Bible Study ESV
Faith is Not a Work
I have heard people say that to have faith or to believe in Jesus is a work because the act of having faith or to believe is a work. They assert that since faith is a work, one must work to be saved. When they assert this, they claim that faith and works are necessary for salvation. This was confusing until I realized that a gift is not a gift if you work for it.
In Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul states, it is “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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” If anyone believes that their faith is a work, then the “gift of God” is no longer a gift because they are doing something to receive something. Paul separates faith from works by stating that grace is a “gift of God.” Since grace is a "gift of God," then faith cannot be a work. Salvation, which comes from God’s grace, is “not your own doing” and that it is “not a result of works.” Salvation and our works are separate. Faith is not a work.
This is important to understand because Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-22, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Why does Jesus call them "workers of lawlessness?" John said in 1 John 3:4, "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness." Jesus calls them "workers of lawlessness" because their sins are not covered by him. They are still in their sin and they do not have his righteousness. He doesn't know them because their faith is in themselves. Faith cannot be in both themselves and in Jesus for salvation. For Jesus to know them, faith must be in him alone.
These people are declaring their works and their faith to Jesus to enter the kingdom of heaven. Their “lawlessness" is because they are not following the will of his Father, who is in heaven. The Father's will is the law. Jesus tells us the Father's will. Jesus said in John 6:40, “the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." The will of the Father is for us to believe in the Son for eternal life. The will of the Father is not that we contribute to salvation by adding works. Paul said in Galatians 5:3-4, "Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace." If you add works to your salvation, and any work is a law, then you must keep the whole law, which no one is able, that is why salvation is through Christ alone. If you add works to your salvation, you are "severed from Christ" and have "fallen away from grace." The reason Jesus said, "I never knew you" is because they did not believe in him for their salvation. They believed in themselves. When you add works to your salvation, you are telling Jesus that what he did was not enough. We are saved by grace through faith in the Son, not by any other way, or by any works, or by any other belief.
Paul said, “you have been saved by grace through faith. And this is not your own doing.” Grace is undeserved favor. We don’t deserve God’s grace, but God gives it freely to anyone who chooses to have faith in his Son, Jesus. Our choice to have faith is entering into the work Jesus has already done for us. It is not our work. We cannot add to Jesus’ work. By having faith, we are entering into Jesus’ work. That is why our salvation is not our own doing. Our salvation depends on the work of Jesus, not the result of our works. No one can save themselves by adding works to their salvation. The sinner cannot save the sinner. If salvation depended on the sinner, then there would be no need for Christ. Without God’s grace, there is no salvation. Without Jesus’ work, there is no salvation. We cannot add our sin to a Holy and Perfect God.
Paul states that followers of Jesus are God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Once you choose to believe, God works in you that you may become like his Son, and the works that you will do have already been “prepared beforehand” by God. These works have nothing to do with earning grace or salvation, but everything to do with discipleship and becoming God’s “workmanship.” In Matthew 5:16, Jesus said, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Our works are our “good deeds” and our “good deeds” are meant for each other, which glorifies the “Father in heaven.” We glorify the Father by making him known to others by the way we live our lives following Jesus. Our “good deeds” are not for salvation. Our “good deeds” are for us to “walk in them.” Our “good deeds” don’t earn anything, but are good and helpful to one another. This means praying, going to church, giving to the poor, baptism, helping someone in need, studying the bible, loving those who do not love you, forgiving one another, witnessing, cutting off your old way of life and living in your new life in Christ, and all other “good deeds” are for us to “walk in them” to become the “workmanship” of God and to do for each other to make the Father known. There is a relationship between us and God, by our “good deeds” that we “walk in them,” so that others may see them and benefit from them and this glorifies God. We are not adding glory to God. We cannot add anything to God, but we are glorifying God by making him known to others that they may know him.
