33 Bible Verses about Good Works

you know how it spread over the whole of Judaea, starting from Galilee after the baptism preached by John ??38 how God consecrated Jesus of Nazaret with the holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and curing all who were harassed by the devil; for God was with him.

Well now, are we Jews in a better position? Not at all. I have already charged all, Jews as well as Greeks, with being under sin ??10 as it is written, None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have swerved, one and all have gone wrong, no one does good, not a single one.read more.
Their throat is an open grave, they are treacherous with their tongues, the venom of an asp lies under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift for bloodshed, their ways bring destruction and calamity, they know nothing of the way of peace; there is no reverence for God before their eyes.

Then did what was meant for my good prove fatal to me? Never! It was sin; sin resulted in death for me by making use of this good thing. This was how sin was to be revealed in its true nature; it was to use the command to become sinful in the extreme. The Law is spiritual; we know that. But then I am a creature of the flesh, in the thraldom of sin. I cannot understand my own actions; I do not act as I want to act; on the contrary, I do what I detest.read more.
Now, when I act against my wishes, that means I agree that the Law is right. That being so, it is not I who do the deed but sin that dwells within me. For in me (that is, in my flesh) no good dwells, I know; the wish is there, but not the power of doing what is right. I cannot be good as I want to be, and I do wrong against my wishes. Well, if I act against my wishes, it is not I who do the deed but sin that dwells within me. So this is my experience of the Law: I want to do what is right, but wrong is all I can manage; I cordially agree with God's law, so far as my inner self is concerned, but then I find quite another law in my members which conflicts with the law of my mind and makes me a prisoner to sin's law that resides in my members.

Never let us grow tired of doing what is right, for if we do not faint we shall reap our harvest at the opportune season. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men and in particular to the household of the faith.

You have heard the saying, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, you are not to resist an injury: whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well; whoever wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well;read more.
whoever forces you to go one mile, go two miles with him; give to the man who begs from you, and turn not away from him who wants to borrow. You have heard the saying, 'You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven: he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love only those who love you, what reward do you get for that? do not the very taxgatherers do as much? and if you only salute your friends, what is special about that? do not the very pagans do as much? You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I tell you, my hearers, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you: bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If a man strikes you on the one cheek, offer him the other as well: if anyone takes your coat, do not deny him your shirt as well;read more.
give to anyone who asks you, and do not ask your goods back from anyone who has taken them. As you would like men to do to you, so do to them. If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Why, even sinful men love those who love them. If you help only those who help you, what merit is that to you? Why, even sinful men do that. If you only lend to those from whom you hope to get something, what credit is that to you? Even sinful men lend to one another, so as to get a fair return. No, you must love your enemies and help them, you must lend to them without expecting any return; then you will have a rich reward, you will be sons of the Most High for he is kind even to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.

Lastly, you must all be united, you must have sympathy, brotherly love, compassion, and humility, never paying back evil for evil, never reviling when you are reviled, but on the contrary blessing. For this is your vocation, to bless and to inherit blessing; he who would love Life and enjoy good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile:read more.
let him shun wrong and do right, let him seek peace and make peace his aim. For the eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their cry; but the face of the Lord is set against wrongdoers. Yet who will wrong you if you have a passion for goodness?

So let those who are suffering by the will of God trust their souls to him, their faithful Creator, as they continue to do right.

Do not forget beneficence and charity, either; these are the kind of sacrifices that are acceptable to God.

Where is the credit in standing punishment for having done wrong? No, if you stand suffering for having done right, that is what God counts a merit.

For it is better to suffer for doing right (if that should be the will of God) than for doing wrong.

Do not wonder at this; for there is a time coming when all who are in the tombs will listen to his voice and come out, the doers of good to be raised to life, ill-doers to be raised for the sentence of judgment.

No, you must love your enemies and help them, you must lend to them without expecting any return; then you will have a rich reward, you will be sons of the Most High for he is kind even to the ungrateful and the evil.

