Revell, 1981), 3:124.
Jesus Explains His Gospel
Peitho m and pisteuo m, "to trust," are closely related etymologically; the difference in meaning is that the former implies the obedience that is produced by the latter, cp. Heb. 3:18, 19, where the disobedience of the Israelites is said to be the evidence of their unbelief. . . . When a man obeys God he gives the only possible evidence that in his heart he believes God. . . . Peitho m in N.T. suggests an actual and outward result of the inward persuasion and consequent faith.12
So the person who has believed will yearn to obey. Because we retain the vestiges of sinful flesh, no one will obey perfectly (cf. 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thess. 3:10), but the desire to do the will of God will be ever present in true believers (cf. Rom. 7:18).13 That is why faith and obedience are so closely linked throughout Scripture.
A concept of faith not producing surrender of the will corrupts the message of salvation. Paul spoke of the gospel as something to be obeyed (Rom. 10:16 KJV; 2 Thess. 1:8). Here is how he characterized conversion: "Though you were the slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart" (Rom. 6:17). The result he sought in his ministry of evangelism was "obedience . . . by word and deed" (15:18). And he wrote repeatedly of "the obedience of faith" (1:5; 16:26).
Clearly, the biblical concept of faith is inseparable from obedience. "Believe" is treated as if it were synonymous with "obey" in John 3:36: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life." Acts 6:7 shows how salvation was understood in the early church: "A great many . . . were becoming obedient to the faith." Obedience is so closely related to saving faith that Hebrews 5:9 uses it as a synonym: "Having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." Hebrews 11, the great treatise on faith, presents obedience and faith as inseparable: "By faith . . . Abraham . . . obeyed" (v. 8) — and not just Abraham. All the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 showed their faith by obedience.
Obedience is the inevitable manifestation of true faith. Paul recognized this when he wrote to Titus about "those who are defiled and unbelieving. . . . They profess to know God but by their deeds they deny Him" (Titus
12. W. E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1981), 3:124.
13. Romans 7 is the classic text describing the believer's struggle with his sinful fl esh. Note that while Paul acknowledged his own disobedience, he wrote that the desire to do good was his consuming passion: "I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate" (v. 15); "Th e wishing [to do good] is present in me" (v. 18); "I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man" (v. 22); and "I myself with my mind am serving the law of God" (v. 25).
Although the apostle Paul described himself as the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), those who love reveling in debauchery will not fi nd a kindred spirit in him.