The Upper Register Blog

II. The broader context

Having looked at the immediate context, we now move to the broader context. There are three examples in the NT (two in Paul) where the cognate verb “to obey” (ὑπακούω) is used in reference to “obeying the gospel” or “the faith” (quotes from NASB): 

Rom 10:16:  “However, they did not all obey the gospel; for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’” Note the parallelism of the two verbs - ”obey” in the first half of the verse is replaced by “believed” in the second.

2 Thess 1:8:  “… dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

Acts 6:7: “And a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.“ 

Looking at how the cognate verb is used is very important when trying to decipher ambiguous nouns in genitival phrases. The same thing applies, for example, to the debate over the phrase “the faith of Jesus Christ” (the pistis Christou debate). There are no examples where Paul uses the cognate verb, “to believe” with Jesus or Christ as the subject of the verb. There are plenty of examples where he uses it with Jesus or Christ as the object of the verb. Therefore, the genitival phrase is probably shorthand for “faith in Jesus Christ” (objective genitive), not “the faith or faithfulness of Jesus Christ” (subjective genitive).

(Moises Silva and others have made this point, and quite decisively in my view; those who persist in holding to the subjective genitive do so primarily because of its perceived theological attractions. Richard Hays and others like the subjective genitive view because of their Barthian soteriology in which salvation is so totally objective that it does not even require the human response of faith but rests totally on “the faith(fulness) of Christ.” Needless to say, such a view is plainly contradicted by the New Testament, which clearly teaches that a human response of faith is essential. Synergism is avoided since faith itself is a gift of God. But the Barthian attraction to “the faith(fulness) of Christ” goes beyond a fear of synergism and stems from a desire to say that all are saved/elect in Christ, even if they don’t consciously know it yet.)

Back to my point about the methodology of interpreting genitives. Silva uses transformative grammar to take the implicit verbal idea in the head-noun and translate it into a sentence, then to test for parallels where that sentence is used. The same methodology ought to be applied in this case. There are no cases that I know of where Paul speaks of “obedience stemming or flowing from faith.” He does, however, speak of being “obedient to the gospel” or being “obedient/disobedient,” where the context has to do with faith or unbelief. Many of these passages are in Romans itself (Rom 10:3 [”submitting to the righteousness of God”], 16, 21; 11:30-32; 15:18, 31), a salient fact that has obvious bearing on how we ought to take “the obedience of faith” in Rom 1:5; 16:26.  

A look at an even broader context is also in order, focusing specifically on the lexical semantics of the word “obedience” in the New Testament. There are very few, if any, examples where the noun or verb for ”obedience” is used in the NT in reference to the obedient, righteous life required of Christians. The words for “obedience” are typically used with the connotation of “surrender, yielding, submitting” in response to a specific command issued by an authority figure. Jesus’ one act of righteousness was his act of surrending himself in obedience to the Father’s will by going to the cross (Phil 2:8; Rom 5:19; Heb 5:9). Paul wants the Corinthians to submit to and comply with his apostolic authority (2 Cor 7:15; 10:6). He is confident that Philemon will comply with his directives in his letter (Phm 21). But he warns the Thessalonian Christians that anyone who does not obey his instructions will be socially ostracized (2 Thess 3:14). Children must obey their parents (Eph 6:1). Slaves must obey their masters when they issue directives (Eph 6:5). The demons and the forces of nature obeyed Jesus when he commanded them (Mk 1:27; 4:41). Abraham obeyed God when he told him to leave his homeland and go to the land of promise (Heb 11:8). Thus, it makes sense to take “the obedience of faith” as the act of yielding and submitting to the directive of God in the gospel to believe in his Son.

I said there are ”very few” examples of the words for “obedience” being used in the NT in a more general sense of living a life characterized by righteousness and obedience to the moral will of God. The main possible exception is Rom 6:16:  “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness” (NASB). Paul clearly has the general life of obedience in view here. However, note that he distinguishes between “obedience” and “righteousness.” He says that “obedience results in righteousness,” which seems to support my contention that “obedience” has the nuance of “yielding or submitting,” rather than being equivalent to the behavior that is in conformity with the moral will of God (for which the term “righteousness” is better suited).

Finally, there are numerous passages in both Paul and the rest of the NT which speak of unbelief or rejecting the gospel as “disobedience” (Acts 14:2; Rom 10:21; 11:30-32; 15:31; Heb 3:18-19; 4:6, 11; 11:31; 1 Pet 2:8; 3:1, 20; 4:17). If rejecting the gospel is a form of ”disobedience,” then it makes sense that accepting the gospel would be called a form of “obedience.” Of course, by calling it “the obedience of faith” Paul is making it clear that faith isn’t merely an intellectual assent but includes a volitional element as well, a deep-seated, heart-felt commitment to and trust in Christ. Theologically, it is true that this faith-commitment will inevitably bring forth the fruit of moral living and good works, but now we are getting into the realm of biblical and systematic theology, and we cannot base this on the phrase “the obedience of faith.”

