From the Westminster Confession of Faith:
1. Good works are only those works identified as good by God and commanded by him in his holy word.1 They do not include other works, no matter how well-intentioned in design or zealously promoted by men.2
1. Mi 6.8, Rom 12.2, Heb 13.21, Dt 12.32, Ps 119.9, Mt 28.20, Lk 10.25-26, 2 Pt 1.19.
2. Mt 15.9, Is 29.13, 1 Pt 1.18, Rom 10.2, Jn 16.2, 1 Sm 15.21-23, Col 2.16-17,20-23, Dt 10.12-1
2. These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruit and evidence of a true and living faith.3 By them believers show their thankfulness,4 strengthen their assurance of salvation,5 edify their brothers in the Lord,6 and become ornaments of all those who profess the gospel.7 Good works in believers silence the criticism of the enemies of the gospel.8 They also
glorify God9 by showing that believers are the workmanship and creation of Jesus Christ,10 because their aim is that holiness of living which leads to eternal life.11 3. Jas 2.18,22.
4. Ps 116.12-13, 1 Pt 2.9, Col 3.17, 1 Chr 29.6-9.
5. 1 Jn 2.3,5, 2 Pt 1.5-10.
6. 2 Cor 9.2, Mt 5.16, 1 Tm 4.12.
7. Ti 2.5,9-12, 1 Tm 6.1.
8. 1 Pt 2.15.
9. 1 Pt 2.12, Phil 1.11, Jn 15.8.
10. Eph 2.10.
11. Rom 6.22.
3. Believers get the ability to do good works entirely from the Spirit of Christ.12 In addition to the other particular effects of God’s grace already received, believers must be directed by the Holy Spirit in order to will and to do what pleases God.13 However, they are not therefore to grow
spiritually lazy, waiting for some special guidance from the Spirit before doing anything
commanded by God. Rather, they should diligently attempt to identify what good works God has commanded in his word and then try their best to do all of them, praying earnestly and daily for the empowering and enabling of the Holy Spirit, who lives in them.14
12. Jn 15.4-6, Ez 36.26-27, Lk 11.13.
13. Phil 2.13, 4.13, 2 Cor 3.5, Eph 3.16.
14. Phil 2.12, Heb 6.11-12, 2 Pt 1.3,5,10-11, Is 64.7, 2 Tm 1.6, Acts 26.6-7, Jude 20-21.
4. Those believers who do the best that can be done in obeying God in this life can never do more or even as much as he requires. Indeed they fall short of much which they are bound to do.15
15. Lk 17.10, Neh 13.22, Jb 9.2-3, Gal 5.17.
5. We cannot, of course, by our best works deserve to be forgiven for our sins and to receive eternal life from God. There is that great disproportion between our best works in this life and the glory which is going to be revealed in us, and there is the infinite distance between us and God, who does not profit from our best works and is not satisfied by them for the debt of our previous sins.16 When we have done all we can, we have only done our duty and are unprofitable servants.17 Since the goodness of our best works in fact proceeds from his Spirit18 and since, insofar as they are done by us, our best works are defiled and mixed with our weakness and imperfection, they cannot therefore even stand the scrutiny of God’s judgment.19
16. Rom 3.20, 4.2,4,6, Eph 2.8-9, Ti 3.5-7, Rom 8.18,22-24, Ps 16.2, Jb 22.2-3, 35.7-8.
17. Lk 17.10; see citations under 15 above.
18. Gal 5.22-23.
19. Is 64.6, Gal 5.17, Rom 7.15,18, Ps 143.2, 130.3.
6. Nevertheless, since the persons of believers are accepted through Christ, their good works in this life are also accepted in him.20 It is not as though they were perfect in God’s sight21 but that God, looking on them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward what is sincerely done, even though accompanied by much weakness and imperfection.22
20. Eph 1.6, 1 Pt 2.5, Ex 28.38, Gn 4.4, Heb 11.4.
21. Jb 9.20, Ps 143.2, 1 Cor 4.3-4.
22. Heb 13.20-21, 2 Cor 8.12, Heb 6.10, Mt 25.21,23.
7. Works done by people who have not been spiritually reborn may be the same as those
commanded by God and may be of good use to them and to others.23 However, since they do not proceed from a heart purified by faith, 24 are not done in the right way, i.e., in response to God’s word,25 and are not done for the right purpose, the glory of God,26 they are therefore sinful and cannot please God or make a person fit to receive grace from God.27 Nevertheless, it is more sinful and displeasing to God not to do such works than to do them.28
23. 2 Kgs 10.30-31, 1 Kgs 21.27,29, Phil 1.15-16,18.
24. Gn 4.3-5, Heb 11.4,6.
25. 1 Cor 13.3, Is 1.12, Mk 10.20-21.
26. Mt 6.2,5,16, Rom 14.23.
27. Hg 2.14, Ti 1.15, Am 5.21-22, Hos 1.4, Rom 9.16, Ti 3.5, Prv 15.8, 28.9, Mk 7.6-7.
28. Ps 14.4, 36.3, Jb 21.14-15, Mt 25.41-45, 23.23, 25.24-28
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