Man Obedient And Disobedient

In obedientia autem quare? Istud Quare primum adinvenit diabolus. Diabolus enim obedientiae praeceptum primus discutere coepit: quare, inquit, praecepit vobis Deus non comedere de ligno scientiae boni et mali? Antehac homo simplex simpliciter obedierat, non tam propter praecepti rationem, quae ob praecipientis auctoritatem. Sicut enim fides non habet meritum, cui humana ratio praebet experimentum, sic obedientia a virtute humilitatis evacuatur, cum ei ratio praecepti astipulatur. Vis tamen audire, quare ad alienum aut laboramus, aut pausamus arbitrium et imperium? Quia in hoc nimirium imitatores sumus Christi, sicut filii charissimi, et ambulamus in dilectione, qua dilexit nos, qui ad omnia factus est obediens propter nos, non solum ad remedium, sed ad exemplum, ut quemadmodam ille fuit, sic et nos simus in hoc mundo. In hoc enim, ut beatus ait Joannes, et fiducia. Factus est ergo obediens per omnia, non solum Patri usque ad mortem, sed Mariae et Joseph, usque ad praelationem. Cum enim paterna vocatione dicente: Hic est Filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi bene complacuit: ipsum audite, ad praelationem vocaretur, tunc primum coepit aliis praeesse, qui diu didicerat aliis subesse; coepit jubere, qui didicit obedire. Praeterea recompensatio iusta videtur, ut qui in paradiso dedignatus est regnare dominus sub Domino, in exsilio jam serviat servus conservo. Conditio enim naturae statuit hominem sub Domino: transgressio obedientiae subjugavit cum inimico; reconciliatio vero gratiae supposuit fratri conservo. Natura subdidit eum Deo, culpa diabolo, reconciliatio vero homini amico. Isaac, Cisterciensis Abbas, Sermo L, In Natali Apostolorum Petri et Pauli Source: Migne PL 194.1859b-1860a

And why obedience? This 'why' the devil first brought. For the devil first began to shake the command of obedience. 'Why,' he said, 'does He command you not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?' 1 Before this simple man simply obeyed, not because of the reason of the command but because of it's authority. So even as faith for which human reason gives demonstration has no value, so is obedience detached from the virtue of humility, when it demands reason for the command. You wish, however, to hear why we go out to labour or we rest by judgement and command? Because in this especially we are imitators of Christ, like beloved sons, and we walk in love, with which He loved us, He who in everything was made obedient for us, 2 not only as a remedy, but as an example, that even as He was, we are in this world. For in this, said the blessed John, is faith. He was made then obedient in all things, not only to the Father unto death, but to Mary and Joseph, 3 even to the preferring of it. For when the paternal voice declared: 'This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased,' 4 you will hear the same when you have been called to the preferring of it, for then he first begins to excel others who subjects himself to learning from others, then he begins to command who learns to obey. Besides the righteous reward shall appear, which in paradise is prepared for those who will rule, a lord beneath the Lord, who in exile now are serving, a servant to a fellow servant. The state of our nature places man beneath the Lord, the transgression of obedience subjugates us beneath the enemy, but the reconciliation of grace establishes one beneath a fellow servant. Nature subjects man to God, sin to the devil, reconciliation, however, to a good man. Isaac of Stella, from Sermon 50, On the Feast of Peter and Paul 1 Gen 3.1 2 Phillip 2.8 3 Lk 2.51 4 Mt 17.5