Obedience

 If the Law is a manifestation of the will of God, the partner who dictates the covenant, obedience to all of God's commands becomes the expression of the desire of the believer, who loves his or her God and finds joy in doing God’s will. The formula used in Exodus 24:7 to indicate the people of Israel's acceptance of God's will as expressed in the Law is significant: "All that the Lord has said, we will do and we will heed." Here praxis, or putting the word into practice, comes before listening to the word, as if to suggest that the fundamental assent Israel offers God is more important than a specification of the contents of each single command. This text also means that it is only when we put the Word into practice - in other words, when we obey it concretely - that we truly understand it. This grounding of obedience within the covenant, a relationship in which the believer listens to his or her God, sets the tone for Christian obedience as well. In the New Testament listening, intended in the sense of perception of God's will, is fully realized only when a person obeys God's will in faith and through his or her actions. The fulfillment of listening (akoúein/audire) is obedience (hypakoúein/obaudire) - that form of obedience that consists in believing. Paul speaks several times of the "obedience of faith," by which he means to say that faith takes the form of obedience, and that obedience reveals one’s faith. The proprium of Christian obedience, however, is found in Christ's own obedience. The three most significant texts that speak of Christ's obedience (Romans 5:19: "through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous"; Philippians 2:8: "(Christ) humbled himself, becoming obedient to death"; Hebrews 5:8: "(Christ) learned obedience from what he suffered") form a synthesis of the life, mystery and saving work of Jesus, describing Jesus' life and death as a form of obedience.