Thomas Watson on Christian Obedience

Scripture is clear that obedience is necessary evidence of salvation (1 John 2:3–4, 3:4–10, 5:1–3; John 14:15, etc.). Scripture is also clear that all Christians will continue to struggle with sin in this life (Philippians 3:12; 1 John 1:8–10; James 3:2; Proverbs 20:9, etc.). In light of that tension, what kind of obedience (or how much?) should we expect to find in a born-again person? What should we tell others to look for, and aim for, Scripturally and realistically?

I have found help in Thomas Watson’s classic A Godly Man’s Picture, Drawn with a Scripture Pencil (Or, Some Characteristic Marks of a Man Who is Going to Heaven).¹ At one point Watson asserts, “a godly man . . . obeys God in whatever he commands.” Then he poses the objection: “But it is impossible for anyone to walk according to the full breadth of God's law, and to follow God fully!” Watson answers the objection by offering four distinguishing marks of the imperfect (but actual) obedience of a Christian:

There is a twofold obeying of God's law. The first is perfect, when all is done, which the law requires. This we cannot arrive at in this life. Secondly, there is an incomplete obedience which is accepted in Christ. This consists in four things: (1) An approving of all God's commands: "the commandment is holy and just and good . . . I consent unto the law that it is good" (Romans 7:12, 16). There is both assent and consent. (2) A sweet delight in God's commands: "I will delight myself in your commandments, which I have loved" (Psalm 119:47). (3) A cordial desire to walk in all God's commands: "O that my ways were directed to keep your statutes" (Psalm 119:5). (4) A real endeavor to tread in every path of the command: "I turned my feet unto your testimonies” (Psalm 119:59).

Not long before that passage, Watson addressed the same question while considering one specific kind of Christian obedience: loving one’s enemies. Notice the same basic criteria:

Does every godly man succeed in forgiving, yes, loving his enemies? Answer: He does so in a gospel sense. That is: (1) In so far as there is assent. He subscribes to it in his judgment as a thing which ought to be done: "with my mind I serve the law of God" (Romans 7:25). (2) In so far as there is grief. A godly man mourns that he can love his enemies no more: "O wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:24) (3) In so far as there is prayer. A godly man prays that God will give him a heart to love his enemies. (4) In so far as there is effort. A godly man resolves and strives in the strength of Christ against all rancor and virulence of spirit. This is in a gospel sense to love our enemies. A wicked man cannot do this.

Watson is helping us see how God writes His Law on the hearts of all who are in Christ (Jeremiah 31:31–33, Hebrews 10:12–17). The godly man approves of God’s commands, consents to them, delights in them, grieves over breaking them, earnestly desires to walk in them, prays for God’s help to keep them, and truly endeavors (with noticeable, Christ-reliant effort) to do so. That is the “incomplete obedience which is accepted in Christ” (1 Peter 2:5), obedience “in a gospel sense.” Let Christians learn, then, to offer it to God in the hope of the gospel:

This God esteems [as] perfect obedience—and is pleased to take it in good part . . .  Evangelical obedience is true in its essence, though not perfect in its degree; and where it comes short, Christ puts his merits into the scales—and then there is full weight.

¹ All quotations in this article are drawn from a free online pdf of Watson’s book, found at https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/watson/The%20Godly%20Man's%20Picture%20-%20Thomas%20Watson.pdf