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Works and Obedience

Works and obedience are themes found in the New Testament. For those who think obedience is not required, consider a verse from the final book of the Bible.

Revelation 14:12
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

The Bible says that the Saints keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. It is James who shows that faith without works is dead.

James 2:17
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

For those of us Sabbath-observing Christians, we sometimes equate works with obedience. Let's look a little more at works and obedience starting at what the original Greek words mean. In the New Testament, the Greek word translated as works is "ergon", Strong's word 2041. Ergon is derived from the root "ergo" from which the English language derives work-related words, such as ergonomics. According to Stong's, ergon means toil, effort, an act. Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon defines this word using nearly a full page of print and agrees with Stong's. The Greek word for obedience that is commonly used is hupakoe, Strong's word 5218. It means compliance or submission, to obey, obedience, obedient. Once again, Thayer's agrees with Strong's. So in the original language obedience and works are different words. For those who equate works with obedience, the original language does not support this. Next time, we will look at works and review scriptural examples.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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