Obedience and Submission

Obedience is necessary as long as secular goals and worldly lifestyles continue to deviate from God’s will and God’s standards of conduct.

Ever since God commanded Adam not to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden, God has repeatedly set forth commandments that conflict with self-centered and humanistic desires.

Therefore, relating to God requires submitting to God’s will and denying self-will. This is an especially prominent theme in Islam, whose name, islam, means “submission.” Obedience requires sacrifice.

When Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but Thy will be done,” he was practicing the way of obedience even to the point of giving his life.

Obedience is not about doing God’s will when it is convenient or agreeable to our one’s way of thinking. As Abraham found out when God ordered him to sacrifice his son, obedience can require doing something inconceivably difficult.

Nevertheless, the hardships of obedience and submission are ultimately for our good.

God lays out commands to guide humankind on the path of growing to perfection; don’t all parents require their children to follow rules so that they might grow up to be mature and well-adjusted adults?

God had that loving purpose in mind when He gave the commandment to Adam and Eve, and that same loving purpose lies within His commandments to us today.

Obedience to God’s Will and God’s Commandments

Whosoever submits his will to God, while doing good, his wage is with his Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they sorrow. Qur’an 2.112

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I [Moses] command you this day for your good? Deuteronomy 10.12-13

Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken to the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15.22

Ritual purification, though million-fold, may not purify the mind. Nor may absorption in trance still it, however long and continuous. Possessing worlds multiple quenches not the rage of avarice and desire. A thousand million feats of intellect bring not emancipation.

How then to become true to the Creator? How to demolish the wall of illusion? Through obedience to His Ordinance and Will. Adi Granth, Japuji 1, M.1, p. 1 (Sikhism)

Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteous- ness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6.16-23

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
You should establish the heavenly law in yourself by absolutely obeying in your appointed duties, in your daily life, and regarding matters of the heart. (45:88, June 13, 1971)

I am not the origin. My origin must be the Being who transcends me, and my purpose must be transcendent of myself. If it were not the case, how could I stand in a position to confront this world?

My life did not begin from my parents, my society, tribe or nation, but from one transcendent Origin—God, the Absolute Being. My will must be firmly connected to His transcendent, absolute Will.

My motivation must not be tainted by any relative factors stemming from history, my circumstances or the society in which I live. Only when a person’s origin is linked to the transcendent Cause, the transcendent Purpose, can he or she leap, transcend and extricate him or herself from worldly circumstances. (36:64, November 15, 1970)

When you are working in a company, what would happen to you if you took the attitude, “This work is inane. I will do what I want to do”? Living in America, suppose you took the attitude, “This country has too many laws that restrict what people can do.

I will simply ignore them!” What would happen to you? No good can come from denying the rules of work or the laws of your nation. Likewise, no good can come from denying the tenets of religion. Everyone must come under the rule of law and the regulations of the workplace, but the laws we follow in our religious life are different.

The former are promulgated in this world, but the laws of the religion originate from the other world. The religious life is actually to live in two worlds. Do you understand? You are actually living in two worlds. (92:298, April 24, 1977)

When you go to the hospital, two beings know your condition well. One is the germ—that is Satan’s position. The other is the doctor—he represents God. Should you relate with the germ (Satan)?

No, you should team up with the doctor (God). Then, you have to do what the doctor says. You must absolutely obey; that is the only way. What if you said to the doctor, “I’ll do whatever I want”? You would have to pay a price. (189:49, March 12, 1989)

Father! We face the reality that we are far too distant from Thee— sublime, majestic, dwelling at the center of the universe, Lord of the ideal, Center of love.

