{"id":95549,"date":"2026-05-11T09:29:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=95549"},"modified":"2026-05-11T09:29:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:29:30","slug":"works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/works\/","title":{"rendered":"Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n

Paul believed that there were two kinds of works:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Works of the law of Moses, where you would have to earn <\/b>a right standing with God (Romans 3:28; 4:2,4). Since all are condemned by sin, this will never happen (Romans 3:23; 6:23). This is the kind where he says “not of works lest any man should boast<\/em>” (Ephesians 2:8-9). These kinds of works will never save since they require perfect, sinless work, and because one sin ruins that record, you need grace and faith in a Savior.<\/li>\n
  2. Works of faith in Christ (Galatians 5:6). This is “obedience of faith<\/em>” (Romans 1:5; 6:16-18; 16:26). This is active faith that trusts and obeys Jesus. There is no “earning” here, just grace and peace, forgiveness, and motivation to be slaves of righteousness, works of faith in love. Paul and James agree that works of faith in Jesus are required (Galatians 5:6; James 2:14-26). Faith without works is dead, lifeless, and cannot bring about salvation or justification.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Don’t be deceived!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Terry Wane Benton Paul believed that there were two kinds of works: Works of the law of Moses, where you would have to earn a right standing with God (Romans 3:28; 4:2,4). Since all are condemned by sin, this will never happen (Romans 3:23; 6:23). This is the kind where he says “not of…<\/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,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[55],"class_list":["post-95549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-works"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":96132,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/works-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":95549,"position":0},"title":"Works","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton In Romans 3-4 We are justified \"by faith apart from the deeds of the Law\" (Romans 3:28). To be justified by means of the deeds of the law, one would have to be perfect and never sin. Break one law and being justified by the deeds\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":15877,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/faith-and-works-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":95549,"position":1},"title":"Faith and Works (Sharp)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Sharp The doctrine of salvation by faith alone is fundamental to Protestant theology. The old Methodist Discipline stated, \u201cWherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.\u201d The Standard Baptist Manual, by Edward T. Hiscox teaches, \u201c... the great\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":28587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-righteousness-be-apart-from-works-when-faith-is-a-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":95549,"position":2},"title":"How can righteousness be apart from works when faith is a work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: \"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin\"\" (Romans 4:6-8). \"Then they\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":61195,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/works-in-the-book-of-romans\/","url_meta":{"origin":95549,"position":3},"title":"Works in the Book of Romans","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel via\u00a0Truth Magazine\u00a0XXIII: 2, pp. 43-45, January 11, 1979 Frequently Paul mentions works or deeds in his epistle to the saints at Rome. Whatever he means by \"works,\" the term expresses something opposed to grace and faith. He insists that justification does not find its source in works.\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":24038,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-paul-saying-that-only-if-we-dont-work-then-god-will-make-us-righteous\/","url_meta":{"origin":95549,"position":4},"title":"Is Paul saying that only if we don’t work, then God will make us righteous?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is Paul saying in Romans 4:4-5 that only if we don't work then God will make us righteous? Answer: \"Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly,\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":39149,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/justification-by-works-in-james\/","url_meta":{"origin":95549,"position":5},"title":"Justification by Works in James","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Earlier, I wrote about Paul's discussion of justification by works in the first four chapters of Romans. In it, he says that justification by works requires perfect obedience to God, which no one but Jesus has achieved. Thus, Christians must seek salvation by faith apart from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/abrahams-sacrifice-of-isaac-226x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95549","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=95549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}