Reference: Works
Morish
These are activities, divine or human, which may proceed from good or evil. We read of 'dead works': acts of mere ceremony, and the religious efforts of the flesh (the flesh profiteth nothing). Heb 6:1; 9:14. These stand in contrast to 'works of faith,' which are the expression of life by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Heb. 11. The works of the flesh are detailed in Ga 5:19-21.
Man is justified by faith apart from the 'works of the law' (Ro 3:20; Ga 2:16), but real faith will produce 'good works,' and these can be seen of men, though the faith itself be invisible. Jas 2:14-26.
The Lord Jesus when on earth declared that His works gave evidence that He was Son of God, and had been sent by the Father, and that the Father was in Him, and He in the Father. Joh 9:4; 10:37-38; 14:11.
When the Jews were persecuting Christ because He had healed a man on the Sabbath day, He said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Joh 5:17. God had rested from His works of creation on the seventh day, but sin had come in, and in the O.T. allusions are frequent as to the activity of Jehovah for the spiritual blessing of man.
The apostle Paul, in writing to Titus, insists strongly on good works, that Christianity might not be unfruitful.
Every one will have to give an account of himself to God, Ro 14:12; and the wicked dead will be raised and judged according to their works. Re 20:12-13.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
But Jesus said to them, "My Father is continuing to work and I am working."
While it is still daytime we must perform the acts of God, who sent me. Nighttime is coming, when no one can act.
If I am not doing my Father's deeds [i.e., miracles], do not believe me. But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe me, believe the deeds. Then you will know and continue to know that the Father is in me, and that I am in the Father."
You should believe me [when I say] that I am in [fellowship with] the Father, and the Father is in [fellowship with] me. Or else believe me for the sake of the deeds themselves that I perform.
This is because no human being can be considered right with God by [obeying] the requirements of a law. [Note: It is difficult to determine the exact sense in which "law" is used in these verses. It may be law generally, or the law of Moses specifically. See Bruce, pages 52-58]. For the knowledge of what sin is comes from the law of Moses.
So then, every one of us [i.e., including Christians] will have to give an account of himself to God.
still we know that a person is not justified [i.e., made right with God] by [perfect obedience to] the law of Moses, but rather through faith in [the person and work of] Christ. [Knowing this] we have trusted in Christ Jesus [to save us], so that we might be made right with God by trusting in Him and not by [our compliance with] the requirements of the law of Moses. Because by such law-compliance no one can be made right with God.
Now those things done by the sinful, physical nature [of a person] are evident; they are these: sexual immorality, moral impurity, indecent conduct, idol worship, occultic practices, hatefulness, dissension, jealousy, angry outbursts, factious spirits, divisiveness, party spirits, read more. envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you again, as I have done before, that those people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
So, we should leave the basic principles of Christ's teaching and go on to maturity. [We should] not lay again a foundation of repentance [i.e., turning away] from deeds of death [i.e., acts that lead to spiritual death or that spring from a spiritually dead person], and of faith in God;
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Holy Spirit [or, His eternal Spirit] offered Himself without [moral] blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from deeds which lead to [spiritual] death to serve the living God?
What good is it, my brothers [and sisters], if a person says he has faith but does not have [good] deeds? Can such faith save him? If a brother or sister is without [adequate] clothing and needs daily food, read more. and one of you says to him, "Go [and be] at peace; keep warm and eat well," and yet you do not give him anything for his physical needs, what good is that? In the same way, if [your] faith does not have [good] deeds [to accompany it], it is dead, [because it stands] alone. But someone may say, "You have faith and I have [good] deeds." [I reply], show me your faith without your [good] deeds, and I will show you my faith by my [good] deeds. You believe that there is [only] one God; that is good! Even the demons believe [that], and they shudder [with fear at the thought]. But will you acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without [good] deeds is useless? Was not our forefather Abraham made right with God by deeds [of obedience] when he offered his son Isaac [as a sacrifice] on the Altar? [Do you not] see that faith cooperated together with his deeds, and faith was made complete by [his] deeds? So, the Scripture was fulfilled, which says [Gen. 15:6], "Abraham believed God and [so] God considered him righteous," and he was called God's friend. [So], you see, it is by deeds that a person is made right with God, and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not the prostitute Rahab made right with God by [her] deeds when she welcomed [and protected] the messengers, and [then] sent them away by a different road? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without [good] deeds is dead.
And I saw dead people, the most important and the least significant ones, standing in front of the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life [Note: This refers to a record of those to whom God has granted never ending life]. And these dead people [i.e., who have now been resurrected] were judged according to their deeds, based on what was recorded in the books. The ocean gave up the dead [bodies] that were in it; and death and the unseen place of departed spirits [also] gave up the dead [bodies and spirits] that were in them. And every person was judged according to his deeds.