[bright022]

As a believer in Christ Jesus, one of the ways your Christianity becomes visible to others, especially unbelievers, is through good works that result from a relationship with Jesus. This relationship is made possible through your new birth, which gave you a new nature of love.

However, it’s essential to remember that these good works did not grant you salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states that we were saved by grace and not by works. This means that no amount of good works can earn salvation; instead, it’s through faith in the finished work of Christ.

You might wonder, then, how good works that stem from a relationship with Christ are necessary for bearing witnes for Him. Verse 10 of Ephesians 2 provides the answer: “We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” This means that our salvation, which is purely a work of grace and faith, involves our recreation into a new being that can truly do good works that bring glory to God.

This is possible because, at our new birth, we were translated from darkness to light, and now we are children of light. As a result, we bring light to our world through our works, which are enabled by our relationship with Jesus. Every light has a source, and the quality of the light depends on that source. Just as the sun’s light is brighter and higher than the moon’s and stars’, our good works can only truly shine when they stem from a relationship with Christ.

Matthew 5:15-16 reinforces this point: “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” This scripture emphasizes that good works are expected of believers, and these works should inspire others to glorify God.

The question, then, is not whether good works are expected, but whether you have an active relationship with Jesus that enables you to do good works that bring glory to Him. Any good works that do not stem from a relationship with Christ are merely acts of philanthropy, not bearing witness to Christ.

As Paul emphasized in Ephesians 2:10, “We are created unto good works.” This means that recreation is necessary to do good works that truly bear witness for Christ.

The story of the rich man in Matthew 19:16-26 illustrates this point. The rich man asked Jesus what good things he must do to be saved, revealing his misconception that salvation could be earned through good works. Jesus’ response showed the rich man that his good works were rooted in selfishness, not a genuine relationship with God. Despite claiming to have kept all the commandments since his youth, the rich man’s good works did not lead him to salvation. Instead, Jesus presented him with a way of grace, instructing him to sell his possessions and give to the poor. However, the rich man’s inability to rejoice at this instruction exposed the true motivation behind his good works – selfishness, not a desire to glorify God.

In conclusion, 1 John 2:3&6 reminds us that we ought to walk in the same way Jesus walked. Jesus went about doing good and healing those who were afflicted. As followers of Christ, good works are expected of us, and by doing so, we bear witness for Christ.

[bright022]

Jesus, during his earthly ministry, understood and walked with the consciousness that he is not just fully man but also fully God. His constant pronouncements or declarations of these truths made it known to many that indeed he is the Son of God, though the Jews couldn’t stand this declaration of his as The Son of God. That didn’t deter him in any way, as he was confident about who he was, where he came from, and his relationship with The Father.

Below are four scriptures that show The Deity of Christ and my understanding of them:

1. John 2:16
“And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise.'”

Jesus’s emphatic declaration of The Temple, a place of worship to God, as His Father’s house, did not only show his recognition of God as his Father but, by calling God Father, he automatically declared his sonship and the place he holds in the Trinity. This declaration as His Father’s house made it clear that he is conscious of his relationship with the Father, and this relationship spurred him into protecting his Father’s house.

1. John 4:25-26
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

The Jews, through The prophet, had been told of a Messiah who would come into the world, forgive them of their sins and those of the whole world, and reconcile them back to God. Ever since, they had been waiting for this Messiah. Jesus’s response to The Samaritan woman, who spoke of the Messiah to come, by affirming that He is that Messiah, buttresses his claim as God, declaring Him as having the power to forgive sins and reconcile the world back to God.

1. John 6:32-33
32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.”

33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
Again, Jesus’s declaration of God as his Father points to his consciousness of his special relationship with God, granting him access to call Him Father and, by that, inferring he is the Son of God, which means he was equal with God. Another revelation from this scripture is his acknowledgement that he is the true bread from heaven, revealing his claim of coming down from God and thereby residing with Him, as coming down from heaven means heaven is his home.

1. John 7:33
Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.”
Jesus’s declaration that he will soon go back to Him who sent him is another proof of his Deity and His claim that he came from God. If he came from God, that means he resides with God; if he resides with God, that means he is one with God.

Throughout the Gospel of John are scriptures that help show the Deity of God, but I’ve chosen to focus on the four listed above.

[Author]

Posts