Chapter 16

1. Good works are only those works that God has commanded in his holy Word.(a) Works that do not have this warrant are invented by people out of blind zeal or on a pretense of good intentions and are not truly good.(b)

2. These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruit and evidence of a true and living faith.(c)  Through good works believers express their thankfulness,(d) strengthen their assurance,(e) build up their brothers and sisters, adorn the profession of the gospel,(f) stop the mouths of opponents, and glorify God.(g)  Believers are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,(h) so that they bear fruit leading to holiness and have the outcome, eternal life.(i)

3. Their ability to do good works does not arise at all from themselves but entirely from the Spirit of Christ.(j)  To enable them to do good works, they need—in addition to the graces they have already received—an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do his good pleasure.(k)  Yet this is no reason for them to grow negligent, as if they were not required to perform any duty without a special motion of the Spirit. Instead, they should be diligent to stir up the grace of God that is in them.(l)

4. Those who attain the greatest heights of obedience possible in this life are far from being able to merit reward by doing more than God requires. Instead, they fall short of much that is their duty to do.(m)

5. We cannot, even by our best works, merit pardon of sin or eternal life from God’s hand, due to the huge disproportion between our works and the glory to come, and the infinite distance between us and God. By these works we can neither benefit God nor satisfy him for the debt of our former sins.(n)  When we have done all we can, we have only done our duty and are unprofitable servants. Since our good works are good, they must proceed from his Spirit;(o) and since they are performed by us, they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot withstand the severity of God’s punishment.(p)

6. Nevertheless, believers are accepted through Christ, and thus their good works are also accepted in him.(q)  This acceptance does not mean our good works are completely blameless and irreproachable in God’s sight. Instead, God views them in his Son, and so he is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, even though it is accompanied by many weaknesses and imperfections.(r)

7. Works done by unregenerate people may in themselves be commanded by God and useful to themselves and others.(s)  Yet they do not come from a heart purified by faith(t) and are not done in a right manner according to the Word(u) nor with a right goal—the glory of God.(v)   Therefore, they are sinful and cannot please God. They cannot qualify anyone to receive grace from God,(w) and yet their neglect is even more sinful and displeasing to God.(x)

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1. Those God has accepted in the Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of his elect can neither totally nor finally fall from a state of grace. They will certainly persevere in grace to the end and be eternally saved, because the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. Therefore, he still brings about and nourishes in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit that lead to immortality.(a)  Even though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet these things will never be able to move the elect from the foundation and rock to which they are anchored by faith. The felt sight of the light and love of God may be clouded and obscured from them for a time through their unbelief and the temptations of Satan.(b)  Yet God is still the same;  they will certainly be kept by the power of God for salvation, where they will enjoy their purchased possession. For they are engraved on the palms of his hands, and their names have been written in the book of life from all eternity.(c)

2. This perseverance of the saints does not depend on their own free will but on the unchangeableness of the decree of election,(d) which flows from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father. It is based on the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him,(e) the oath of God,(f) the abiding of his Spirit, the seed of God within them,(g) and the nature of the covenant of grace.(h)  The certainty and infallibility of their perseverance is based on all these things.

3. They may fall into grievous sins and continue in them for a time, due to the temptation of Satan and the world, the strength of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation.(i)  In so doing, they incur God’s displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit;(j) their graces and comforts become impaired;(k) their hearts are hardened and their consciences wounded;(l) they hurt and scandalize others and bring temporary judgments on themselves.(m)  Nevertheless, they will renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end.(n)

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1. Temporary believers and other unregenerate people may deceive themselves in vain with false hopes and fleshly presumptions that they have God’s favor and salvation, but their hope will perish.(a)  Yet those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him sincerely, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may be certainly assured in this life that they are in a state of grace. They may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God,(b) and this hope will never make them ashamed.(c)

2. This certainty is not merely an inconclusive or likely persuasion based on a fallible hope. It is an infallible assurance of faith(d) founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the Gospel.(e)  It is also built on the inward evidence of those graces of the Spirit about which promises are made.(f)  It is further based on the testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God.(g)  As a fruit of this assurance, our hearts are kept both humble and holy.(h)

3. This infallible assurance is not such an essential part of faith that it is always fully experienced alongside faith, but true believers may wait a long time and struggle with many difficulties before obtaining it.(i)  Yet with the enabling of the Spirit to know the things freely given to them by God, they may attain this assurance using ordinary means appropriately without any extraordinary revelation.(j)  Therefore, it is the duty of all to be as diligent as possible to make their calling and election sure. In this way their hearts may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience. These effects are the natural fruits of this assurance.(k)  Thus, it does not at all encourage believers to be negligent.(l)

