day no. 16,622: obedience is faith incarnate

"Obedience is faith incarnate. It is the test of real discipleship among the Lord's people. 'You are My friends if you do whatever I command you' (John xv. 14). It ought to be the mark of well-trained children, that they do whatever their parents command them. Where, in deed, is the honor which the fifth commandment enjoins, if fathers and mothers are not obeyed cheerfully, willingly, and at once?" — J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents

Obedience is faith incarnate. We do what we believe. Children ought to obey their parents. Parents ought to be believable. Husband and wife must be united in faith and faithfulness so that their children are not forced to say, "Which one?" when commanded to honor their father and mother. Obedience is hard enough without making it impossible. If mom and dad demand different things, children are left incapable of obeying God's command,

We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, not by works, lest we should boast and true faith is manifest in increasing faithfulness to Christ's commands. Paul's manifesto on faith alone is book-ended by this desire:

Romans 1:5

We have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name.

Romans 16:25-26

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.

The faith once for all delivered to the saints is to be obeyed. The Bible makes no bones about it. We are to teach our children to obey us because our Father commands this of us, respectively. We are commanded to teach them. We are commanded to teach them to teach their children the same. They are commanded to obey us and will one day be expected to obey God in asking their children to obey them.

"Early obedience has all Scripture on its side. It is in Abraham's praise, not merely he will train his family, but 'he will command his children, and his household after him' (Gen. xviii. 19)." — J.C. Ryle, The Duties of Parents

Abraham trained the men of household for war (Gen. 14:14) and commanded his children to be the kind of men who would someday do the same. Abraham is our father in the faith and we ought to listen to him. God commanded him to command his children to obey him. This was not merely him training them to obey him, but training them to obey his God.