In your stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are simply storing up anger for yourself on the Day of anger, when the just doom of God is revealed. For he will render to everyone according to what he has done, eternal life to those who by patiently doing good aim at glory, honour, and immortality,read more.
but anger and wrath to those who are wilful, who disobey the Truth and obey wickedness ??9 anguish and calamity for every human soul that perpetrates evil, for the Jew first and for the Greek as well, but glory, honour, and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and for the Greek as well. There is no partiality about God.

Charge the rich of this world not to be supercilious, and not to fix their hopes on so uncertain a thing as riches but on the living God who richly provides us with all the enjoyments of life; tell them to be bountiful, rich in good works, open-handed and generous, amassing right good treasure for themselves in the world to come, in order to secure the life which is life indeed.

In any great house there are indeed vessels not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for noble, some for menial service. If one will only keep clear of the latter, he will be put to noble use, he will be consecrated and useful to the Owner of the House, he will be set apart for good work of all kinds.

My brothers, what is the use of anyone declaring he has faith, if he has no deeds to show? Can his faith save him? Suppose some brother or sister is ill-clad and short of daily food; if any of you says to them, "Depart in peace! Get warm, get food," without supplying their bodily needs, what use is that?read more.
So faith, unless it has deeds, is dead in itself. Someone will object, 'And you claim to have faith!' Yes, and I claim to have deeds as well; you show me your faith without any deeds, and I will show you by my deeds what faith is! You believe in one God? Well and good. So do the devils, and they shudder. But will you understand, you senseless fellow, that faith without deeds is dead? When our father Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar, was he not justified by what he did?

Who among you is wise and learned? Let him show by his good conduct, with the modesty of wisdom, what his deeds are.

he who would love Life and enjoy good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile: let him shun wrong and do right, let him seek peace and make peace his aim. For the eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their cry; but the face of the Lord is set against wrongdoers.

God is able to bless you with ample means, so that you may always have quite enough for any emergency of your own and ample besides for any kind act to others;

At Joppa there was a disciple called Tabitha (which may be translated Dorcas, or 'Gazelle'), a woman whose life was full of good actions and of charitable practices.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have been obedient always and not simply when I was present, so, now that I am absent, work all the more strenuously at your salvation with reverence and trembling, for it is God who in his goodwill enables you to will this and to achieve it.

so that you may lead a life that is worthy of the Lord and give him entire satisfaction. May you be fruitful and increase in the doing of all good, as you thus know God! May his glorious might nerve you with full power to endure and to be patient cheerfully, whatever comes, thanking the Father who has qualified us to share the lot of the saints in the Light,

God has made us what we are, creating us in Christ Jesus for the good deeds which are prepared beforehand by God as our sphere of action.

If one will only keep clear of the latter, he will be put to noble use, he will be consecrated and useful to the Owner of the House, he will be set apart for good work of all kinds.

All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for amendment, and for moral discipline, to make the man of God proficient and equip him for good work of every kind.

Submit for the Lord's sake to any human authority; submit to the emperor as supreme, and to governors as deputed by him for the punishment of wrongdoers and the encouragement of honest people ??15 for it is the will of God that by your honest lives you should silence the ignorant charges of foolish persons.

Then he moved on from there and went into their synagogue. Now a man with a withered hand was there; so in order to get a charge against him they asked him, "Is it right to heal on the sabbath?" He said to them, "Is there a man of you with one sheep, who will not catch hold of it and lift it out of a pit on the sabbath, if it falls in?read more.
And how much more is a man worth than a sheep? Thus it is right to do a kindness on the sabbath." Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and it was quite restored, as sound as the other. So the Pharisees withdrew and plotted against him, to destroy him;

Again he entered the synagogue. Now a man was there whose hand was withered, and they watched to see if he would heal him on the sabbath, so as to get a charge against him. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Rise and come forward;"read more.
then he asked them, "Is it right to help or to hurt on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" They were silent. Then glancing round him in anger and vexation at their obstinacy he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was quite restored. On this the Pharisees withdrew and at once joined the Herodians in a plot against him, to destroy him.

