“to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake”
Romans 1:5b
Nike - the massive sportswear company named for the Greek word for victory - famously utilized the phrase ‘Just Do It’ in an advertisement featuring an 80 year old runner named Walt Stack. Stack was the anchor of the Northern California running community, and is said to have run more than 62,000 miles in his lifetime. He often ran marathons and 50 mile ultramarathons well into his 80s. Stack died in 1995 at 87, having run a marathon as late at 1993.
Stack loved running, and continued to run until his death in large part due to his tenacity. He once said that he would keep at running ‘until he was planted’. He famously ran 17 miles every morning and was so consistent that someone once said that if he had fallen out of plane, he would fall at 8.5 minutes per mile.
This type of human endurance is really remarkable. We can, and should, see the glory of God in the power of the human body to continue with this kind of intensity for so many years. Walt’s tenacity for running was truly epic.
However, we must be cautious when applying this type of thinking to our Christian lives.
‘Just Do It’ is never the right answer for how we obey God.
There are a number of reasons why this is dangerous.
First, this is simply not what the Bible teaches. Jesus said in Matt 22:37-40 that love for God and love for neighbor are the first and second greatest commandments. He then told the lawyer who had asked Him that, “On these two hang all the law and the prophets.” In other words, if you love God and love people, you WILL obey the Law.
The inverse is also true—if you obey without love for God or for people, you aren’t actually obeying the Law at all. Instead, you are pursuing self-righteousness. This is exactly Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.
Second, if we succeed in powering through the Christian life through our own efforts, we bring glory to ourselves, rather than to God. There is no honor for God in the person who simply presses on, without a heart for the Savior.
And, sadly, if we fail, we will grow despairing (rightfully) and give up. When we rely solely on ourselves and our efforts for spiritual growth, failures leave us with nowhere to turn.
Third, the Bible never provides this type of human power and effort for obedience. In fact, Paul explains that the whole purpose of his ministry was to bring about the ‘obedience of the faith among all the Gentiles’ (Rom 1:5).
What is ‘obedience of faith’?
Very simply, it is faith-fueled obedience. Paul didn’t want people all over the world ‘just doing’ Christianity. He wanted dependent, Christ-loving saints, walking in holiness by faith, rather than mere external obedience.
This is, of course, the key to all obedience. When we believe the realities of our sin, of Christ’s life, death and resurrection on our behalf, and the truth of His love for us, obedience becomes the natural result.
We obey Him because we love Him. (John 14:15)
We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:10)
Our loving obedience is for ‘His name’s sake’. (Rom 1:5b)
Walt Stack was an amazing man, and Nike has built an amazing company on their motto. But as Christians, we have a greater motivation than simple human effort. We have the love of Jesus.