To span this great distance we know the path that lies before us: not the original, natural path but a path going the opposite way— the grief-filled course of restoration. (110:65-66, November 9, 1980)

Striving for Absolute Obedience—to Make My Will as God’s Will

A sacrificial vessel: The superior man, taking his stance as righteousness requires, adheres firmly to Heaven’s decrees. I Ching 50 (Confucianism)

Make [God’s] will as your will, so that He may make your will as His will; make naught your will before His will, so that He may make naught the will of others before your will. Mishnah, Avot 2.4 (Judaism)

O you who believe! Be mindful of your duty to God, and seek the way to approach unto Him, and strive in His way in order that you may succeed. Qur’an 5.35

Be not like the servants who minister to their Master upon condition of receiving a reward; but be like servants who minister to their Master without the condition of receiving a reward; and let the fear of Heaven be upon you. Mishnah, Avot 1.3 (Judaism)

We sent not an Apostle but to be obeyed, in accordance with the Will of God. If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come unto thee and asked God’s forgiveness… But no, by thy Lord, they can have no real faith until they make thee judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against thy decision, but accept them with the fullest conviction. If We had ordered them to sacrifice their lives or to leave their homes, very few of them would have done it; but if they had done what they were told, it would have been best for them, and would have gone furthest to strengthen their faith.1 All who obey God and the Apostle are in the company of those on whom is the grace of God: of the Prophets, the Saints, the Martyrs and the Righteous. Ah! What a beautiful fellowship!
Qur’an 4.64-69

I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. John 6.38

“Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Luke 22.42

By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Romans 5.19

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Hebrews 5.7-8

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Complete obedience means that a person has no sense of self in front of his Subject Partner. (271:118, August 23, 1995)

Everyone should practice obedience. However, while anyone can obey, not everyone can totally surrender him or herself. Only through total surrender can we fulfill the indemnity condition. (18:188, June 7, 1967)

Why does God require of us obedience?

It is not to please God, but for us, for our joy. God puts us in the position of His ideal object partners and gives us the responsibility to complete the purpose of re-creation. Therefore, we must push away and overcome the elements of the Fall.

Because the Fall originated from disobedience, God commands us to have absolute obedience as the necessary condition to restore it. Therefore, in our religious way of life, we should not complain. Nor should we make excuses. We must have absolute obedience.

Absolute obedience requires hard work, but the purpose of that hard work is to set conditions that enable us to stand in the perfected position and achieve God’s original goal of creation. Therefore, if we sacrifice and work hard, we can enter the realm of perfection. We must go this way because there is no other way.

Hence, religion cannot emphasize enough the necessity of hard work, undertaken in faith. On the path of restoration, complaint is absolutely prohibited. The path of restoration is a tear-stained path of total sacrifice. Nevertheless, we should go joyfully and hopefully.

It is the path of re-creation, which is hopeful for us, and we should rejoice in that hope. We are walking in faith, so we must not despair. Why, then, should we go the way of obedience? Sacrifice and hard work are the means by which we give everything and gain everything. (God’s Will and the World, September 11, 1972)

Jesus showed us obedience and complete submission. Obedience is following an order when the circumstances allow, and complete submission is obeying even in impossible circumstances.

Jesus taught the dutiful way of obedience and complete submission to the disbelieving people. By this he showed us the way to block Satan’s basic nature and life elements.

The satanic world incessantly tries to exploit and take advantage of human beings and the creation, but Jesus took the opposite direction. Jesus lived a life that Satan could not live—he was meek and humble, he practiced obedience and complete submission, and he lived a life of sacrifice and service. Because he lived with these qualities, Satan had to surrender. Jesus is the representative of all human beings.

Likewise, unless you can live as Jesus taught in your daily life, being meek and humble, practicing obedience and complete submission, and ever sacrificing and serving others, know that you still belong to Satan’s tribe. (3:188-89, October 27, 1957)

Throughout the long eons of history, God has been carrying out a providence to set up ways by which people ignorant of the human portion of responsibility could claim that they have fulfilled their portions of responsibility.

This has always required absolute obedience. The original portion of responsibility was not fulfilled because Adam and Eve failed to obey God’s commandment.

Obeying God’s Word is the first condition to complete the human portion of responsibility. For Adam and Eve, they could have completed their portion of responsibility by absolutely obeying God’s command, “Do not eat of the fruit.”

Therefore, those seeking the way of restoration must absolutely obey God’s words.

You should not just obey to some extent. You should say you will obey even at the cost of your life. Step forward on the path of obedience and climb over the summit of the satanic world.

That is what Jesus meant when he said, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (139:255-56, January 31, 1986)