• Home
  • GracEmail Ministry
    • What is GracEmail?
    • Latest GracEmail
    • frequently asked questions
    • GracEmail Category Index
  • Written Ministry
    • Articles
    • Special Bible Studies
    • Books
    • Online Books
    • Worship Resources
    • Interviews
  • Videos
  • About
    • The Personal Pages
      • Photo Albums
    • My Professional Life
  • Contact

Edward Fudge Ministries

Joyously drawing water from the springs of salvation Isaiah 12:2-3

You are here: Home / GracEmail / our response to God's salvation / A CHANGED LIFE / attitudes and lifestyle / Obedience and trust as fruit and root

Obedience and trust as fruit and root

When I was a child, we often sang a hymn that admonished us to “trust and obey,” assuring us that “there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus.” The two verbs go together: we obey because we trust, and because we trust we obey. Trust and obedience are well-suited companions, but more. Related, but more. They live in symbiotic relationship, each nourishing and being nourished by the other, each simultaneously drawing life from and contributing life to the other.

Trust initiates obedience, activates and motivates it. Obedience expresses, affirms, and confirms trust. Neither is found in its mature state without the other. Hannah W. Smith, the Quaker universalist author of the spiritual classic, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, had it right when she wrote: “Perfect happiness is perfect obedience to one in whom you have perfect trust.”

Of course, not everyone appreciates such nuances and niceties. We all have heard some for whom obedience seems to have gobbled up anything even slightly resembling trust. They argue that anyone who enjoys God’s fellowship, either now or forever, must somehow merit his favor. Their confusion is called “legalism,” and it leads sober- minded people either to self-deception or to despair.

There are other folks so infatuated with what they call trust or faith that they rarely mention obedience at all. They seem quite confident that God’s grace makes obedience all but superfluous. Their confusion is known as “antinomianism.” Think of legalism and antinomianism as deep ditches on opposite sides of the gospel road. Each ditch is hazardous to spiritual health. Both need to be warned against and to be avoided at all costs.

Filed Under: attitudes and lifestyle, GracEmail, obedience and works

Search

SEARCH more than 1,200 gracEmails by verse or word below

Sign Up to gracEmail

Click HERE, then fill in the blanks and click “Subscribe.”

Or send a completely BLANK email to:
join-edwardfudge@injesus.netatlantic.com

Video Categories

  • Videos
    • Divine Rescue
    • Hell
    • Hell & Mr Fudge
    • Lectures
    • Miscellaneous
    • Preaching
    • Q & A
    • Testimonies
    • The Fire That Consumes

gracEmail

gracemail

This Christ-centered, Bible-based internet column is published once or twice each week at no charge, for thousands of subscribers throughout the body of Christ around the world. Read More…

Written Ministry

written ministry

For 50 years, God has blessed readers through Edward’s writings — including books, sermons, worship resources, articles, Bible studies and reviews. Many of these writings are available here at no charge. His seven current books can be ordered through links found with their descriptions. Read More …

Speaking Ministry

preaching

You can also enjoy Edward’s Video Teaching right now.

  • Home
  • Site Map
  • Latest GracEmail
  • Written Ministry
  • About
  • Contact

Copyright © 2025 Edward Fudge Ministries · KT Websites · Log in