by Un soldat de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ
Obedience is a key to success in the Christian spiritual life. The virtue of obedience is central among all the moral virtues and in every state in life. Exactly how is this virtue of obedience defined? Obedience is defined as: “The moral virtue that inclines the will to comply with the will of another who has the right to command.” Notice that obedience is not merely compliance with the command or precept of another person who has the right to issue such a command or precept. It is more. At its best, obedience is a charitable inclination on the part of the person under a duty of obedience to discern accurately the will of the other person and comply with that will when the other person has the right so to command.
The more the inferior tends toward the will of the rightful superior, the greater the merit and therefore the grace. Saint Thomas Aquinas treats this reality in the Summa, IIa IIae, Question 104 (of Obedience), Article 2, in his Rispondeo dicendum quod: “Again, this act has a special aspect of praiseworthiness by reason of its object. For while subjects have many obligations towards their superiors, this one, that they are bound to obey their commands, stands out as special among the rest. Wherefore obedience is a special virtue, and its specific object is a command tacit or express, because the superior’s will, however it becomes known, is a tacit precept, and a man’s obedience seems to be all the more prompt, forasmuch as by obeying he forestalls the express command as soon as he understands his superior’s will.” 
Then, in the Reply to Objection 2 of Article 2, Saint Thomas states:
“Obedience is not a theological virtue, for its direct object is not God, but the precept of any superior, whether expressed or inferred, namely, a simple word of the superior, indicating his will, and which the obedient subject obeys promptly . . . . It is, however, a moral virtue, since it is a part of justice, and it observes the mean between excess and deficiency.”
In the corresponding segment of the following article, Article 3 of Question 104, Saint Thomas once again responds to the Question, “saying that”:
“Therefore, properly speaking, the virtue of obedience, whereby we contemn our own will for God’s sake, is more praiseworthy than the other moral virtues, which contemn [disdain] other goods for the sake of God. “Hence Gregory says (Moral. xxxv) that ‘obedience is rightly preferred to sacrifices because by sacrifices another’s body is slain whereas by obedience we slay our own will.’ Wherefore even any other acts of virtue are meritorious before God through being performed out of obedience to God’s will. For were one to suffer even martyrdom, or to give all one’s goods to the poor, unless one directed these things to the fulfillment of the divine will, which pertains directly to obedience, they could not be meritorious: as neither would they be if they were done without charity, which cannot exist apart from obedience.”
Saint Thomas quotes immediately from the First Epistle of Saint John:
“He who says ‘I know him’ but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected.”
Then Saint Thomas Aquinas completes the thought, as follows: “and this because friends have the same likes and dislikes.”
Article 3 also contains another important observation. Of course, as explained in an earlier blog, by the virtue of piety, we have a certain obligation to honor God (The Divine Trinity), then our family, and then our country or nation. Likewise, depending on our state in life, each of these (God, family, and country) can constitute a superior to whom we owe this virtue of obedience. Ultimately, we owe this obedience to The Divine Trinity, whether directly anent the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), or indirectly to and through parents, secular Government officers and other secular authorities, religious superiors, business superiors, and others. When a person refrains from a temptation to violate the Decalogue, a very pronounced expression of the Will of God, that person practices the virtue of obedience. Likewise, when a vehicle driver obeys the speed limit on a public highway, that vehicle operator exercises the same virtue of obedience while also aiming to satisfy a concrete expression of the Will of God. And, when an employee in an industrial plant handles and operates machinery owned by the employer according to established operating and safety rules, that employee practices the same virtue of obedience.
Saint Paul addresses this same point, alluding to the importance of an attitude of charity to merit grace:
“Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you.” [Hebrews 13:17 (R.S.V.)]
Another factor regarding this virtue of obedience is the importance of a well-formed conscience to know the Will of God in certain situations such that conformity occurs long before the conscience is on the threshold of sin, long before violating a Commandment. The cardinal virtue of prudence supports the formation of a good and correct conscience. And, insofar as obedience is a part of justice, obedience operates closely with the cardinal virtues:
“And if a man love justice: her labours have great virtues; for she teacheth temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life.” [Wisdom 8:7 (Douay–Rheims)]
When Obedience Becomes Conditional
Finally, we must obey the Will of God, but obedience to human superiors can become conditional, as explained in this same Article 5. Consider these statements by Saint Thomas Aquinas from the Rispondeo dicendum quod on his Question 104, Article 5:
“On like manner, there are two reasons for which a subject may not be bound to obey his superior in all things:
- First, on account of the command of a higher power.
- Secondly, a subject is not bound to obey his superior if the latter commands him to do something wherein he is not subject to him. .
Consequently, in matters touching the internal movement of the will, man is not bound to obey his fellow–man, but God alone.
“Nevertheless man is bound to obey his fellow man in things that have to be done externally by means of the body: and yet, since by nature all men are equal, he is not bound to obey another man in matters touching the nature of the body, for instance in those relating to the support of his body or the begetting of his children. Wherefore servants are not bound to obey their masters, nor children their parents, in the question of contracting marriage or of remaining in the state of virginity or the like. But in matters concerning the disposal of actions and human affairs, a subject is bound to obey his superior within the sphere of his authority; for instance a soldier must obey his general in matters relating to war, a servant his master in matters touching the execution of the duties of his service, a son his father in matters relating to the conduct of his life and the care of the household; and so forth.”