“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV)
Salvation is purely by grace through faith alone in Christ. Salvation is a gift of God to all humankind. It cannot be deserved, merited, earned, or bought by any performance or good work (Eph. 2:8-9, Rom. 11:6).
We contributed absolutely nothing to our salvation. Christ is the author and finisher of our salvation. Christ is the one who worked and paid for our salvation by His suffering and death on the cross (Heb. 2:10, 12:2). God expects and demands no work, contribution, or input from us for our salvation.
Paul explains this truth in his epistle to the Romans.
Romans 4:4-5 – NKJV
4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
Our salvation is not a reward or wages we deserve but a gracious gift we don’t deserve. We are simply the recipients or beneficiaries of the salvation Christ worked and paid for with His precious blood.
Christ’s redemptive work is finished and perfect!
Nothing remains to be done, modified, or added to it.
While the Scripture presents salvation as a pure gift from God and not a reward or wages of our good works, it aptly presents good works as a fruit, evidence, or result of salvation.
The Scripture teaches that saving faith is not alone; good works always accompany it. Good works reveal faith!
James 2:17-20 – NKJV
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe–and tremble!
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
The New Testament believers are not saved, recreated, or born again by good works, but by faith in Christ and His finished work. However, believers are saved, recreated, or born again in Christ for good works.
Apostle Paul aptly presents this truth.
Ephesians 2:10 – NKJV
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Paul also states that Christ saved us to be zealous for good works.
Titus 2:11-14 – NKJV
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14 who 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.
If good works are not necessary for our salvation, why should born-again believers become zealous for good works, be ready for every good work, or maintain good works?
Is it to earn God’s love, acceptance, approval, favor, or blessing, as many people think, preach, or teach today?
Absolutely not!
Why?
Because the born-again believers are no longer under the Law or the Old Covenant!
Under the Old Covenant, God’s dealings with men were based on their performance or good works. God’s blessings were contingent upon the people’s performance or good works.
God cut the Old Covenant with the children of Israel on their words or promises to do, perform, or obey all the words God had commanded them. The Old Covenant was performance-based or work-based (Exo. 19:7-8, 24:3-8).
On the contrary, the New Covenant was established upon better promises, not men’s but God’s promises. The New Covenant was not man-based but God-based. It was not a performance or work-based Covenant but a faith-based covenant.
Hebrews 8:6-13 – NKJV
6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
7 For if that first Covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah–
9 “not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My Covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.
10 “For this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
11 “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
As seen in the above scripture and many other scriptures (Jer. 31:31-34, 32:37-42, Eze. 36:20-36), under the New Covenant, God is the one who promised to do, keep, perform, and fulfill the terms of the Covenant.
God’s dealings with the New Covenant believers are not contingent upon their performance or good works but on their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Why?
Because the New Covenant is not work-based but faith-based! Your good works don’t earn God’s love, acceptance, approval, favor, or blessings under the New Covenant.
Beloved, as a New Covenant believer, you don’t need to impress, influence, or woo God to love, accept, approve, favor, or bless you by your performance or religious works because God has completely and eternally loved, accepted, approved, favored, and blessed you in Christ Jesus (Jer. 31:3, Eph. 1:6).
Why should you be zealous for good works, be ready for every good work, or be careful to maintain good works?
Find out in the second part of this piece!
Prayer:
My Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for creating me in Christ Jesus for good works. My Dear Holy Spirit, teach and help me purify my motives for doing good works so that I may do good works out of a pure motive, in Jesus’ name. Amen.