Another sabbath he happened to go into the synagogue and teach. Now a man was there who had his right hand withered, and the scribes and Pharisees watched to see if he would heal on the sabbath, so as to discover some charge against him. He knew what was in their minds; so he told the man with the withered hand, "Rise and stand forward." He rose and stood before them.read more.
Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it right on the sabbath to help or to hurt, to save life or to kill?" And glancing round at them all in anger he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was quite restored. This filled them with fury, and they discussed what they could do to Jesus.

When he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath, there was a woman who for eighteen years had suffered weakness from an evil spirit; indeed she was bent double and quite unable to raise herself. Jesus noticed her and called to her, "Woman, you are released from your weakness."read more.
He laid his hands on her, and instantly she became erect and glorified God. But the president of the synagogue was annoyed at Jesus healing on the sabbath, and he said to the crowd, "There are six days for work to be done; come during them to get healed, instead of on the sabbath." The Lord replied to him, "You hypocrites, does not each of you untether his ox or ass from the stall on the sabbath and lead it away to drink? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for all these eighteen years, was she not to be freed from her bondage on the sabbath?" As he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, but all the crowd rejoiced over all his splendid doings.

As he passed along he saw a man who had been blind from his birth; and his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, for whose sin ??for his own or for his parents' ??was he born blind?" Jesus replied, "Neither for his own sin nor for his parents' ??it was to let the work of God be illustrated in him.read more.
While daylight lasts, we must be busy with the work of God: night comes, when no one can do any work. When I am in the world, I am light for the world." With these words he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, which he smeared on the man's eyes, saying, "Go and wash them in the pool of Siloam" (Siloam meaning 'sent'). So off he went and washed them, and went home seeing. Whereupon the neighbours and those to whom he had been a familiar sight as a beggar, said, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is"; others said, "No, but it is like him." He said, "I am the man." So they asked him, "How were your eyes opened?" He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some clay and smeared my eyes with it and told me, 'Go and wash them in Siloam'; so I went and washed them, and I got my sight." "Where is he?" they asked; he answered, "I do not know." They brought him before the Pharisees, this man who had once been blind. Now it was on the sabbath day that Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees asked him again how he had regained his sight, and he told them, "He smeared some clay on my eyes, and I washed them, and now I can see." Then said some of the Pharisees, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath"; others said, "How can a sinner perform such Signs?" They were divided on this. So they asked the blind man once more, "What have you to say about him, for opening your eyes?" The man replied, "I say he is a prophet." Now the Jews would not believe he had been born blind and had regained his sight, till they summoned the parents of the man who had regained his sight and asked them, "Is this your son, the son you declare was born blind? How is it that he can see now?" His parents answered, "This is our son, and he was born blind; we know that. But how he can see to-day, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask himself; he is of age, he can speak for himself." (His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed him to be Christ should be excommunicated. That was why the man's parents said, "He is of age, ask himself.") So the man born blind was summoned a second time, and told, "Now give God the praise; this man, we know quite well, is only a sinner." To which he replied, "I do not know whether he is a sinner; one thing I do know, that once I was blind and now I can see." "What did he do to you?" they repeated; "How did he open your eyes?" He retorted, "I have told you that already, and you would not listen to me. Why do you want to hear it over again? Do you want to be disciples of his?" Then they stormed at him: "You are his disciple, we are disciples of Moses! We know God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from." The man replied to them, "Well, this is astonishing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he has opened my eyes! God, we know, does not listen to sinners; he listens to anyone who is devout and who obeys his will. It is unheard of, since the world began, that anyone should open a blind man's eyes. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They retorted, "And so you would teach us ??you, born in utter depravity!" Then they expelled him. Jesus heard that they had expelled him, and on meeting him he said, "You believe in the Son of man?" "Who is that, sir?" said the man, "tell me, that I may believe in him." "You have seen him," Jesus said, "he is talking to you." He said, "I do believe, Lord" ??and he worshipped him. Then said Jesus, "It is for judgment that I have come into this world, to make the sightless see, to make the seeing blind." On hearing this the Pharisees who were beside him asked, "And are we blind?" Jesus replied, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty; but, as it is, you claim to have sight ??and so your sin remains."