Thursday, August 12, 2010

Good Works and the Gospel

In reading Ephesians 2:1-10, and especially verse 10, I had a simple thought. Good Works are part of the Gospel. Not that you MUST do Good Works to receive the Gospel (that's some messed up false law there), but rather this -- the Gospel brings good works attached to it. The same faith that receives salvation and forgiveness receives good works. Why?

Because you receive life as well as salvation. Life is expressed in good works.

And they happen, simply because you are a Christian who is forgiven, whom God has given new life. They happen because God has prepared them for you to walk in. Good works happen now just as they will in heaven - because that's who you are in Christ, because you have received life everlasting from God the Father through Christ Jesus. It's all tied up.

The thing that is damnable about false doctrine is that it tries to take these works, the most wondrous and blessed results of forgiveness, and make them the cause.

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