The whole issue of Christian faith is Incarnation, ie. the Word made Flesh, or words translated into action. If Adam's sin was passivity despite the threat of death, the Second Adam's virtue was active obedience in defiance of death. For Adam, disobedience implied death, but for Christ obedience implied death. And yet He obeyed. Faith implies "faithfulness", or loyalty to your master and obedience to His will, even to the bitter end. Jesus says "If you love me keep my commandments". Furthermore, we are the sons of the one that we obey - "Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." If we do not obey, we are not His children, but rather children of another.
Obedience to the commandments does not earn salvation. Nothing that we do can defeat death or wash away sin - only Christ can do that. However, obeying the commandments trains us to stop obeying our sinful nature and grows in us a new, heavenly nature. Taking a bath will not wash away sin, but if I enter by faith into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ by immersion in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost then that is salvific. Not because I got wet - that is all I am capable of in myself- but because of the grace added to the act by God in accordance with His promise. The water is just the means by which I receive the freely-given grace that God extends to me.
That said, passivity, aka "sloth", is the bane of the Western Church in this age. We are so afraid of "works-righteousness" that any suggested action, even one explicitly commanded in the Bible, is viewed with a skeptical eye from some quarter or other. The days ahead of us are going to require people who will act on their faith. If I had to guess I would say that it is no coincidence that the four Gospels are immediately followed by "the Acts of the Apostles". The Apostles had to act to lay the foundation of something that would last down the ages. We will have to act to shore up those things and rebuild what we can.
I know I have a habit of simply repeating what you said using different words. I apologize. However, it is exciting to encounter someone else who is thinking through the same issues that I have noticed., so it is difficult for me to not chip in with my two cents. It is intended as an encouragement, so I hope it comes across that way.
The whole issue of Christian faith is Incarnation, ie. the Word made Flesh, or words translated into action. If Adam's sin was passivity despite the threat of death, the Second Adam's virtue was active obedience in defiance of death. For Adam, disobedience implied death, but for Christ obedience implied death. And yet He obeyed. Faith implies "faithfulness", or loyalty to your master and obedience to His will, even to the bitter end. Jesus says "If you love me keep my commandments". Furthermore, we are the sons of the one that we obey - "Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." If we do not obey, we are not His children, but rather children of another.
Obedience to the commandments does not earn salvation. Nothing that we do can defeat death or wash away sin - only Christ can do that. However, obeying the commandments trains us to stop obeying our sinful nature and grows in us a new, heavenly nature. Taking a bath will not wash away sin, but if I enter by faith into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ by immersion in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost then that is salvific. Not because I got wet - that is all I am capable of in myself- but because of the grace added to the act by God in accordance with His promise. The water is just the means by which I receive the freely-given grace that God extends to me.
That said, passivity, aka "sloth", is the bane of the Western Church in this age. We are so afraid of "works-righteousness" that any suggested action, even one explicitly commanded in the Bible, is viewed with a skeptical eye from some quarter or other. The days ahead of us are going to require people who will act on their faith. If I had to guess I would say that it is no coincidence that the four Gospels are immediately followed by "the Acts of the Apostles". The Apostles had to act to lay the foundation of something that would last down the ages. We will have to act to shore up those things and rebuild what we can.
I know I have a habit of simply repeating what you said using different words. I apologize. However, it is exciting to encounter someone else who is thinking through the same issues that I have noticed., so it is difficult for me to not chip in with my two cents. It is intended as an encouragement, so I hope it comes across that way.
I love the ending quote in relation to discipleship. That’s going on the common place book!