If you don’t know who I am, my name is John Olive. I gave a message on False Conversion back in September during which I described my background in criminal justice. I’m not a professional theologian, but I am a passionate one, and I’ve been involved in a lot of ministry work over the past 20 years.
Today I want to discuss the interaction between faith and works, which I have found to be an area of great confusion, especially among newer Christians. It is also one of the traps I fell into as a young Christian. Truthfully, much of what I preach about are related to my mistakes or character defects that God has allowed me to overcome.
As a young man, I heard several sermons in Baptist churches that were centered around Ephesians 2:8-9, so let’s start there.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
This is pretty clear, isn’t it? And it is really, just that clear. Works don’t save us; faith saves us.
In all the sermons I recall on this passage, I don’t remember anyone continuing on to verse 10:
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Before I discuss anything further, I want to draw your attention to the Greek word for workmanship. It is poiema. You and I are God’s poem to a lost world. Isn’t that exciting? From our brokenness God recreates us as a skillfully woven story of redemption and restoration. I just love what that says about how God looks at us and what our mission is.
Anyway, think about what Paul is saying. We are saved by grace through faith, so that we can do good works in this world that God prepared for us to do before we were even born. Saved, to do good works. That’s the Gospel message. Saved, to do. Not because doing saves us, but because real salvation produces action.
Of course, any discussion of this topic must also address what James Chapter 2 has to say.
James 2:14-26 “What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that[e] God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was[g] perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”
James is not telling us that works replace faith; rather, works complement faith. They flow from faith. We can see that Abraham believed God because he was willing to act upon the promise of God that he would have offspring through Isaac, and concluded that even if he sacrificed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead to fulfill the promise. That’s real faith! We know this is what Abraham was thinking because the writer of Hebrews tells us so in Hebrews 11:17-19.
Good works is a popular subject in New Testament letters. They show up in Ephesians, I Timothy, and II Timothy, among Paul’s letters. They are also referenced in Hebrews, James, and I Peter Perhaps nowhere do we see such enthusiasm for good works as in Titus. First, we have Titus 2:11-15:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds. These things speak and[d] exhort, and rebuke with all authority. No one is to disregard you.”
To be zealous means to be devoted to, passionate about, a zealot. We want to be constantly thinking about how we can serve people with needs.
Next, look at Titus 3:4-8:
“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This statement is trustworthy; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and beneficial for people.”
If we are New Testament Christians, we are to be devoted to performing good works, even though those good works don’t save us.
So, what are good works?
The words in Greek are kalos ergon, meaning morally good action. This would include anything from healing the sick, raising the dead, or sharing the gospel with someone; to helping a child cross a street, assisting an older person to change a light bulb, or going grocery shopping for someone who is sick. We are serving humanity, and not just in spiritual ministry but also in practical aid.
Now, let’s look at one of Paul’s letters addressed to believers who became confused about faith and works.
In Galatians, we see congregations that were becoming confused by Judaizers. These were Jewish converts to Christianity, primarily in Jerusalem, who taught that indeed Jesus was the Messiah, and it was vital to believe in His work on the cross to be saved, but that was not sufficient. In addition, to be right with God, one had to adhere to Mosaic Covenant commands of obeying the Sabbath, honoring the dietary laws, and being circumcised. These Greek believers in the region of Galatia had begun their relationship with God by faith but were beginning to compromise the message of salvation by faith.
As a young believer, I fell into a similar snare when I was 20 years old. For maybe six months, I was confused, thinking that while I started my salvation experience by faith, I was required to maintain it through obedience. It’s true that obedience is a byproduct of faith, and a complete absence of obedience is inconsistent with salvation, but our obedience does not improve our righteousness with God. Our right standing with God is imputed or credited to us through our faith in the blood of Christ.
I was a miserable human being. I constantly experienced a gnawing dread, because, after all, one can always study the Bible a little more, pray more, minister more. So, when is it enough? It’s a treadmill without end and I was exhausted. One day as I was reading in Galatians in the Amplified Bible, I ran across these verses:
Galatians 3:19-20
“What then was the purpose of the Law? It was added, later on after the promise, to disclose and expose to men their guilt – because of transgressions and to make men more conscious of the sinfulness of sin; and it was intended to be in effect until the Seed should come, to and concerning Whom the promise had been made. And it (the Law) was arranged and ordained and appointed through the instrumentality of angels (and was given) by the hand (in the person) of a go-between – an intermediary person (Moses) between God and man. Now a go-between (intermediary) has to do with and implies more than one party – there can be no mediator with just one person. Yet God is only one person – and He was the sole party in giving that promise to Abraham. But the Law was a contract between two, God and Israel: its validity was dependent on both.”
In that moment, God clearly revealed to me my error. I had fallen into the trap of becoming a party to a contract, rather than a recipient of a unilateral promise. The relief I experienced was overwhelming and I wept in gratitude.
Why is works-based salvation so appealing? Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is very hard on the ego. Most of us struggle accepting free gifts that we cannot reciprocate. We don’t feel right if we don’t do something to earn it. But God won’t allow that. Remember Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Those poor in spirit are essentially beggars. They accept that they are dependent upon the assistance of others. Grace is like that. We have a need that we can’t meet and have to depend totally on God. That hurts our pride.
But Judaizers of old, and modern-day Judaizers such as Jehovah’s Witness, LDS and Seventh-Day Adventists appeal to the fleshly nature to blend grace and works so we can feel good about ourselves and dupe us into believing we are at least partly saving ourselves.
Paul makes it abundantly clear that if we attempt to mix grace and works, we have abandoned salvation by grace and become debtors to the Law:
Galatians 5:2-4
“Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”
Now, I personally am circumcised, and most males born in western societies are also for health reasons. What Paul is talking about is being circumcised in order to fulfill a requirement of the Mosaic Law so these Greeks would be right with God. But Paul tells them that if they get circumcised and proclaim that the shed blood of Christ is not sufficient, then they can’t stop there but must fulfill every requirement of the Law, which, of course, is impossible. They have left grace behind, and have been severed, or cut off, from Christ. So, we see this is an extremely serious matter. We cannot blend faith and works to be right with God. It must be faith alone.
But maybe you think you are so well versed in Christian doctrine as to be immune from any hint of achieving righteousness by works. Perhaps you are, but consider this: Have you ever hesitated in praying to God because you have had a bad day or a bad week, thinking that God is not likely to hear your prayer because you have been out of His will? Even though you confess your sin and repent, you still feel unworthy to ask God for something. If so, you have unwittingly fallen into a works-based approach to God’s presence, thinking that your ability to come to the throne of grace is somehow dependent upon your obedience. That is a subtle form of righteousness by works and must be recognized and rejected. We come to God boldly, based on Christ’s shed blood, and never by our obedience or lack of it. The more we grow, the more subtle become the attacks of Satan. Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking we can’t be deceived if we let our guard down.
