The Place of Works: Saved for Good Works

by David Chadwick

If we are solely saved by grace through faith, where then do works fit into the life of a follower of Christ? The message of Jesus is different from every other world religion in that it is a message of undeserving, radical, powerful grace.

James clearly states that faith without works is dead (James 2:17, 26). Is this a refutation of Paul's teaching? Absolutely not! The Bible cannot contradict itself. Let's take a moment to unpack this.

We are not saved by our works, but according to Scripture, our salvation is proved through our works. Works are the evidence that salvation has really and readily taken place in our hearts. Or said another way, we are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works.

If someone truly has Jesus ruling and reigning over his or her life, Jesus will be conforming him or her more and more into the image and likeness of himself (Romans 8:29). As this happens, we become more and more like the man we follow. He changes us from the inside out. As we become more like him, we desire to live for him and yearn to see his life reflected in our life.

In addition to looking, acting, and speaking like Jesus, we will go around sharing the gospel with others just like he did. We will both declare and demonstrate his message. We will speak the hope to the hopeless. We will share the way to be saved. We will care for the needy. Be generous to those who do not have as much as we do. We will pray for the sick. Like Jesus, we will work hard in all we do to bring people into heaven. Our aim will be to see his will be done. His kingdom come.

We do all of this because we know the gracious gift of salvation that we have received and we want others to see that we belong to Jesus and live for his glory alone.