trust, and\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":64704,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/grace-and-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":87261,"position":2},"title":"Grace and Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38682,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-redemption-in-christ-an-examination-of-romans-319-521\/","url_meta":{"origin":87261,"position":3},"title":"The Redemption in Christ: An Examination of Romans 3:19-5:21","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sean P. Cavender Paul indicted all people, both Jew and Gentile, as guilty of sin before God (Romans 3:19). It is due to man's ungodliness that the wrath of God is revealed, and He will judge all sin as worthy of death (Romans 1:18,32). The reality of sin is\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":58371,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-obedience-of-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":87261,"position":4},"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":63406,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/roles-in-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":87261,"position":5},"title":"Roles in Salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are many misleading claims in the denominations regarding salvation \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Most of the misconceptions come because people only look at some of the verses regarding salvation. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They find verses which says we are saved by God\u2019s grace and then trumpet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87261","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=87261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}