OF GOOD WORKS

1.  Good works are only such as God has commanded in His Holy Word, and not such as do not have the warrant of Scripture; and works that are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intentions are not good works.[1]

2.  These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and living faith; and by them believers express and show their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the Gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus to perform good works, and to have fruits of holiness which lead to eternal life.[2]

3.  Their ability to do good works does not in any way come from themselves, but comes wholly from the Spirit of Christ; that they may be enabled to do good works, alongside the graces they have already received, it is necessary to be a further real influence of the same Holy Spirit to cause them to will and to do of His good pleasure; yet they are not, on these grounds, to grow negligent, as if they were not bound to perform any duty, unless upon a special motion of the Spirit, but they must be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in them.[3]

4.  They who, in their obedience to God, attain to the greatest height which is possible in this life, are still so far from being able to do above what is expected, and to do more than God requires, as that they fall short of much which they are bound to do in their duty to God.[4]

5.  We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin or eternal life at the hand of God because of the great disproportion between our best works and the glory to come, and because of the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom by them we can neither profit nor satisfy God concerning the debt we owe for our former sins; but when we have done all we can, we have merely done our duty, and are still unprofitable servants; and in any case, because our works are good they originate from the work of His Spirit, and as they are wrought by us, they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection, that they cannot endure the severity of God’s judgment.[5]

6.  Yet, quite apart from the fact that believers are accepted through Christ as individual souls, their good works are also are accepted in Him; not as though the believers are in this life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in God’s sight, but because He looks upon them in His Son, and is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.[6] 

7.  Works done by unregenerate men, although they may essentially be things which God commands, and be good and beneficial both to themselves and others; yet because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith, nor are done in a right manner according to the Word, nor for the underlying purpose to bring glory to God, they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, nor make a man fit to receive grace from God; and yet, for unregenerate men to neglect such works is even more sinful and displeasing to God.[7]