What Does it mean to Obey?

The Bishop spoke to the Deacon's formation class this past Sunday.  One of his topics was being obedient.  This was during our discussion of our assignments and ministries when we are ordained.  The Bishop said that the role of a Deacon is to be obedient.

He said the root word for "obey" means to listen for the truth and to follow that truth.  I was amazed at this. This is not what my parents told me being obedient meant.  It is not what I heard growing up in the Baptist Church about what obedient meant.  To obey was to what you were told without asking questions.

So I had to look the word up to make sure I heard him right. I looked up the Greek and Hebrew words for obey.  Believe it or not, the Bible was not originally written in English.

The internet can be a great thing. I googled my search for the meaning of obey.  

I found out that the Hebrew word for obey is shama.  According to some bible study tools I learned that shama means  “to hear” but other meanings including “to understand” and “to hear in a judicial way.”  One definition that I like stated the root word means ““to hear intelligently; to consider and consent with contentment; to diligently discern and perceive with the ear; to give ear.”

One of the Greek words often translated as obey is hupakouo.   In the the same study tools I had used before the definition of hupakouo is “to listen/to harken” as “one who on the knock at the door comes to listen who it is, (the duty of a porter)”.  This word for obey follows a sense of understanding and responding to what is asked of us.

We must obey God.  In the old testament the Hebrew word used would have been "shama."  The early follows of God were asked to hear and understand God.

We must obey Christ.  In the new testament, the writer using Greek would have used the word "hupakouo". Listen to his call.  Answer his knock, discern.

God asks us to obey the divine message.  The message we find in Christ is Love. We need to listen intelligently to God's message of love in Christ.  We need to diligently discern what we are called to be, to love, and to obey as Christ knocks.