Amen....God does give the Holy Spirit to those that obey Him.
Obeying God in context to Acts 5:32 are for those to believe in Christ and all that He has already done.
Obedience in the New Covenant.
Being "obedient to the faith" is believing in Christ and His work for us for life and living. This happens by grace through faith alone in the work of Christ.
Notice here that even the good living moral law-keeping priests need to be "obedient to the faith". The keeping of the law of Moses is NOT the same as being "obedient to the faith".
Acts 6:7 (NASB)
[SUP]7 [/SUP] The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
Pagans/Gentiles also need to be "obedient to the faith" and believe in Christ and what He has done for life and living.
Romans 1:5 (NASB)
[SUP]5 [/SUP] through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake,
All people of all types are called to be "obedient to the faith" - which is belief in Christ alone for life and living.
Romans 16:26 (NASB)
[SUP]26 [/SUP] but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;
From being obedient to believe in Christ's finished work on the cross releases His life to manifest in and through us.
Law abiding priests are OBEDIENT TO THE LAW
NOT Obedient to Faith.
In either case, we are to be obedient.
We should stop beating around the bush about this and stop watering down the message Jesus had for us.
If I say we are TO OBEY CHRIST, why do I get flack for it?
ARE WE NOT to obey Christ?
Why not just state it simply so even the most simple person could understand.
GOD SAVES US BECAUSE WE TRUST AND BELEIVE IN HIM.
WE CONTINUE IN OUR SALVATION BECAUSE WE OBEY GOD.
IF WE DO NOT OBEY GOD, WE CANNOT BE FRIENDS WITH HIM.
HE DEMADS THAT WE OBEY.
Where's the problem in that satement?
If you don't obey God, you think you're headed for heaven?
And please don't tell me you obey and nobody is saying not to sin.
If you don't state something clearly, it COULD BE TAKEN that way.