Theology 101 No.19

Since the beginning of this series of bulletin inserts we have traversed a wide variety of topics. We have looked at who God is, His Word, His Law, and His plan for salvation through Jesus Christ. Conversion as a work of the Holy Spirit makes us children of God and no longer His enemy. While conversion is the beginning of our Christian life, our need for God, His Word, and His continued guidance and direction is still a need.

When we become Christians we are changed people. No longer do we seek to conform to our own ideas and former ways of thinking and acting – as one flows from the other (Romans 12:2, II Corinthians 10:5). No longer do we seek to hide from God (as Adam and Eve did in the Garden), but we desire to be nearer to Him and we seek to fulfill His will for our lives. As St. John wrote, “We love Him because He first loved us” (I John 4:19). As God’s children we will resist temptation and the devil by means of our faith (I Peter 5:9). Though we will from time to time fall into sin, we do not let sin rule or gain mastery over us (Romans 6:12).

St. Paul set down our new purpose in life as Christians: “[Jesus Christ] gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). And again in His letter to the Ephesians (2:10), Paul makes it clear that we were created to do “good works” to God’s glory. These good works, however, are to be more than simple outward conformity to God’s will. God is the one who searches a man’s heart and it is He who determines a work’s value and use (I Samuel 16:7).

There are two criteria that make a good work truly good in God’s eyes. First, it must conform to God’s Law. God’s standard for what is good is spelled out in His Law. The Christian’s life is not to be guided by what is popular or in vogue, nor are his works to be determined by what the world deems “good.” It is often the case that what the world has declared good is not pleasing in God’s sight (Isaiah 5:20, 21; Isaiah 55:8,9). The Ten Commandments and their meanings from Luther’s Small Catechism give us a clear understanding of God’s holy expectations for His Children. And His true children will delight in keeping these Commandment in both letter and intent (John 14:21; I John 3:23, 24). The second qualification that makes a work good in God’s sight is that it is done in Christian love. Works done according to the threat of the Law, out of the fear of punishment, or a desire for reward are not done in love (Galatians 5:6; Romans 13:10; I Corinthians 13:1-3) .

Even with the Holy Spirit working in us through the means of grace and with God’s good and holy direction given in His Word, Christians are not perfect doers of the Law. As long as the Old Adam still dwells in us, we will from time to time succumb to temptation and fail to show love in all situations. This tendency to slip occasionally back into sin does not, however, relieve us from our Christian duty to love one another as Christ loved us. A Christian with a living and growing faith will strive to improve his life and desire to become ever more the child of God our Lord wants him to be.

It is to this extent that one can say with confidence that “good works are necessary.” They are not necessary for salvation (since man cannot add to what Christ has accomplished), but they are necessary as an expression of one’s faith. St. James (James 2:17) makes it quite clear that, “Faith, if it has not works, is dead” (see also II Peter 1:5-9; I John 2:4; 4:20). Good works are the necessary fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8) and an undeniable by-product of faith. We are to let our “light shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and bring glory to God in our actions toward and for others.

The Ten Commandments are the Christian’s guide to a good and commendable life. We have little doubt as to what actions please our loving God. Where we fail, let us look with repentance to Christ on the cross, and with the help of the Holy Spirit try, we try again. With a life of repentance and forgiveness lived out in good works, we shall reflect the words of the Psalmist when he wrote, “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.