4. True believers may in various ways have the assurance of their salvation shaken, decreased, or temporarily lost. This may happen because they neglect to preserve it (m) or fall into some specific sin that wounds their conscience and grieves the Spirit. (n)  It may happen through some unexpected or forceful temptation(o) or when God withdraws the light of his face and allows even those who fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light.(p)  Yet they are never completely lacking the seed of God,(q) the life of faith,(r) love of Christ and the brethren, sincerity of heart, or conscience concerning their duty. Out of these graces, through the work of the Spirit, this assurance may at the proper time be revived.(s)  In the meantime, they are kept from utter despair through them.(t)

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1. God gave Adam a law of comprehensive obedience written in his heart and a specific precept not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.(a)  By these God obligated him and all his descendants to personal, total, exact, and perpetual obedience.(b)  God promised life if Adam fulfilled it and threatened death if he broke it, and he gave Adam the power and ability to keep it.(c)

2. The same law that was first written in the human heart continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall.(d)  It was delivered by God on Mount Sinai in ten commandments and was written in two tables. The first four commandments contain our duty to God and the other six our duty to humanity.(e)

3. In addition to this law—usually called the moral law—God was pleased to give the people of Israel ceremonial laws, containing several typological ordinances. In some ways these concerned worship, by prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits.(f)  In other ways they revealed various instructions about moral duties.(g)  Since all of these ceremonial laws were appointed only until the  Saviour arrived, they are now abolished and taken away by Jesus Christ. As the true Messiah and the only law-giver, he was empowered by the Father to do this.(h)

4. To Israel he also gave various judicial laws, which ceased at the same time their nation ended. These laws no longer obligate anyone as part of that institution. Only their general principles of justice continue to have moral value.(i)

5. The moral law forever requires obedience of everyone, both those who are justified as well as others.(j)  This obligation arises not only because of its content but also because of the authority of God the Creator who gave it.(k) Nor does Christ in any way dissolve this obligation in the Gospel; instead he greatly strengthens it.(l)

6. True believers are not under the law as a covenant of works, to be justified or condemned by it.(m)  Yet it is very useful to them and to others as a rule of life that informs them of the will of God and their duty. It directs and obligates them to live according to its precepts. It also exposes the sinful corruptions of their natures, hearts, and lives. As they examine themselves in light of the law, they come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred of sin,(n) along with a clearer view of their need for Christ and the perfection of his obedience. The law is also useful to the regenerate to restrain their corruptions because it forbids sin. The punishment threatened by the law shows them what even their sins deserve and what troubles they may expect in this life due to their sin, even though they are freed from the curse and undiminished severity of it. The promises of the law likewise show them God’s approval of obedience and the blessings they may expect when they keep it, even though these blessings are not owed to them by the law as a covenant of works. If people do good and refrain from evil because the law encourages good and discourages evil, that does not indicate that they are under the law and not under grace.(o)

7. These uses of the law are not contrary to the grace of the Gospel but are in sweet harmony with it,(p) for the Spirit of Christ subdues and enables the human will to do freely and cheerfully what the will of God as revealed in the law requires.(q)

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1. Because the covenant of works was broken by sin and was unable to confer life, God was pleased to proclaim the promise of Christ, the seed of the woman, as the means of calling the elect and producing in them faith and repentance.(a)  In this promise the gospel in its substance was revealed and made effectual for the conversion and salvation of sinners.(b)

2. This promise of Christ and of salvation through him is revealed in the Word of God alone.(c)  The works of creation and providence, when assisted only by the light of nature, do not reveal Christ or grace through him, even in a general or obscure way.(d)  Much less are those without the revelation of him in the promise or gospel enabled to attain saving faith or repentance by seeing these works of God.(e)

3. The gospel has been revealed to sinners in various times and in different places, along with the promises and precepts describing the obedience it requires. The particular nations and individuals who are granted this revelation are chosen solely according to the sovereign will and good pleasure of God.(f)  This choice does not depend on any promise to those who demonstrate good stewardship of their natural abilities based on common light received apart from the gospel. No one has ever done this nor can anyone do so.(g)   Therefore, in every age the preaching of the gospel to individuals and nations has been granted in widely varying degrees of expansion and contraction, according to the counsel of the will of God.

4. The gospel is the only outward means of revealing Christ and saving grace, and it is abundantly sufficient for that purpose. Yet to be born again, brought to life or regenerated, those who are dead in trespasses also must have an effectual, irresistible work of the Holy Spirit in every part of their souls to produce in them a new spiritual life.(h)  Without this no other means will bring about their conversion to God.(i)

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