Works

The word covers two ranges at once. There are the works that Yahweh does — heavens, earth, redemption, the strange and marvelous acts that gather a people — and there are the works that men and women do, the labor of their hands and the moral output of their lives. Scripture moves between these two ranges, and most of the difficult passages are difficult because the relation between them is not simple. Yahweh's works ground human work, judge it, and (in the apostolic letters) supply what human work cannot.

The Works of Yahweh

The first work of Yahweh is creation. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1), and at the end of the sixth day "God saw everything that he had made, and, look, it was very good" (Gen 1:31). The psalms keep returning to this. "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, The moon and the stars, which you have appointed" (Ps 8:3); "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows his handiwork" (Ps 19:1); "O Yahweh, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all" (Ps 104:24). The works are too many to count: "Many, O Yahweh my God, are the wonderful works which you have done... If I would declare and speak of them, They are more numerous than can be numbered" (Ps 40:5). They are remembered ("He has made his wonderful works to be remembered: Yahweh is gracious and merciful," Ps 111:4) and they are universal in their reach: "Yahweh is good to all; And his tender mercies are over all his works. All your works will give thanks to you, O Yahweh; And your saints will bless you" (Ps 145:9-10).

Beside creation stand the great deeds of providence and redemption. Israel is taught to call them "the great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen" (Deut 10:21). When Yahweh acts among his people he does "a thing" at which "both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle" (1 Sam 3:11); his people consider "what great things he has done for you⁺" (1 Sam 12:24). Job knows him as one "Who does great things and unsearchable, Marvelous things without number" (Job 5:9). The community calls these acts "the Lord's doings": "This is Yahweh's doing; It is marvelous in our eyes" (Ps 118:23); "Yahweh has done great things for us, [Of which] we are glad" (Ps 126:3); the nations themselves say it (Ps 126:2). Even the marriage of Rebekah is referred to him: "The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can't speak to you bad or good" (Gen 24:50). The body itself is among these works: "because of your awesome works I am distinguished Wonderful are your works; And my soul knows that very well" (Ps 139:14). And the prophets warn that Yahweh's coming work can be a strange one. "Yahweh will rise up as in mount Perazim, he will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work" (Isa 28:21); "look, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish" (Isa 29:14).

In the gospels the same vocabulary lifts to the Lord's deeds in Galilee. The crowds come "hearing what great things he did" (Mark 3:8); the Gerasene is told to go "and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and [how] he had mercy on you" (Mark 5:19). The judged company at the end sings the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your works, Yahweh, the God of hosts; righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations" (Rev 15:3).

Ecclesiastes and Sirach push the doxology toward the limit of what humans can comprehend. "He has made everything beautiful in its time: also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end" (Eccl 3:11). Sirach takes that incomprehensibility as its starting point: "The sand of the seas, and the drops of rain, And the days of eternity: who will number [them]? The height of heaven, and the width of the earth, And the depth of the deep: who will search [them]?" (Sir 1:2-3). "For the works of Yahweh are wonderful things; And his work has been hid from man" (Sir 11:4). "He set in order his works forever, And their rule from generation to generation. They do not hunger, neither are they weak, And they do not cease from their works" (Sir 16:27); he made them "To show them the majesty of his works, That they might glory in his wonders" (Sir 17:8). "To none has he given power to declare his works, Yes, who can trace out his mighty deeds?... No man can take [from them] nor add [to them], Nor can any trace out the marvellous acts of the Lord" (Sir 18:4, 6). The works of the Most High come "in pairs, one opposite the other" (Sir 33:15); even medicines are reckoned among them ("God has created medicines out of the earth, And do not let a man of discernment despise them," Sir 38:4). The summary refrain is firm: "The works of God are all good, And for every need he provided in its time. None may say: This is worse than that. For everything in its own time is excellent" (Sir 39:16-17); "The works of God are all good, They supply every need in its season" (Sir 39:33). "Let me make mention of the works of God, And what I have seen I will also recount. By the word of God are his works, And he does his good pleasure according to his decree" (Sir 42:15). Even the holy ones cannot recount them: "The holy ones of God do not have the power To recount the wondrous works of his might" (Sir 42:17). "How desirable are all his works, And they are as a spark to behold... One thing surpasses another in its goodness, And who shall be satiated in beholding [their] beauty?" (Sir 42:22, 25). "For his own sake he makes his work prosper, And by his word he works his pleasure" (Sir 43:26).

