What Is True Obedience to God? The Parable of the Two Sons

Scripture reading: Matthew 21:28-31 ESV

Obedience to God is more than saying the right things about faith. In Matthew 21:28-32, Jesus teaches that genuine obedience is revealed when repentance produces a changed response to God. A person may profess devotion while refusing the Father’s will, while another may begin in rebellion yet repent and obey. True obedience does not earn salvation. It is the fruit of a heart brought to repentance and faith by God’s grace.

This distinction matters throughout our daily devotion series, where Scripture continually confronts the difference between merely hearing God’s Word and submitting to it.

The Parable of the Two Sons

Jesus said:

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”
Matthew 21:28-31

The answer is unmistakable: the first son.

Yet Jesus was doing more than contrasting obedience with disobedience. He was exposing the spiritual condition of the religious leaders standing before Him.

That is why this short parable belongs among our daily devotionals as a searching reminder that religious profession and genuine submission to God are not necessarily the same thing.

Why Did Jesus Tell the Parable of the Two Sons?

The immediate context is essential.

Jesus had entered Jerusalem and confronted corruption in the temple. The chief priests and elders then challenged His authority, asking who had given Him the right to do these things.

Jesus answered them with a question about John the Baptist. Was John’s baptism from heaven or from man?

They refused to answer.

Their problem was not insufficient evidence. They were unwilling to submit to the truth placed before them. John had called Israel to repentance and prepared the way for Christ, but these religious leaders rejected his message.

The parable exposes that refusal.

Jesus was confronting people whose religious words appeared obedient while their rejection of God’s messengers revealed something very different. Their problem resembles the deeper rebellion Jesus exposes when explaining why people reject God: sinners do not merely need more information. We need hearts brought into submission to God’s rightful authority.

The First Son: Rebellion Followed by Repentance

The first son answers his father plainly: “I will not.”

There is no attempt to disguise his rebellion.

But Jesus tells us that afterward he changed his mind and went.

The Greek verb translated “changed his mind” is metamelomai. In this context, the change is not merely an emotional feeling of regret. The son’s changed mind results in changed behavior.

That distinction is crucial.

Biblical repentance is never simply feeling bad about sin. Repentance involves turning from sin toward God. The first son’s initial refusal was wrong, but his refusal was not the end of his story.

Jesus then identifies the people represented by him: tax collectors and prostitutes who believed John’s message.

These were people publicly recognized as sinners. Yet when John called people to repentance, some believed.

The religious leaders did not.

This is why the parable is closely connected to the question will God forgive me. The hope of the gospel is not that sinners can make themselves respectable enough for God. It is that God’s grace calls guilty people to repentance and receives those who turn to Him in faith.

The Second Son: Profession Without Obedience

The second son’s answer sounds exemplary.

“I go, sir.”

His language communicates respect. His actions reveal otherwise.

He never goes.

This son represents the chief priests and elders. They possessed religious knowledge, held positions of spiritual authority, and outwardly presented themselves as servants of God. Yet when God sent John calling His people to repentance, they refused to believe him.

Jesus therefore exposes a dangerous possibility: a person can say the right things about God without actually submitting to God.

Scripture repeatedly warns against this separation between profession and obedience. Jesus is not teaching salvation by works. Rather, He is showing that genuine faith bears fruit.

This distinction also helps us understand evidence of salvation. Our works cannot justify us before God, but a life continually untouched by repentance and obedience gives us serious reason to examine whether our profession of faith is genuine.

What Is True Obedience to God?

Obedience to God is the believer’s faithful response to God’s revealed will, produced by grace through a heart that trusts Him.

The parable does not teach that one act of obedience erases a lifetime of sin. Nor does Jesus suggest that outward works earn entrance into God’s kingdom.

The tax collectors and prostitutes entered because they believed the message calling them to repentance. Their changed lives followed their believing response.

This order matters.

Grace does not come after obedience as God’s reward for good behavior. Obedience follows grace as its fruit.

We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Yet saving faith does not leave a person permanently indifferent to God’s commands. The Holy Spirit works within believers so that they increasingly desire what pleases God.

Our obedience remains imperfect in this life, but genuine faith produces a growing pattern of repentance, submission, and holiness.

Jesus Is the Truly Obedient Son

There is an even greater Son standing before the religious leaders as Jesus tells this story.

Jesus Christ did not resemble either son completely.

He never rebelled against His Father and later needed to repent. Neither did He promise obedience and then refuse to give it.

Jesus is the perfectly obedient Son.

He declared:

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”
John 4:34

Where our obedience fails, Christ’s obedience is perfect.

This is vital because Christianity is not the message that sinners must become sufficiently obedient so God will accept them. Our acceptance before God rests upon Christ.

Jesus fulfilled the Father’s will perfectly, and His righteousness is counted to those who trust in Him. The same grace that justifies believers also begins transforming them.

Christian obedience therefore does not begin with, “I must obey so God will accept me.”

It begins with, “In Christ I have been received by grace, therefore I desire to obey the Father who has shown me such mercy.”

What Does Obedience to God Look Like Today?

The parable forces us to examine the distance between confession and conduct.

It is possible to affirm biblical truth while resisting what Scripture commands. We can say that forgiveness matters while refusing to forgive. We can affirm prayer while rarely praying. We can confess God’s sovereignty while continually resisting His providence.

True obedience begins by taking God’s Word seriously.

That does not mean believers obey perfectly. Christians still battle sin. Sanctification is gradual, and repentance remains part of the Christian life.

The question is not whether you have ever failed to obey.

The question is what you do when God’s Word exposes your disobedience.

The first son gives us a simple picture: turn and go.

When God reveals sin through Scripture, confess it. When His Word commands something difficult, trust His wisdom. When you recognize that your profession and your conduct have drifted apart, do not defend the inconsistency.

Repent and return.

That pattern is part of faithful Christian living. Christian faithfulness is not impressive religious speech. It is the ordinary, Spirit-enabled practice of hearing Christ’s Word and submitting our lives to Him.

Journal Reflection

Consider where your words and actions may have separated.

Where have you said yes to God while quietly refusing something He has clearly commanded?

Where have you resisted Him but now recognize the need to repent?

Write down the specific Scripture that addresses the matter. Then pray through what obedience would actually require rather than settling for a vague intention to change.

A prayer journal can provide a useful place to record these convictions, prayers, and passages so that reflection leads toward concrete obedience rather than disappearing when the moment passes.

Ask God not merely to make obedience easier, but to deepen your love for Christ and conform your desires to His Word.

Prayer

Father, You are worthy of more than my words. Forgive me for the times I have confessed Your authority while resisting Your will.

Thank You that my standing before You does not depend upon perfect obedience, but upon the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Thank You for the grace that forgives my disobedience and for Your Spirit who continues to sanctify Your people.

Give me genuine repentance when Your Word exposes my sin. Guard me from religious hypocrisy. Teach me to trust Your commands because I trust Your character.

Make my profession of faith increasingly visible in a life of humble, grateful obedience to Christ.

Amen.

Final Reflection

The first son reminds us that yesterday’s rebellion does not place the repentant sinner beyond God’s grace. The second warns us that today’s religious words are no substitute for doing the Father’s will.

The decisive question is not merely whether we call God “Lord.”

It is whether the faith we profess is bearing the fruit of repentance and obedience.

And when we discover that it is not, Christ does not call us to hide behind better promises.

He calls us to repent, believe, and follow Him.

For believers who want to continue tracing Jesus’ teaching within Matthew rather than studying this parable in isolation, the Matthew bible study guide provides the natural next step into the Gospel’s wider presentation of Christ and His kingdom.

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