Are Works Essential for Christian Salvation

One of the great dangers we all face in Bible study is taking a passage, isolating it from all the rest of scripture, and making it teach a doctrine it was never meant to teach.  One such passage is Eph. 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (NKJV)  We read that and immediately conclude that works are not essential for Christian salvation.  The only problem with that is that it is incorrect.

There is a vast difference between saying we are not saved by works (which is true as stated in the passage--one cannot earn his way to heaven) and saying works are not essential to salvation (saying one can sit back in his easy chair, sip tea, never raise a finger of obedience, and be saved).  The very next verse coming after the Eph. 2:8-9 passage, verse 10, reads, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (NKJV)

The individual who takes Eph. 2:8-9 as eliminating the need for good works is saying that even though we were "created in Christ Jesus for good works" we do not need to do them.  God will save us without them.  That is like saying in the parable of the vine and the branches (John 15) that one can be a branch that does not bear fruit and still be saved yet Jesus said, "every branch in me that does not bear fruit he (God--DS) takes away." (John 15:2 NKJV)  It is like saying in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) that one need not use his talent for God will not "cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness" (Matt. 25:30 NKJV) contrary to what Jesus said.

I was recently reading Matt. 25 talking about the judgment scene to come on the last day, the Day of Judgment.  The reading begins in Matt. 25:31 and continues through verse 46, the end of the chapter.  While it is too long to quote here I will summarize it for you.  Jesus is separating the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the unrighteous.  What are the criteria being used to make the judgment?  Works!

Did you feed the hungry?  Did you give a drink to the thirsty?  Did you take in the stranger who needed a place to go?  Did you clothe the naked?  Did you visit the sick and the imprisoned?  The righteous did these things and entered into eternal life.  The unrighteous did not do these works and their place of abode is described as "everlasting punishment" (Matt. 25:46 NKJV).  They are called "cursed" and told to depart "into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matt. 25:41 NKJV)

In the book of Romans, a book that talks much about justification by faith, we are told that on the Day of Judgment God "'will render to each one according to his deeds':  eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality." (Rom. 2:6-7 NKJV)  "Glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good." (Rom. 2:10 NKJV)  Are works involved in one's salvation?  Sounds like it to me.

James says, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:26 NKJV)  Is a man saved, can a man be saved by dead faith?  To ask is to answer.

Has God not given us works to do?  Was Jesus the only one required to work the works of God?  Peter said while at Cornelius' house, "In every nation whoever fears him (God--DS) and works righteousness is accepted by him." (Acts 10:35 NKJV)  Christianity is not just what you believe but also what you do and/or fail to do as the case may be.

In Matt. 7 we have Jesus speaking and making a contrast between the one who "hears these sayings of mine and does them" (Matt. 7:24 NKJV) and the one or ones "who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them" (Matt. 7:26 NKJV).  The difference is between a house that stands and one that falls, "And great was its fall." (Matt. 7:27 NKJV)  The difference between standing versus a great fall was doing.

Christianity is not just about what one believes.  Many have been led astray, swallowed false doctrine, and have become convinced that salvation is all about what they believe and very little about what they do or don't do.  Obedience is called into question by some as being salvation by works.  They are convinced they can disobey God or ignore his commands without consequence and receive salvation as long as they mentally believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

What James wrote ought to dispel that notion, "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only." (James 2:24 NKJV)  James goes so far as to say, "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17 NKJV)  Sin is the thing that condemns us and keeps us out of heaven.  To do good (James 4:17) is to do works.  The faith that saves is a very active faith involved in the continual doing of good.  It is by works that faith is made perfect (James 2:22).  "Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:17 NKJV)

The faith that saves is the faith that avails which is “faith working through love.” (Gal. 5:6 NKJV)  Are Christians to be servants?  If so does that involve service or works?  Do you think a Christian who will not serve or be a servant will be saved? 

We all know we cannot work our way to heaven, "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration (baptism--DS) and renewing of the Holy Spirit," (Titus 3:5 NKJV) but when the faith we hold is a faith that leads us to disobedience rather than to obedience we ought to realize this is not the same faith held by Peter, James, John, Paul, and the other writers of the New Testament.

It is possible to "have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." (Rom. 10:2 NKJV)  A person who believes he can and will be saved by faith alone, pure mental assent alone, with no need to concern oneself with obeying commandments, is just as deeply in error as the man who believes he can do enough good works and obey perfectly enough to be saved.  Both hold and believe error.

I know as well as you that we are saved by the grace of God, the blood of Jesus, by faith, by gospel obedience, etc., but I also know we cannot be saved without works, works of obedience.  If so, if we can, Jesus was unjust in his judgment of those in Matthew 25 who failed to provide food, drink, clothing, etc. for those in need.  If one can be saved without works then Jesus did not judge justly in Matthew 25 and James is a false teacher.  It is really that simple.

I close with this, Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.” (Heb. 5:9 NKJV)  We cannot obey him without doing the works he set out for us to do.  

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