Doctine Question #1 – The Role of Good Works
Doctrine Question #1
Salvation is only available by the grace of God, and not through our works as many cults believe. If works do not provide salvation, then what role do they play in the Christian life? (Thanks, Myke Harbuck)
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The use of works is the exercise of faith. The conversation about faith and works dare not separate faith from works or works from faith. Faith precedes works and works are necessary for our witness into the world and a dynamic life of discipleship. If we put works before faith we run into the wall of legalism. If we ignore works, as many Christians so, then we become gospel reductionists and antinomians…let alone Godless.
From the Heidelberg Catechism:
86. Q. Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace alone through Christ, without any merit of our own, why must we yet do good works?
A. Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit to be His image, so that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for His benefits,[1] and He may be praised by us.[2] Further, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by its fruits,[3] and that by our godly walk of life we may win our neighbours for Christ.[4]
[1] Rom. 6:13; 12:1, 2; I Pet. 2:5-10. [2] Matt. 5:16; I Cor. 6:19, 20. [3] Matt. 7:17, 18; Gal. 5:22-24; II Pet. 1:10, 11. [4] Matt. 5:14-16; Rom. 14:17-19; I Pet. 2:12; 3:1, 2.
God indeed calls us by grace.( Ephesians 2:8-10 )He awakens us to the state of our wretchedness when he clothes us with righteousness. How can we possibly boast about what we have become (v.9)? Before our calling, we could not please God. We knew only how to worship ourselves and our sinfulness. Now as members of the royal priesthood, we are caught in both kingdoms with the freedom to worship ourselves or to worship God. (Rm 7:19)
Few Lutherans fear their works are contributing to their salvation, but I know when I examine my heart closely, I often find myself worshipping my own works in my daily work. God calls me to a life of work and worship but because of my propensity to worship, my work can often become my idol. If I find my value and worth solely by my works, I end up worshipping myself and my handiwork. Rather, if my work reflects my gratitude to Christ for what he has done, and he receives all the glory, then my work becomes my daily expression of worship.
Finally, just as salvation was not by our choosing or doing (v.8), God has also prepared our table with works for us to do (v.10). We are created in Christ Jesus for good works! God does not guaranty our works or calling will be ones we find pleasing, but we are to be obedient and walk in these good works every day. How do you know what works he has for You to do today? You only need to ask God to show you the works and work that will help you to express your utmost gratitude for what he has already done for you when he imputed Christ’s righteousness in you. In doing so, your Lutheran liturgy of work will be one of Lutheran joyous living. DB- St. Johns Lutheran Orange, CA- LCMS
Why must we do good works? I believe the question really is “How can we not do good works?” Faith in Christ produces good works in the believer. It is almost like the Grace of the father. Unasked for, undeserved,and something that is truly uncontrolled by the believer. True Faith will produce good works. The believer cannot help himself.
Lutheran teaching about works seems to be so negative that even though there are writings on us as Christians doing works, as a Lutheran I don’t see works being stressed for us in our (my) daily life.
Justification by Faith
“This one and firm rock, which we call the doctrine of justification,” insisted Luther, “is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the understanding of all godliness.”[1] Lutherans tend to follow Luther in this matter. For the Lutheran tradition, the doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone for Christ’s sake alone is the material principle upon which all other teachings rest.[2]
Luther came to understand justification as being entirely the work of God. Against the teaching of his day that the righteous acts of believers are done in cooperation with God, Luther asserted that Christians receive that righteousness entirely from outside themselves; that righteousness not only comes from Christ, it actually is the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us (rather than infused into us) through faith. “That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law,” said Luther. “Faith is that which brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ”[3]. Thus faith, for Luther, is a gift from God, and “. . .a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.”[3] This faith grasps Christ’s righteousness and appropriates it for itself in the believer’s heart.
Luther’s study and research as a Bible professor led him to question the contemporary usage of terms such as penance and righteousness in the Roman Catholic Church. He became convinced that the church had lost sight of what he saw as several of the central truths of Christianity — the most important being the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He began to teach that salvation is a gift of God’s grace through Christ received by faith alone.[4] As a result of his lectures on the Psalms and Paul’s letter to the Romans, from 1513-1516, Luther “achieved an exegetical breakthrough, an insight into the all-encompassing grace of God and all-sufficient merit of Christ.”[5] It was particularly in connection with Romans 1:17 “For therein is the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, to faith: as it is written: ‘The just shall live by faith.’” Luther came to one of his most important understandings, that the “righteousness of God” was not God’s active, harsh, punishing wrath demanding that a person keep God’s law perfectly in order to be saved, but rather Luther came to believe that God’s righteousness is something that God gives to a person as a gift, freely, through Christ.[6] “Luther emerged from his tremendous struggle with a firmer trust in God and love for him. The doctrine of salvation by God’s grace alone, received as a gift through faith and without dependence on human merit, was the measure by which he judged the religious practices and official teachings of the church of his day and found them wanting.”[6]
Luther explained justification this way in his Smalcald Articles:
The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law, or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us…Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).[7]