This note’s title should raise your spiritual antennae. Does the title suggest that our obedience is the basis—the ground and source—of salvation? No, absolutely not! The title refers to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ complete righteousness under law made Him the only human with the right to enter God’s presence. Along with the perfection of His complete sinlessness, He was also “made perfect” by suffering (Hebrews 2:10; 7:28). That is, His suffering made Him fully qualified to be our Sacrifice and our Mediator. Where the first Adam had introduced death into the world, the Second Adam brought life.
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one Man’s obedience the many will be made righteous (Romans 5:19).
Where the first Adam hid in shame, the Second Adam confidently presented His perfect obedience to the Father. He even had the right to exchange places with us. He put on the filthy, leprous rags of our sins, which infected Him through and through.
- He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree… (1 Peter 2:24a).
- For our sake [God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin… (2 Corinthians 5:21a).
Then, having paid the penalty and removed all sin, He clothed us with His own righteousness.
- …that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24b).
- …so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21b).
Jesus’s perfect work is the basis for our justification. He “became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
- He alone had perfect faith and godly fear (Hebrews 5:7; 12:2).
- He alone did the work of living righteously on earth (Hebrews 3:2; 4:15).
- He alone accomplished the once-for-all work of atonement (Hebrews 7:27; 10:10; John 19:30;).
- He alone served as the Mediator between heaven and earth (1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:1-2).
- He alone received “all authority” in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:20-22).
Salvation’s basis is neither the human nor the human’s response. Justification is granted and declared only by the Judge Himself who affirms, “I, I am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). As the sole Savior, God came down to rescue us. That explains the incarnation of Jesus Christ and His exclusive claims (John 6:35; 8:12, 24; 11:25; 14:6). Acts 4 simply repeats the truth of Isaiah 43 by saying,
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
We are not saved in the name of “Faith” or in the name of “Confession” or in the name of “Baptism.” Biblically understood, these are not the source of salvation. Just as God’s kingdom is not “from” this world (John 18:36), so salvation is not “from” ourselves—not from anything we think or do. (The Greek term ek, translated “from,” is used in John 18:36, Ephesians 2:8 and Titus 3:5). Nothing in us can be the ground of salvation because nothing in us measures up to God’s perfect standard.
As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God…. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:10-11, 18).
Sin taints every human experience. We do not “understand” and “seek” as we ought. We may think we respect God. In truth, we recognize so little of God’s glory that, compared with what is due to Him, we have “no fear of God.” Thus, even our faith is far from flawless. We all cry out with the distraught father, “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Our deeds have the same unworthy character.
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment (Isaiah 64:6).
Try cleaning a window with a dirty rag. We are just as effective at saving ourselves. We smear filth on all that we touch. The very imperfection of our response makes it impossible for that response to become our savior.
The only human who achieved perfection in faith and works was Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:13; 4:15; 5:7-9; 7:28; 1 Peter 2:23). His perfection qualified Him to be the faultless Lamb of God, the sacrifice that removed sins “once for all” from God’s sight (John 1:29; Hebrews 7:27; 10:10; 1 Peter 1:18-19). When we acknowledge Jesus and His completed work as the sole source of justification, we are ready to consider the means, that is, the response He requires for receiving His free gift. That response is His to set. As the reigning King with “all authority,” He alone determines how we enter His kingdom. As the “one Mediator,” He alone sets the terms for initiation into His New Covenant. His sovereign choice for our response includes obedience. Notice the deliberate link between His obedience and ours.
Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Hebrews 5:8-9).
We are to reflect Him, and that begins in the manner of receiving salvation. Jesus’ obedience caused Him to enter death. “Being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Correspondingly, He designs our initial obedience to enter death with Him. We become “united with Him in a death like His” (Romans 6:5).
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4).
As Jesus trusted in His Father to save Him (Hebrews 5:7), so He requires trust from us. As His faith was submissive, so He requires our faith to submit. We should obey whether we understand all His reasons or not. But Romans makes the divine reasoning clear. Romans 5 plainly states the basis of salvation: God’s love and Christ’s death and resurrection.
God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life (Romans 5:8, 10).
Then Romans 6 reminds the believers how they “all” entered that saving death in order to share resurrection to “newness of life.” The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). That Gospel is to be believed and obeyed (2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17).
Though our part is tiny and without merit, it is still necessary. Without the response, there is no access to the justification grounded in the work of Christ. The beggar must open his hand to receive. We too must respond as our King directs. We cannot divide Christ, welcoming the half called “Savior” while rejecting the half called “Lord.” Too many avoid obedient action, thus bypassing entrance into Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able (Luke 13:24).
Jesus alone is the source of salvation (Acts 4:12), and He requires faith that actively obeys—“Strive to enter!” That is the kind of faith that truly expresses the greatest confession of all: “Jesus is Lord!”