It has been the belief of Protestants or evangelicals that our works cannot save or justify us. And their standard weapon or defense is Ephesians 2:8, where the apostle Paul says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Protestants take this to mean that our works, often equated with the keeping of God’s commandments and laws, cannot save us or make us just. Thus, Protestants react negatively whenever the word “law” or “commandment” or “work” is mentioned. They would readily label a person who brings up any of these words as a “legalist,” and the practice as “legalism.” [See: “Just What Do You Mean – Legalism?”]
As some have rightly pointed out, this Protestant interpretation of Scripture minimizes or even overlooks the verse that follows Ephesians 2:8. Verse 9 says: “For we are His [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” [See: “Saved for Good Works.”]
And why are our good works essential to our salvation?
Because our evil works – our sins – have earned all of us the penalty of death for all eternity (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Unless we receive forgiveness of our sins through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross at Calvary, this penalty will hang over our head (Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7)! “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Paul adds. [See: “The Ransomed of the LORD.” May this be something for those who observe the non-Biblical Christmas holiday this month of December to ponder about why Christ came into the world as a human Being.]
Thus, as the apostle James [Christ’s half-brother] rightly points out, our faith in Christ should lead us to do good works (James 2:14, 17-20). He famously writes: “Faith without works is dead!” Because this does not line up with his theology, Protestantism’s founder Martin Luther is said to have wanted James’ epistle to be deleted from the New Testament and the whole Bible, clearly contradicting God’s stern warning in Revelation 22:19 not to add to, or subtract from, God’s written revelation.
Protestantism’s hero, the apostle Paul himself, asks, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin [transgress God’s law – do evil works] that grace may abound?” His resounding answer: “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life [no longer practicing sin or evil works]” (Romans 6:1-4). Protestants have also overlooked Romans 2:13, which says, “(for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified…”
John 5:27-30 clearly shows that, when Jesus Christ returns to judge the earth, He will righteously judge all of mankind according to our works: “…those who have done good, to [obtain] the resurrection of life [everlasting], and those who have done evil, to the resurrection to condemnation [judgment, to take place after Christ’s 1000-year rule on earth (Revelation 20:5, 11-12). [See: “This Is Not the Only Day of Salvation.”] Peter also wrote: “…then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,” (2 Peter 2:9).
Revelation 20:12, 13 reinforces this: “And I saw the dead small and great, standing before God, and the books [Greek, biblia] were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by the things which are written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged according to their works.” Verse 15 concludes: “And anyone not found in the Book of Life [where those who have done good works are listed] was cast into the lake of fire [the “second death,” Verse 14].”
Long before John and Peter, God had inspired Israel’s wisest king, Solomon, to write: “For God will bring every work into judgment, including the secret things [our thoughts and desires], whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
In Verse 13 Solomon wrote: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter [which he had written beforehand]: Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is man’s all” [or duty, as some other versions put it]. [See: “Moses and Jesus – Are They Contraries?” and “Can We Fear and Love God at the Same Time?”]
Pedro R. Meléndez, Jr.
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