Good Works Are Not Your Problem

Good Works Are Not Your Problem

Rather than writing off good works, the Apostle Paul considered good works and faith to be the closest of friends.

The Christian life is “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6). In fact, Christ “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Good works are a major reason Christ died for you. Don’t think little of them.

Rather, it is Mosaic Law-works (such as circumcision, feast days, the priesthood, the sacrificial system, food laws and Jew/Gentile separation rules) that Jewish believers are freed from, and religious externalism and superstitious rule-keeping found in all paganism (Gal 8:8-11) that Gentiles are freed from. The Jew, like Paul, is liberated from that system in Christ, and the Gentile, who was never under it, is not to bring himself into that kind of bondage which he once experienced in his pagan worship. “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1).

It’s God’s eternal purpose for you to bear the fruit of love by serving one another through the indwelling Spirit.

“Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God” (Rom 7:4).

Fulfill your purpose.