hypakoē

Semantic range

1. 1obedience
2. 2compliance, submission
3. 3from hypakouō: to listen under, to answer a door

Built on akouō, to hear — the same collapse of hearing into obeying that Hebrew šāmaʿ performs. The verb hypakouō is used of answering a knock at the door (Acts 12:13), which is a good picture of what obedience is: responding to a voice.

Hebrews 5:8 says of Christ that "though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" — obedience as something learned through experience, not merely commanded. Abraham 3:25 frames mortality on the same premise: "we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."

See also

• שָׁמַעšāmaʿ
• ὑπομονήhypomonē
• πίστιςpistis