Human Labor and the Work of One's Hands

Before the curse, human work is already given. "[The Speech of] Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it" (Gen 2:15). After the disobedience the same labor is given a new aspect. "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life; thorns also and thistles it will bring forth to you... in the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you return to the ground" (Gen 3:17-19). The wisdom literature lives inside this tension. The Preacher first looks at his completed works and despairs: "I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, look, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun" (Eccl 2:11). And yet he comes back: "there is nothing better, than that man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who will bring him [back] to see what will be after him?" (Eccl 3:22). Proverbs is plain: "In all labor there is profit; But the talk of the lips [tends] only to poverty" (Pr 14:23).

Sirach gives the most extended portrait of working life in scripture. Each trade is honored and each is bounded. The plowman "sets his heart on turning his furrows And his anxiety is to have sufficient fodder" (Sir 38:26); the engraver and craftsman "passes his time by night as by day... his diligence is to make variety, He sets his heart to make his likeness true, And his anxiety is to finish his work" (Sir 38:27). The blacksmith works in a heat that "cracks his flesh, And in the heat of the furnace he glows; The sound of the hammer is continually in his ear, And his eyes are upon the pattern of the vessel" (Sir 38:28). The potter "is ever anxiously set at his work, And all his handiwork is by number; With his arm he fashions the clay, And he bends its strength before his feet" (Sir 38:29-30). Of these workmen: "All these rely upon their hands, And each is wise in his handiwork. Without them a city cannot be inhabited... But the fabric of the world, they will maintain, And their thoughts are on the handiwork of [their] craft" (Sir 38:31-32, 34). And against this is set the labor of the scribe — "He who gives his soul, And meditates in the law of the Most High; He searches out the wisdom of all the ancients, And is occupied in prophecies" (Sir 39:1). The scribe "applies his heart to rise up early to the Lord who made him; And before the Most High he makes supplication" (Sir 39:5); his name "will live to generations of generations" (Sir 39:9). "If he continues he will be counted [greater than] a thousand; And if he dies, he will become more renowned" (Sir 39:11).

The labor of the religious man is folded into all of this. Yahweh demands it: Israel is to "fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deut 10:12); to "fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth" (Josh 24:14); to "serve him only" (1 Sam 7:3); to "know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing soul" (1 Chr 28:9). It is to be undertaken with reverent gladness — "Serve Yahweh with fear, And rejoice with trembling" (Ps 2:11), "Serve Yahweh with gladness: Come before his presence with singing" (Ps 100:2) — and willingly: "the leaders took the lead in Israel, For the people offered themselves willingly" (Judg 5:2). It is also to be undivided: "And let all Judah... [seek] him with their whole desire" (2 Chr 15:15); "No household slave can serve as a slave to two masters... You⁺ can't serve as a slave to God and mammon" (Luke 16:13). And, despite the toil, it carries joy: "I delight to do your will, O my God; Yes, your law is inside me" (Ps 40:8); "Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. He who goes forth and weeps, bearing seed for sowing, Will doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves [with him]" (Ps 126:5-6).

The doing-good demanded of the righteous is concrete. "Depart from evil, and do good; Seek peace, and pursue it" (Ps 34:14); "Trust in [the Speech of] Yahweh, and do good; Stay in the land, and pasture on faithfulness" (Ps 37:3). The model worker of Job 29 says, "I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy: And the cause of him who I didn't know I searched out" (Job 29:15-16). The capable woman of Proverbs "stretches out her hand to the poor; Yes, she reaches forth her hands to the needy" (Pr 31:20). The wise turn many to righteousness and "will shine as the brightness of the firmament... as the stars forever and ever" (Dan 12:3). The temple-builders are charged at the moment of relaunch: "be strong... and work: for [my Speech is] with you⁺" (Hag 2:4); "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands will also finish it" (Zech 4:9).

The Prophetic Indictment of Empty Ritual Works

The same scripture that demands service warns that ritual labor without justice is loathed. "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is disgusting to me; new moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I can't endure evil and the solemn meeting" (Isa 1:13). "Your new moons and your⁺ appointed feasts my [Speech] has rejected; they are a trouble to me; I am weary of bearing them" (Isa 1:14). "When you⁺ spread forth your⁺ hands, I will hide my eyes from you⁺; yes, when you⁺ make many prayers, I will not hear: your⁺ hands are full of blood" (Isa 1:15). The cure is reformed work: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your⁺ doings... cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek justice, correct oppression, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isa 1:16-17).

Sirach pushes the same line. "The sacrifice of an unrighteous man is a mocking sacrifice, And the oblations of the wicked are not acceptable. The Most High has no pleasure in the offerings of the ungodly, Neither is he pacified for sins by the multitude of sacrifices" (Sir 34:21-23). "So a man fasting for his sins, And going again and doing the same, Who will hearken to his prayer? And what has he profited by humiliating himself?" (Sir 34:31). The Pharisee in Luke 18 falls inside that critique: "I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get" (Luke 18:12). Sirach's positive counter-formula is brief: "The sacrifice of a righteous man is acceptable, And the memorial of it will not be forgotten" (Sir 35:9).

Sirach on Works

Sirach's voice on human works runs alongside its hymn to the works of God. Trust in Yahweh, not in the apparent prosperity of the wicked: "Do not be astonished at the works of the sinner; But believe in Yahweh and abide in your toil. For it is a light thing in the sight of Yahweh To quickly and suddenly make the poor rich" (Sir 11:21). The accounting is firm: "Everyone who does righteousness has a reward; And everyone will go forth according to his works" (Sir 16:14). And the works built on others' loss do not stand: "He who builds his house with other men's money, Is as one gathering stones for his burial mound" (Sir 21:8).

Works of the Flesh, Fruit of the Spirit

In Galatians the moral output of unredeemed humanity is named "the works of the flesh." "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]: whoring, impurity, sexual depravity, idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revelings, and things similar to these; of which I forewarn you⁺, even as I did forewarn you⁺, that those who participate in such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal 5:19-21). The contrast is not symmetrical: against this catalog stands not a list of better works but a fruit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk" (Gal 5:22-25). The same categorization appears in the gospels and the catholic letters. Jesus says of the world, "its works are evil" (John 7:7); to those who claim Abraham as father he says, "You⁺ do the works of your⁺ father" (John 8:41). James tracks moral disorder to its root: "where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile action" (Jas 3:16). Lot in Sodom dwells "among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed [his] righteous soul from day to day with [their] lawless deeds" (2 Pet 2:8). And Paul's exhortation to his own readers stays inside the moral picture: "Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and sexual depravity, not in strife and jealousy" (Rom 13:13).

Works and Faith in Paul

When Paul turns to the relation of works to salvation, he is uniformly negative on the works of the law. "Because by the works of the law will no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law [comes] the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20). Israel's failure was that "[they sought it] not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling" (Rom 9:32); "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God" (Rom 10:3). "If it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace" (Rom 11:6). The Galatian formula is the same: "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ... because by the works of the law will no flesh be justified" (Gal 2:16). "For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things that are written in the Book of the Law, to do them" (Gal 3:10).

The Abraham argument frames this. "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something of which to glory; but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages aren't reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness" (Rom 4:1-5). Ephesians puts the same point in the salvation register: "for by grace you⁺ have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; not of works, that no man should boast" (Eph 2:8-9). Titus repeats it: "But when the kindness of God our Savior, and his love toward man, appeared, not by works [done] in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Tit 3:4-7). And the calling itself is on the same footing — God "saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace" (2 Tim 1:9).

Works and Faith in James

James addresses a different question — not how the ungodly are justified before God, but how a confessed faith proves itself. "What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but doesn't have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and may be in lack of daily food, and one of you⁺ says to them, Go in peace, be⁺ warmed and filled; and yet you⁺ don't give them the things needful to the body; what does it profit?" (Jas 2:14-16). "Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead in itself. Yes, a man will say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith apart from [your] works, and I by my works will show you [my] faith" (Jas 2:17-18). "You believe that there is [only] one God; you do well: the demons also believe, and shudder. But do you want to know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and by works was faith made perfect; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. You⁺ see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith. And in like manner wasn't also Rahab the whore justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead" (Jas 2:19-26). The framing principle holds wider: "To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin" (Jas 4:17).

The Believer's Good Works

Within the same letters that deny works as the ground of salvation, good works are the ground on which the saved walk. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10). Believers are to "walk worthily of the Lord to all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col 1:10), to "consider one another to provoke to love and good works" (Heb 10:24), and not to "forget" doing good and communicating, "for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Heb 13:16). Christ "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works" (Tit 2:14); the elder is to be "an example of good works" (Tit 2:7); those who have believed are "to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men" (Tit 3:8). The wealthy are charged "that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate" (1 Tim 6:18). Widows enrolled for the church's care are described in a small catalog of these works: "well reported of for good works; if she has brought up children, if she has used hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work" (1 Tim 5:10). And labor is reckoned a partnership with God himself — "we are God's coworkers" (1 Cor 3:9); "working together [with him] we entreat also that you⁺ do not receive the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor 6:1). The believer is to "be⁺ steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, since you⁺ know that your⁺ labor is not vain in the Lord" (1 Cor 15:58); to "work out your⁺ own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12); to "have grace, by which we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe" (Heb 12:28). The benediction at the end of Hebrews is the formula: God will "provide you⁺ with every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ" (Heb 13:21). Among the evidences that mark Paul's own life is not faith only but his completed labor: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim 4:7).

The Lord's own life supplies the example. "My meat is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work" (John 4:34); "I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do" (John 17:4); "It is finished" (John 19:30). The works themselves bear witness: "the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me" (John 5:36). And the disciple is sent the same way. "Come⁺ after me, and I will make you⁺ to become fishers of men" (Mark 1:17); "I will make you⁺ to become fishers of men" is followed by the field standing ready ("the fields, that they are white to harvest," John 4:35) and the joint reward of sower and reaper ("Already he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together," John 4:36). Greatness in the kingdom is service: "whoever would become great among you⁺, will be your⁺ servant; and whoever would be first among you⁺, will be slave of all" (Mark 10:43-44); "I am among you⁺ as he who serves" (Luke 22:27); "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your⁺ feet, you⁺ also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14). The Samaritan's compassion ("He who showed mercy on him. And Jesus said to him, Go, and you do likewise," Luke 10:37) sits inside that same shape, as does the parable's householder who, going abroad, gives "to each one his work" (Mark 13:34); and the rule of accountability runs alongside it: "to whomever much is given, of him will much be required" (Luke 12:48). Toward outsiders the work is to "love your⁺ enemies, and do [them] good, and lend, never despairing" (Luke 6:35); inside the household it is to "work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith" (Gal 6:10). The witness aimed outward is also a work: "having your⁺ behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, in what they speak against you⁺ as evildoers, they may by your⁺ good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Pet 2:12). To the church at Ephesus the Lord says, "I know your works, and your toil and patience" (Rev 2:2). And to the soul-winner: "he who converts a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins" (Jas 5:20); "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; And he who is wise wins souls" (Pr 11:30).

Works at the Judgment

The two ranges meet at the end. "I am he who searches the minds and hearts: and I will give to each one of you⁺ according to your⁺ works" (Rev 2:23). The dead are not stripped of what they have done: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on: yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them" (Rev 14:13). At the great-throne assize the books are opened, "and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works" (Rev 20:12-13). The closing word of the canon repeats the formula: "Look, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according to as his work is" (Rev 22:12). The sentence holds together the two threads of the topic. The works of Yahweh have made and rule the world; the works of his servants are remembered, weighed, and rewarded by the same hand.