Beza On The Evidentiary Necessity Of Good Works For Salvation

Q. 154 Therefore, you say that good works are necessary to salvation?

A: If faith is necessary to salvation, and works necessarily flow out of true faith, (as that which cannot be idle), certainly also it follows, that good works are necessary to salvation, yet not as the cause of salvation (for we are justified, and thus live, by faith alone in Christ), but as something necessarily attached to true faith. Just as Paul says, they are God’s children, who are led by the Spirit of God; and John, that he is righteous who works righteousness; and James also, explaining not by what method we are justified, but, from whence true faith and justification are known, proves by the example of Abraham that they are not justified who demonstrate no works of faith. For in this way James is reconciled with Paul, so that it is plain that they are contentious who condemn the necessity of good works as a false doctrine.

Theodore Beza, A Little Book of Christian Questions and Responses, ed. Dikran Y. Hadidian, trans. Kirk M. Summers, vol. 9, Princeton Theological Monograph Series (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2009), 61.

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5 comments

  1. It seems this is mainly a statement made towards anti-nomianism. I love the old dead guys! If only the church would read more of these fellas today…

  2. Dr. Clark,

    Thank you for this post regarding salvation and good works. What would you say in response to people like John Piper, who, unlike Beza claiming good works are not “the cause of salvation,” say that there is a final salvation through works and faith?

  3. Dr. Clark,

    Thank for you sharing this post about salvation and good works. How would you respond to people like John Piper, who, unlike Beza who claims good works are not “the cause of salvation,” say that there is a final salvation through faith and works?

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