We Are Not Saved By Good Works

One of the things I emphasize when presenting the gospel is that salvation is completely the work of God and not the work of people. It’s a free gift to us, paid in full by the Lord Jesus, who died in our place, the “just for the unjust” (1 Pet 3:18), and bore the punishment that rightfully belongs to us. This means we bring nothing to God. Nothing at all! Scripture reveals we are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24), and “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). Paul states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9). The good news is that we are saved completely by what Jesus accomplished for us at the cross and not by any good works we produce before, during, or after salvation.

Scripture reveals we are “justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Rom 3:28), and salvation comes “to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly” (Rom 4:5), and we are “not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified” (Gal 2:16), “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9), and God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Tim 1:9), and “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5).

The Bible reveals that we are helpless to save ourselves (Rom 5:6-10; Eph 2:1-3), and human works, however noble or great, have no saving merit in God’s sight. How then are we saved? We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Grace is God’s unmerited favor toward us. Grace is sometimes used as an acronym for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. This is correct. God richly provides our salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor 15:3-4; 1 Pet 3:18). There is nothing we bring to God to be saved. He is completely satisfied with what Jesus did for us at the cross (1 John 2:2). By faith we trust in Christ alone to save us (John 3:16; 14:6; Acts 4:12; 16:31). The challenge for us is to stop trusting in human works to save us and to cast ourselves completely on Christ as our Savior.