In the context of Christianity, good works are things that are done out of obedience to God, love for God, and for God’s glory. Many things that people do are good in a benevolent sense but may not be good works in this Christian sense. If they have no spiritual motivation they have no spiritual value.
The Bible describes good works as the inevitable result of a good heart. They go hand in hand. “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit … So then, you will know them by their fruits” (Mt 7:17-20; see also Mt 12:33).
There is much theological debate about whether true faith can exist without good works, but all agree that a Christian is called to do good works. Paul writes, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph 2:10). Hebrews instructs, “[A]nd let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Heb 10:24 ESV). And, of course, James writes, “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” (Jas 2:14-17).
Martin Luther, though closely associated with justification by faith alone, has this to say about good works.
“[A] living, creative, active and powerful thing, this faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly. It doesn’t stop to ask if good works ought to be done, but before anyone asks, it already has done them and continues to do them without ceasing. Anyone who does not do good works in this manner is an unbeliever… Thus, it is just as impossible to separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from fire!”[i]
In saying this, Luther was refuting the Antinomians, who believe that Christians are freed from the Law including the requirement to follow the Ten Commandments and any need to perform good works.
Theologically, the primary difference on the relation of good works to sanctification is the Roman Catholic View that good works increase sanctification and the dominant Protestant view that sanctification results in good works. In either case there are good works, but psychologically the Roman Catholic might be more motivated due to the resulting spiritual benefits. The Protestant position is aptly summarized by Martin Luther above. The Roman Catholic position was defined at the Council of Dort: “If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.”[ii]
[Next: Perseverance and Assurance]
[i] Martin Luther, “An Introduction to St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans,” German Bible of 1522, Robert Smith, tr., Erlangen: Heyder and Zimmer, 1854: 124-125.
[ii] Council of Dort, Canon XXIV, 1619.
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