So, while I do not have a theological objection to Mounce’s interpretation, I think that the context (both near and broad) supports the epexegetical interpretation of Rom 1:5: ”the obedience which consists in faith.”  

Bill Mounce wrote a post last week on the new Zondervan Koinonia blog on the meaning of the phrase ὑπακοὴ πίστεως (”the obedience of faith,” Rom 1:5; 16:26). He argued (rightly) that Greek grammar can only take us so far. It can show us the interpretive possibilities, but only context can help us determine which one is right. He described the two most viable possibilities of the meaning of the genitive as follows: 

1. “Obedience, that is, faith.” Paul could be saying that the purpose of his apostolic ministry is to bring the Gentiles to the point of faith (as opposed to works); this faith is the obedience for which the gospel calls. In grammar this is categorized as an epexegetical genitive, where the word in the genitive is explaining (“exegeting”) its head noun.

2. “Obedience that stems from faith.” This is the idea that once a person comes to faith in Jesus, their lives will start to change and move from disobedience to obedience, putting off the old and putting on the new. This would be a source or subjective genitive.

Mounce then argued that both are right. He made the legitimate point that we should not think of Greek grammar “as an apple pie cut into a set number of pieces,” but rather we should think of it “as more on a continuuum.” The result is that the “use of a case in any one place may sit squarely on the cut between the two pieces of pie.”

I’m willing to grant that this is possible. What is interesting is that Mounce had earlier said that context alone can decide among the competing options, but proceeded to ignore his own (wise) counsel. He did not discuss the context but merely appealed to a broader theological truth:

Is it possible to experience God’s cleansing sent to us through faith without our hearts being changed? Of course not. In the New Covenant our old heart is removed and a new softer, pliable heart of flesh is put in its place. But if our heart is changed, is it possible for our lives also not to change? Of course not. Changed people live in a changed way. This is why judgment (outside of John) is always done on the basis of our lives (i.e., works). Our changed lives of obedience show the reality of the heart changed through faith.

I agree with this theological truth. Justification and sanctification are to be distinguished but cannot be separated, since both flow from union with Christ. The Westminster Confession says it well: “Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love” (WCF XI:2). 

The question is:  Is this what Paul had in mind when he used the phrase “the obedience of faith”? In my view, the context better supports Mounce’s option 1, “obedience, that is, faith.”

I. The narrow context

It is important to note that Rom 1:5 is part of the letter frame (Rom 1:1-15; 15:14-33) that surrounds the letter body (Rom 1:16–15:13). Here is an abbreviated summary of the structure of Romans:

I. 1:1-15  Letter Frame:  Paul’s missionary devotion to the Gospel
II. 1:16-11:36  Letter Body, Pt. 1: Teaching the Gospel to the CR
III. 12:1-15:13  Letter Body, Pt. 2: Practical Instructions for the CR
IV. 15:14-33  Letter Frame:  Paul’s missionary devotion to the Gospel
V. 16:1-27  Appendix:  Recommendation, Greetings & Doxology

(CR = The Christians in Rome)

The letter frame focuses on Paul’s missionary devotion to the Gospel, and, in particular, on his role as an apostle to the Gentiles.  In Rom 1:5 he says that through Christ he “received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles.” Paul is primarily thinking about the fact that he was called to bring the gospel to the Gentiles so that they might become converted. The missionary context of Paul’s statement here brings to the fore the idea of coming to faith in Christ as the way one obeys or submits to the gospel.

This interpretation is supported by a parallel statement in the second half of his letter frame (Rom 15:14-33). Having concluded the letter body, Paul returns to reflect on his role as ”a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles” (v 16). He says, “I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience (εἰς ὑπακοήν - N.B.: same prepositional phrase used in 1:5) of the Gentiles, by word and deed … so that I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (vv 18-19, NASB). The fact that he is talking about his missionary work is reinforced by his statement in the next verse that he aspired to preach the gospel only where Christ was not already named (v 20). “The obedience of the Gentiles” in Rom 15:18 most likely refers to their submission to the gospel, i.e., their conversion, not their subsequent life of obedience to God’s moral will.

In both 1:5 and 15:18, the “obedience” that is in view is the obedience “among (or of) the Gentiles.” This suggests that he has in mind the conversion process that involves moving out of the status of “Gentiles” (those outside of the covenant and without God in the world) into the status of “saints.” In a very real sense, “saints” who came from a pagan background are no longer “Gentiles.” Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians 12:2, when, looking back on the former pagan life of the Corinthian Christians, he says “When you were Gentiles (ἔθνη), you were led astray to mute idols.”

One last point. You might think that Rom 15:18 is not part of the narrow, immediate context of Rom 1:5. But consider two facts:  (1) The same prepositional phrase, “resulting in the obedience” (εἰς ὑπακοήν), occurs in these two verses (and in 16:26), and (2) they both occur in the letter frame which is about Paul’s missionary task of preaching Christ among the Gentiles with a view to their coming to faith.

In my next post I’ll look at the broader context, namely, the pervasive use of “obedience/disobedience” language in Paul and other NT writers to refer to “submitting to the Gospel by believing it” (or, “not submitting to the Gospel by failing to believe it”).