Proposition 8

The gospel contains a command, and as such must be obeyed.

And here I only need to ask, Who are those who will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord? Paul answers, "They who do not know God, and do not obey the gospel of his Son."²⁹ To "obey the gospel," and to "become obedient to the faith," were common phrases in the apostolic sermons and writings. "By whom we have received apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith in all nations, for his name’s sake."³⁰ "By the command of the eternal God, the gospel is made known to all nations for the obedience of faith."³¹ "A large number of the priests became obedient to the faith."³² "But they have not all obeyed the gospel;"³³ and, "What will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel?"³⁴ From these statements, it is unquestionably clear that either the gospel itself, taken as a whole, is a command, or that within it there is a command through whose obedience salvation is received.

The obedience of the gospel is called the obedience of faith, as opposed to the obedience of the law. Faith in God's promise through Jesus Christ is the principle from which obedience flows. Presenting the gospel as a command is an act of grace, because it engages the will and affections of people and puts it within their power to have assurance of their salvation, from which they would necessarily be excluded if no such act of obedience were required.

Whatever the act of faith may be, it necessarily becomes the dividing line between the two states described earlier. On one side, and on the other, humanity is in very different conditions. On one side they are pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved; on the other, they are under condemnation. This act is sometimes called immersion, regeneration, conversion; and, to make this act clear to everyone, we will take some care to confirm and illustrate it.

That a relationship or a state can be changed by an act, I hardly need to try to prove at this time; especially to those who know that the acts of marriage, naturalization, adoption, and birth change the status of the person involved. But rather than try to prove that a state can be changed by an act, I would rather ask if anyone has heard of, knows of, or can imagine a state being changed without some act? This point, being conceded by all rational people, we do not attempt to prove. But a question may arise whether faith itself, or an act of obedience to some command or institution, is the act by which our state is changed.