Are good works the result of salvation?<\/p>\n
I was in a discussion earlier with someone of the Baptist faith who used Ephesians 2:10 to say that good works are the result of salvation and not required for salvation, since Paul is referring to us being saved in Ephesians 2:8-9, then immediately talks about how we are created to do good works after we are saved in Ephesians 2:8-9.<\/p>\n
I kind of see where he is coming from because this was written to the church of Ephesus, and he is reminding them that they were saved by grace through faith. Then he tells them they were created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.<\/p>\n\t
In Ephesians 2, Paul points out that we all once walked in sinful ways (Ephesians 2:1-3), but God, in His mercy, chose to save us by making us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-7). It is subtle, but compare the idea of being made alive together with Christ with Romans 6:3-7, and you will realize that Paul is talking about the Ephesians becoming Christians through the means of baptism.<\/p>\n
Ephesians 2:8-9 starts out with the word “for.” This is a “flag” that Paul is offering proof of what he just stated. Our salvation comes because of God’s mercy and His decision to offer us grace. It does not originate from ourselves. Yet, that gift comes with requirements that we must meet. It requires faith on our part, which is a work done by men (John 6:29). That work doesn’t put God in obligation to men. The offer of salvation came first. Men are in an obligation to God.<\/p>\n
“For” begins Ephesians 2:10 as well. This is Paul’s second proof of his point. Men are not creating their own means of salvation because God laid out how men would be saved beforehand; that is, before the world was even created. It is God who requires men to walk in the good works that He defines, and not men demanding that God accept their works as good or that God owes them salvation.<\/p>\n
Ephesians 2:11-13 gives the summary or conclusion to Paul’s current point. Even though the Gentiles were lost in the world and were not a part of the covenant between God and Israel, they are still able to approach God through the blood of Christ because of God’s mercy and grace. Because God chose faith as the basis of salvation, the way of salvation is open to both the Gentiles and the Jews. It also means that the covenant that made a distinction between the Jews and Gentiles is now canceled (Ephesians 2:14-17). Thus, the Law of Moses does not save. Salvation is based on the sacrifice of Jesus (Ephesians 2:18).<\/p>\n
None of this means that God doesn’t require us to do things in order to be saved. On the contrary, this passage mentions or alludes to baptism, faith, and continued obedience. These are God’s requirements and not men’s. These don’t earn our salvation; they are acts of submission to God’s demands. Salvation itself is purely the gift God chooses to bestow on those who do His will. “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, ‘You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’ … You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone<\/em>” (James 2:17-18, 24).<\/p>\n In answer to your question, good works are not the result of salvation. God prepared the good works to be done before the creation of the world (Ephesians 2:10). We were created from the very beginning to do those good works (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). We are saved when we submit to God’s will and the point when we are saved is when we are made alive during baptism (I Peter 3:21).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Are good works the result of salvation? I was in a discussion earlier with someone of the Baptist faith who used Ephesians 2:10 to say that good works are the result of salvation and not required for salvation, since Paul is referring to us being saved in Ephesians 2:8-9, then immediately talks about how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[971,55],"class_list":["post-39338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-ephesians","tag-works"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/arent-there-passages-that-say-we-are-saved-by-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":39338,"position":0},"title":"Aren’t there passages that say we are saved by faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You say\u00a0that \"You will never find where the Bible says that baptism is a symbol, or that one is saved at the point of faith.\" What about Luke 7:50? Jesus said to the woman, \"Your faith has saved you; go in peace.\" Ephesians 2:8\u00a0\"For it is by\u00a0grace you have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63421,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/salvation-by-grace-through-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":39338,"position":1},"title":"Salvation by Grace Through Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we read Ephesians 2:8-10, there are four important words which stand out: grace, saved, faith, and works. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The gift mentioned in verse 8 is the gift of salvation given to us by God\u2019s grace. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Grace is an unmerited favor. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58392,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/obeying-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":39338,"position":2},"title":"Obeying the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 58, No. 8, Feb. 20, 2009. Question: How can one talk about \"obeying the Lord\" in the light of what is said in\u00a0Titus 3:5\u00a0and\u00a0Ephesians 2:8? Answer: First, let us notice what these two passages say: \"Not by works done in righteousness, which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95979,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-one-work-toward-his-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":39338,"position":3},"title":"Can One Work Toward His Salvation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Charles Spence via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 2, June 1995 \"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone\" (James 2:17). One of the most misunderstood teachings of the Bible is grace through faith. People have often cited Ephesians 2:8-9, excluding verse 10. The text is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2026,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-teaching-is-a-work-then-it-doesnt-save-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":39338,"position":4},"title":"Since teaching is a work, then it doesn’t save. Right?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Telling others about Christ is a work. \"For by grace we are saved through faith, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast\u00a0\" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Answer: There was a branch of the Baptist denomination that fully accepted the idea that being saved was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91555,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-baptism-a-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":39338,"position":5},"title":"Is Baptism a Work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Vicky Buckwalter It is not uncommon to hear some insist that baptism is not a work. Yet I fear that, in responding to criticism from denominational voices who accuse the Lord's church of legalism, we have grown hesitant to admit that baptism is indeed a work-specifically, a work authorized\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}