What are good works?
What is good work? and, What role do good works play in the Christian life? The Apostle Paul often explains that good works do not—in any sense whatsoever—play into a person’s right standing before God (Rom. 4:1–8; Eph. 2:8–9; Phil. 3:7–9; Titus 3:4–7). Isaiah unequivocally said, “All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isa. 64:6). However, Scripture also explains that believers have been “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph. 2:10), that we are to be “zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14; 3:1), and that Jesus commends the righteous for what they do for His sake (Matt. 25:31–36). So, how do we reconcile the fact that we are not accepted on the basis of our good works and yet that God accepts our good works though they are imperfect and tainted by sin? It is impossible that we who were all born “dead in sins and trespasses” can fulfil the legal conditions of the covenant by rendering to God perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to His law. Nothing less than pe