Hebrews 5:9
Hebrews 5:99And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him
— Christ "became responsible for everlasting salvation to all those obeying him" (NWT) — is a Watchtower keystone for the obedience-required soteriology. "Obeying him" is read as a lifetime of demonstrated organisational service: meeting attendance, field- service hours, loyalty to Jehovah's organisation. The verse becomes the proof-text that salvation requires more than faith — it requires sustained compliance with the Faithful and Discreet Slave's direction.
Paul's own vocabulary settles the meaning. names the goal of his apostleship as "obedience of faith" (hupakoē pisteōs). makes the equivalence explicit: "they have not all obeyed the gospel — for Isaiah says, 'who has put faith in the thing heard from us?'" Paul uses "obey the gospel" and "believe the gospel" as synonyms. 's "obeying him" carries the same shorthand — the obedience that responds to the gospel by trusting Christ. Hebrews itself confirms the reading at 11:8 (Abraham "obeyed by going out to a land" — the obedience of faith) and at 10:14 ("by one sacrificial offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified"). The ground of salvation is the one offering; the obedience is the receiving posture. Doorstep form: "When uses 'obey' and 'put faith' as the same act, is using the same vocabulary."