From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part fourteen of a series. Read part thirteen.

Two opposite but equally deadly errors about good works have troubled the church throughout its history. We find them both to be very much alive today.

In our last article we considered the true nature - indeed, the cosmic nature - of good works for the believer. Salvation in Christ is the root, good works are the fruit, and our good works are an integral part of God's plan from before the foundation of the world to redeem a people for eternity.

As we saw in our last article, the Biblical definition of good works is not merely "good deeds." The Biblical definition of "good works" encompasses far more - every aspect of our thinking and conduct before God. "Good works" encompass not only caring for the poor, but behaving in a godly way toward your employer who gives you the privilege of earning that which you give to the poor. "Good works" encompass not only giving to the work and ministry of the church, but truly loving those within it. "Good works" encompass not only distributing Bibles to those who have none, but seeking to understand, believe, and live everything that is between the covers of the Book yourself. There is a "signature conduct" that the world should see in every true Christian. The world that seeks to criticize us should have its mouth stopped because it sees this kind of new life in us.

Now that we have considered the Biblical view of good works, we also need to consider some false teachings about good works.

Let me begin with a point that I believe is crucial today. "Good works" of participation in various activities of the church are worthless if, at the same time, church members' homes are a spiritual disaster area. (I use the word "activities" deliberately. Much of what is called "ministry" in the church today falls far short of the Biblical definition.) The sad truth is that many postmodern Evangelical pastors sacrifice their true work of building godly homes on the altar of building a larger social, service, and sometimes political organization that they mistakenly call "the church".

Pursuing the goal of creating what they term a "full-service" church, they require members of all ages to spend so many nights of the week in "church activities" that they leave parents no time to do the vital work of build a godly home. They will question people's commitment - and sometimes even their salvation - if they do not support this agenda with their perpetual presence. I have even heard some pastors justify their behavior by making grossly un-Biblical statements like this one: "The church is your home." Often these pastors do not even instruct their people in how to build a godly home. Sometimes these pastors' own homes are a spiritual wreck. Men who pursue this course have much for which they must answer to God. They are placing their people in precisely the position God does not desire - where the world's accusations of hypocrisy against the people of Christ are in fact true.

Beyond this serious contemporary problem are two opposite but equally deadly errors about good works that have troubled the church throughout its history. We find both to be very much alive today. One says good works do not matter because you're already saved, and the other says that works do matter because that's how you are saved. Both are deadly errors.

Error Number One: "Good Works Do Not Matter"

False teaching number one says that since our salvation is all of grace, good works do not matter in the Christian life. That was the error that the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote these words to the church at Rome:

And why not say, "Let us do evil that good may come"? - as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just. (Romans 3:8)

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4)

Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. (Romans 6:15-17)

Thus the Bible thoroughly condemns the "come as you are, stay as you are" teaching that we find in much of 21st-century Evangelicalism.

Error Number Two: "Good Works Save"

False teaching number two says something opposite but just as spiritually deadly: that good works can save us, or can contribute to our salvation. That was the error that Paul had in mind when he wrote this to the Galatian church:

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? - Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain - if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."

So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith." Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them." Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:1-14)

This is also a serious problem today. As odd as it may seem, given the "come as you are, stay as you are" attitude of many postmodern Evangelical churches, reliable surveys have shown that nearly 60% of Evangelical church members believe that good works are necessary in order to be saved, in addition to believing on Jesus Christ.

That is exactly what the Roman Catholic church teaches. Rome teaches that you must have good works in addition to the righteousness of Christ. You also need the allegedly stored-up good works of so-called saints and other people to help get you out of purgatory - what the Roman Catholic church calls the treasury of merit. The Roman Catholic system talks about grace, but "grace" as Rome defines it is really based on works. It's not grace at all. Dear friend, none of the Roman Catholic teaching about salvation has any basis in the Bible. It is a lie. It is based on the traditions of sinful men, and not on Scripture.

There are people in certain Reformed churches today who are saying something similar to the Roman Catholic teaching. They are teaching that you are justified by faith when you first believe, but you are justified by your works in addition to faith at the last judgment. This is a heresy that goes by various names such as Shepherdism, the Federal Vision, the New Perspective on Paul, and Future Grace. All of these are false teachings, according to the Bible.

And then there are other people - you'll hear a lot of this in liberal churches - who believe that when you stand before God, He weighs the good you've done and bad you've done, and if the good outweighs the bad He'll let you into Heaven. You'll hear people say, "My religion is the Sermon on the Mount." And when they say that, they're usually thinking of the Beatitudes - "blessed are the poor in spirit" - "blessed are the peacemakers" - and so on.

But what these people do not understand is that in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter five, Jesus also said that if you even think about committing murder, you've committed murder. If you even think about committing adultery, you've committed adultery. The problem is not merely what you do, it's the condition of your heart.

Please pay careful attention. This is what the Bible teaches: We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. We sin because we have a sin nature that has been passed down to the entire human race through Adam.

That sin nature must be dealt with. The only way it could be dealt with was through the shedding of the blood of a perfect substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read in Hebrews 9:22, "without the shedding of blood there is no remission" of sin - no release from the bondage of the sin nature, no forgiveness of sins committed.

No Such Thing as "Easy Believism"

Here is the balance the Bible maintains: Salvation is all of grace, but it is not "easy believism." You cannot earn merit with God by your works, but on the other hand you cannot profess a "faith" in Christ that is really only a formula of words, and then live as you please. The Bible knows nothing of either extreme.

Genuine saving faith is God-given faith. It is empty-handed, naked faith. The one who truly believes is God's workmanship from beginning to end.

But as we saw in our last study, the believer has been created in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world to do good works - the works which God prepared beforehand for him to do after he has been justified by faith alone. If a sinner has truly believed - if a sinner has exercised God-given faith in Christ and not a counterfeit - then a changed life will follow that profession of faith in Christ just as surely as day follows night.

That is because the believer's life is by definition a changed life - it is new life in Christ. That changed life is what the Bible calls sanctification - the work of God the indwelling Holy Spirit making the believer think and act and speak more and more like Jesus Christ. But those good works, the evidences of sanctification in the believer's life, the evidence of knowing God's will and doing it, do not justify the believer in the sight of God. Good works are the result, not the cause, of salvation. Christ is the root of our salvation, good works are the fruit.

Are Good Works Evident in Your Life?

If you are a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ today, if that is your claim, does your life bear it out? Are you doing your own will, or God's will? Are you living out the works of the flesh, or the works of the Spirit? That is a serious question that every believer needs to ask. And you'll find the answer by looking into the Word of God. Galatians chapter five, beginning at verse sixteen, Paul says this:

Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

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