obedience = whole-hearted compliance with the wishes of the one in authority, even if you don't appreciate or understand them, out of respect or love for the one in authority.
- whole-hearted: even if your mind disagrees, but because of your loyalty and respect, you act as required
- wishes of the one in authority: not merely the words, finding loop-holes, doing the bare minimum
- even if you don't appreciate: even if you disagree. In fact, obedience is greater when your personal will and preferred choice is different from the one in authority
- out of respect or love: this is the ground for obedience, not understanding the wishes
Additional concepts:
- If the authority commands us to do something illegal or immoral, we don't have to do it.
- Abraham sacrificing Isaac -- if someone other than God had commanded Abraham, that would've been abhorrent.
- Uriah obeyed David -- fully trusting him, and he died for it. He was betrayed by his authority. Parents should never do that. God will never do that.
- Pharaoh refused to obey the LORD (Exodus 5:2) because he had on respect for Him.
- If we're not convinced that the direction given came from the one in authority, obedience is very hard.
- Disobedience == rebellion.
- Slow obedience == disobedience == rebellion
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