The Purpose of His Obedience Reformed theologians have interested themselves with the purpose lying behind Christ’s obedient life and ministry because they have discerned that both Christ’s right to carry out the messianic task as God’s Messiah-Savior and as the race’s last Adam and the salvation of those he came to save directly depend on his personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience to God’s law. To make this clear, they customarily distinguish between the active and passive obedience of Christ.