Acts 6:7
And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Tag: Obedience to the Faith
There are two aspects of this verse that are important. The first is the fact that this verse follows the story of the Apostles feeding and caring for the widows, a people group often rejected in this society. The Apostles recognized the need to care for the physical needs of the world around them.
They met the physical needs, but that emphasis didn't prevent the teaching of the Word. In fact, when they met needs, religious leaders came to Christ. Grace and mercy in our lives demonstrated to those in need will explode the gospel.
This brings us to the other key thought in the above verse. Notice that as the writer explains that religious leaders came to Christ, uses the phrase that they “became obedient to the faith.” When we typically think of faith, we don’t think “obedience” - we think belief. But, as James tells us, faith without works is not faith at all. Notice these verses about being “obedient” to the faith:
Romans 1:3-5
... concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
2 Thessalonians 1:7-8
and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Hebrews 5:9
And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
In these verses it is clear that to come to Christ you must be “obedient to the faith” of Christ. What are you obeying, however? Since, in order to be saved, you have to believe in the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ, obedience to the faith would be to do just that ... believe in the resurrection of Christ ... to do that is to obey Christ who stated we must believe in Him and His words and works to be saved. When we fail to put complete trust in Him we are not obeying in faith.
When the Gospel spread during the beginning of the early church people believed the Gospel message ... they believed that the Historical Jesus did, indeed, raise from the dead for the forgiveness of sins and the saving of the soul.
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