What Are Good Works?

Every evangelical is familiar with the pillar verses of grace found in Ephesians 2:8-9. They are majestic and worthy of praise for the truth they teach: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (ESV). This is beautiful and incredibly freeing. But, of course, the apostle didn’t stop writing there. He continues: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (2:10, ESV).

Though we are not saved by good works, the command to do good works nonetheless is as consistent of a message as the entire Bible provides. I have been studying the great pastoral epistle Paul wrote to his good friend and mentee, Titus, and this phrase (“good works”) pops up everywhere. Here is an exhaustive list for a very short book:

“They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work” (1:16).

“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works...” (2:7).

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (2:11-14).

“Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy to all people” (3:1-2).

“This saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works” (3:8).

“And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (3:14).

Paul takes care to distinguish the work done by God through the Holy Spirit that saves us from works-righteousness in this letter, but the call to live a life of good works is inescapable. Which naturally begs the question, what exactly are good works?

Sometimes I feel that we have a tendency to define good works too narrowly. What qualify are the overtly “spiritual” acts: sharing the gospel with an unbeliever, inviting someone to church, going to a Bible study, etc. But the way that I understand the Biblical imperative to be devoted to good works is that good works are anything we do that show us to be followers of God in a fallen world. And really, this leaves the door wide open.

Paul tells the Ephesians that God has prepared works for us already; our only job is to walk into these good works. Put more bluntly, as believers in Christ, saved by grace through faith, we can’t help but walk into this new batch of good works for which God has saved us. The glorious truth of our redemption is not only that our sins have been forgiven, but that we have been commissioned and freed to live an entirely new life, one that gives God glory instead of seeking our own temporary gain. This is an incredibly positive thing. We are emptied so that we may be filled again.

This is why Paul tells his friend Titus that Christ has redeemed us and purified us for the purpose of good works. It is Titus’s job as the pastor of this bunch to remind them of what God has already done for them through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that this type of transformation will bear fruit in the form of works that glorify God and help those around us. When we limit “good works” to only the explicitly spiritual works—evangelism, helping the poor, going to church—we limit our ability to perform good works. To meet the other requirements of life, we just don’t have time to do a ton of evangelism (especially effective evangelism) and go to a dozen church meetings every week. But if good works is broad enough to include everything we do in this life that we do differently because we have been saved by the grace of a great God and Savior than we can serve God with our whole hearts and without guilt in the everyday mundaneness of this life, knowing that we are giving him honor and glory.

This, as the writers of the Westminster Confession knew, is our chief end.