Bear’s Reviews > The Doctrine of Good Works: Reclaiming a Neglected Protestant Teaching > Status Update

“So good works are a means… of God’s sanctifying work; indeed, they can be rightly considered instrumental causes that God uses to transform his people. And as sanctification is an essential element of salvation, we can and should conclude that good works are means and even causes of salvation.” P. 119

Pretty deeply theological, much more than I expected!

“But to one who had understood the true intent of the law, these pronouncements would have been less surprising… the heart of the law is to love God with one’s whole being, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, and to rehearse numerous offerings and festivals while neglecting these weightier matters is not piety but pretense.” P. 53

“In these opening chapters of Scripture, we find that human work…is not a result of the fall but is an integral part of God’s original intent for humanity. God creates humans to do good works, and doing good works is therefore part of what it means to be a human in right relationship with God. Work, in other words, is originally a form of worship.” P. 30

“Confessional and scholastic Protestant theologians understood Scripture to teach that good works are important. Indeed, good works are nothing less than necessary. They understood this biblical teaching to be forceful and convicting, and they insisted that it could be ignored only at great peril.” P. 24

“Paul urges that [Christians] not wait for those who are needy to come to them, but that they seek out those who need their assistance... For an act of mercy, it is not those who receive the kindness who are benefited, so much as those who do the kindness. They make the greater gain for it, gives them confidence toward God.” - John Chrysostom, p. 1-2