Romans 1:5 ‘Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.’

What is meant by ‘the obedience of faith’?  Here are the main interpretative options:-

(a) ‘Faith’ may mean ‘the faith’, or the body of apostolic teaching.  Compare Acts 6:7 – ‘obedient to the faith’.  But the definite article is absent in the original, and the context in Romans (which emphases ‘faith’) is against this interpretation.

(b) The expression may mean, ‘the obedience that consists of faith’.  Cf. Rom 6:17; 10:16; 15:18–20; 16:25–26; 2 Thess. 1:8.  Calvin: ‘Faith is properly that by which we obey the gospel’.  It might be countered that although there is a close connection between obedience and faith in the NT, they are not regarded as synonymous.  Kruse favours this interpretation, drawing attention to the immediate context, where in which Paul has just mentioned the grace that has been given to him to preach the gospel, and to similar expression in Rom 16:25-27, where the context indicates that Paul has belief in the gospel in mind.  Kruse also points out the Paul seems to use ‘faith’ and ‘obedience’ almost synonymously in Rom 1:8/Rom 16:19.

(c) It may mean, as the NIV translates, ‘the obedience that comes from faith’.  Cf. Rom 6:16; Eph. 6:1, 5; Phil. 2:12; Col. 3:20, 22; 2 Thess. 3:14; Heb 11:8.  Bruce: ‘the obedience that is based on faith in Christ. The ‘faith’ here is not the gospel or the body of doctrine presented for belief, but the belief itself.’  Stott says, ‘the proper response to the gospel is faith, indeed faith alone. Yet a true and living faith in Jesus Christ both includes within itself an element of submission (cf. Rom 10:3), especially because its object is ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’ (4) or ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’ (7), and leads inevitably into a lifetime of obedience. That is why the response Paul looked for was a total, unreserved commitment to Jesus Christ, which he called ‘the obedience of faith’.’  Murray, Cranfield, and Morris also incline to this interpretation.

Although inclining towards (b), Kruse says that we should not, in any case, separate faith as obedience from faith that expresses itself in obedience.  Indeed, a number of interpreters (Kruse cites Garlington, Schreiner and Dunn) think that we should take a ‘both/and’ approach.

Schreiner:

‘It is unlikely…that “the obedience of faith” should be confined to a single act of obedience that occurred when the gospel was first believed. Nor should faith and obedience be sundered as if Christians could have the former without the latter.… The belief first exercised upon conversion is validated as one continues to believe and obey (11:20–22)’

Morris says,

‘Whichever way we take the expression, obedience is not an option (cf. 1 John 3:23–24). It is binding on all Christians.’

Moo prefers to understand the two terms, ‘obedience’ and ‘faith’ as mutually interpreting.

‘Faith, if genuine, always has obedience as its outcome; obedience, if it is to please God, must always be accompanied by faith.’

Moo, again:

‘Paul probably uses this unusual formulation as a deliberate counter to the Jewish “works of the law.” What marks God’s people is no longer deeds done in obedience to the law, but an obedience that stems from, accompanies, and displays faith.’

Similarly, Edwards says:

‘There is no separation in Paul’s mind between faith and obedience, between believing and doing. “Only he who believes is obedient,” said Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “and only he who is obedient believes” (Cost of Discipleship, p. 69). The Book of James is particularly aware of the problem of saying one thing and doing another (James 2:14–26). Jesus himself taught that a tree is known by the fruit it bears (Mt 7:15–20; see also 21:28–32). His call to “Follow me” demands an act which embodies a belief.’

N.T. Wright, New Perspectives on Paul

‘Since the gospel is the heraldic proclamation of Jesus as Lord, it is not first and foremost a suggestion that one might like to enjoy a new religious experience. Nor is it even the take-it-or-leave-it offer of a way to salvation. It is a royal summons to submission, to obedience, to allegiance; and the form that this submission and obedient allegiance takes is of course faith. That is what Paul means by the obedience of faith.’

Ian Hamilton agrees that this phrase is probably telling us

‘that faith in Jesus Christ initiates a believer into a life of obedience to Jesus Christ. Where there is no heart obedience to Christ, there can be no saving faith in Christ…Faith is not mere notional assent to biblical propositions. Faith, what the Bible means by faith, takes you into Christ, brings you into living personal union and communion with Christ.’

Jesus is presented in Scripture not only as a priest who makes atonement for our sin and now intercedes for us at God’s right hand; he is also presented as a prophet who stands before us as God’s final and authoritative word, and as a king who rules over us.

Hamilton also stresses that true Christian obedience is an obedience of faith:

‘The Christian’s obedience of Christ is to be a believing obedience. All we do we are to do in faith. This is what distinguishes evangelical obedience from legal obedience. Legal obedience is fuelled by a desire to earn merit with God. It is born of fear not love. It is duteous without being truly dutiful. In contrast, evangelical obedience is fuelled by love and thankfulness. It is prompted by a desire to please the Saviour. It sees obedience to God’s commandments not as a duteous chore, but as a true delight (Psa. 119:24, 35, 47, 70, 97; John 14:15). Love truly does make obedience sweet.’

Mounce also favours the both/and approach.  He cites the TNIV translation:

‘to call all the Gentiles to faith and obedience’

Mounce comments:

‘One of the great dangers is to think of grammar as an apple pie cut into a set number of pieces, thinking that every passage must fall into one of the prescribed categories. This is how we tend to teach intermediate grammar, but it is not always helpful. For a native speaker in any language, grammar is much more on a continuum; and their use of a case in any one place may sit squarely on the cut between the two pieces of pie. That is what the TNIV is saying; “obedience of faith” doesn’t fit in any one piece of grammatical pie, and they are probably right.’

Thus is captured the double truth: that we are saved by faith, and not works; but if our hearts are changed, this must inevitably affect our attitudes and behaviour.  This is why judgement, generally in the NT is on the basis of changed lives.

Paul captures this dual aspect elsewhere:

Tit 2:14 – ‘(Jesus Christ) gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good.’