"Only those who obey ..."

Søren Kierkegaard wrote:

"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer then offered:

"Doubt and reflection take the place of spontaneous obedience. … It is a retreat from the reality of God to the speculations of men, from faith to doubt. [The rich young man of Matthew 19] had hoped to avoid committing himself to any definite moral obligations by forcing Jesus to discuss his spiritual problems. … Keep on posing problems, and you will escape the necessity of obedience."

With more like 70 percent certainty than 100 percent, recently I forged ahead and took action in a matter I thought God was leading me to. This was after weeks of reflecting and dithering. Up until the very minute I committed the act I was not sure, but it seemed to be what the Bible commanded. It was only after the deed was done that I received both inner and outer confirmation of its rightness-and a mysterious strengthening of faith.

We like to think that only he who believes can obey. But I believe Bonhoeffer was profoundly right: "Only he who is obedient can believe."