How Can We Not Obey?

If God commands us to obey, expects obedience as evidence of faith, provides examples of real people who obeyed, and empowers us by His grace and Spirit, then how can we justify disobedience? This question cuts to the heart of Christian living and challenges the comfortable excuses that obedience is impossible or optional.

Obedience Is Commanded and Expected

Jesus' commands are not mere suggestions or optional ideals. They are mandatory, like laws in a kingdom. Jesus made this clear at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount:

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."
— Matthew 7:21

He warns that hearing His words without doing them is like building a house on sand, destined to fall. Obedience is the necessary evidence that we truly know and love God:

"If ye love me, keep my commandments." — John 14:15
"Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." — 1 John 2:3

The commands of Christ—summarized under the two greatest commandments to love God and love neighbor—are comprehensive and demanding. Yet Scripture never treats obedience as optional or negotiable.

Obedience is the way we experience salvation, not the price we pay for it.
(See also: The Commands of Jesus; Jesus' Commands Aren't Optional.)

Real People Did Obey

Scripture records many real people who kept God's commandments in observable, practical ways. Noah, Abraham, David, Mary, and the early believers are described as righteous, blameless, and obedient—not by their own strength, but empowered by God's Spirit. These examples refute the claim that obedience is impossible:

"Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations." — Genesis 6:9
"Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments." — Genesis 26:5
"They walked blamelessly, keeping God's commandments." — Luke 1:6

(See: People Did Keep God's Commandments.)

If these people could obey—helped, corrected, strengthened, and upheld by God—then obedience is possible for us as well.

Grace Empowers Obedience

Grace is not a license to sin or a mere pardon for failure. True biblical grace is powerful, active, and transformative. It teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, strengthens us in weakness, and preserves us blameless until the coming of Christ:

"The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly." — Titus 2:11–12

Grace doesn’t just forgive; it trains and empowers. (See: Grace is the divine power that enables obedience.)

When grace is redefined as permission to continue sinning, it becomes a counterfeit that Scripture condemns. (See: Grace can be hijacked into a cover for rebellion.)

The Heart of the Matter: Unwillingness, Not Inability

The real issue is rarely, “I can’t.” More often it’s, “I won’t—or I don’t want to badly enough.” And yes, that stings, because it exposes what we’d rather hide.

To be fair: people aren’t always defiant because they’re bold. Sometimes they’re defiant because they’re scared, tired, ashamed, or addicted to what sin gives them. But none of that turns sin into fate. God doesn’t command what is impossible and then punish us for failing. That would make Him unjust.

Here’s the deadly logic many of us slip into:

"No one can really keep God's commandments."
"Therefore, obedience is impossible."
"Therefore, grace covers ongoing disobedience."

That chain of reasoning doesn’t come from Scripture. It functions like Eden: it questions God’s truthfulness, lowers His standard, and makes disobedience feel inevitable. In other words, it’s the serpent’s logic repackaged—and it damn well works on people who want relief more than truth.
(See: the serpent’s lie dressed in Christian language.)

Human frailty does not equal inability. Temptation is not sin; sin requires consent. And God’s Spirit dwells within believers to empower them to obey.

To be absolutely clear—and this matters if you’re a sincere struggler rather than a comfortable rebel—the issue is not whether you fight and sometimes fall, but whether you keep fighting, keep repenting, and keep refusing to make peace with what Christ calls sin.

Christians stumble. But stumbling isn’t the same as settling. Grace doesn’t excuse sin—it trains us out of it. The mark of true faith isn’t flawless performance; it’s a life that repents quickly, obeys increasingly, and refuses to make peace with known rebellion.

Obedience Is the Evidence of True Faith

Faith is trust that has weight and is demonstrated by obedience. Trusting Jesus means following His commands, not merely agreeing with them intellectually or emotionally:

"If you love me, keep my commandments." — John 14:15
"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only." — James 1:22

(See: The Five Evidences of True Faith.)

You may ask, "How Is This NOT Works-Based Salvation?" Obedience is not the ground of salvation but the fruit of having received it. The question isn’t whether you’ve ever failed; the question is whether you repent, return to Christ, and obey—or whether you build a theology that makes peace with disobedience.

It is how we walk with the Shepherd who leads us through life’s dangers:

"He leadeth me… Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." — Psalm 23