'Works' in the Bible

He will repay each one according to his works:

For no one will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.

Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law of faith.

For we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to brag about—but not before God.

Now to the one who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed.

Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the man God credits righteousness to apart from works:

not from works but from the One who calls—she was told: The older will serve the younger.

Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace.