Are Good Works Automatic?

While Catholics and some non-Christians acknowledge that faith and works are necessary for salvation, some non-Catholics then believe that good works are automatic. In other words, someone with faith will in turn do good works. While it is important to point out what we have in common such as faith without works being dead and that good works are a necessity for salvation, but it is also important to point out our differences as the case is here.

The argument looks like this:
Premise 1: All people who believe in Jesus Christ are Christians.
Premise 2: Believers in Christ will automatically do good works.
Conclusion: Therefore, all Christians will automatically do good works.

For the purposes of this argument we will tackle Premise 2. If good works were automatic of Christians, then it would follow that I would never see someone in line for Confession yet, at my Church, we typically have a rather long line. This tells me, even looking at myself alone, that good works are not automatic to being a Christian and that in fact we can sin. In Romans 7:15 St. Paul says, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” What is it that St. Paul hates? He hates sin as verse 13 and 17 tells us. This creates a dilemma since St. Paul had great faith, yet could not overcome sin himself.

If those same good works were automatic then one would expect that St. Paul would do the good work and turn away from sin, yet we see that he cannot when he says, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” in verse 19 of Romans 7 but he does not do the automatic good work but instead commits sin. Many of us find it difficult to turn away from sin and do the right thing. This is much more apparent than Christians automatically doing the right thing. The news is a great example of this.

Jesus himself taught, in the Parable of the Kingdoms Matthew 25:31-46, that the works of the wretched were not sufficient for salvation, but those that did the good works will go to “eternal life.” Also with the Parable of Unforgiving Servant Jesus teaches that even after being forgiven that it does not necessarily proceed from that that the person will be forgiving (doing the good work) but may indeed be unforgiving (committing sin).

It is quite clear that the case of Christians automatically doing good works cannot be reconciled by reading the Bible within the context of itself. However, there may be additional objections raised such as “Sure, we may sin but God puts us in a box that we cannot penetrate and therefore we are prohibited from doing the really bad sins.” I myself have faced this argument and did not have an answer prepared for this as it just seemed so absurd to assert. Basically the inference is that free-will is taken from us, though they argue only partially, and are therefore asserting that we are made more holy than before.

The new argument is as follows:
Premise 1: All people who believe in Jesus Christ are Christians.
Premise 2: Jesus Christ put believers in a box so that they cannot commit terrible sins.
Conclusion: Therefore, Christians cannot commit terrible sins.

Deuteronomy 13:6-11 shows us that the punishment of apostasy was stoning. Clearly there is a punishment for those who commit apostasy. You may face the argument of something along the lines of “well the Old Testament doesn’t witness to grace such as Jesus offers us in the New Testament” and of course they would be right but we have only established that there is a penalty for apostasy. So let’s take a look at the New Testament as they asked us to do. St. Peter also gives us an analogy of a dog returning to its vomit in 2 Peter 2:22. Here St. Peter links the Old Testament, Proverbs 26:11 telling us that “fools repeat their folly”, with the New Testament. Returning to the “law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2) would fit this description. Hebrews 6:4-6 gives us another of many accounts on committing apostasy and shows how, if one commits apostasy, it is then impossible to “restore again to repentance.” It is impossible to commit apostasy if you are not a believer so that leaves only one option left, that a believer can apostatize. Hebrews 6 continues and warns us, in verse 8, of the punishment of apostasy saying, “But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed; its end is to be burned.” Christians may not automatically do the right thing, even if they wish to do so, and one that has denied “the faith…is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim 5:8). If an unbeliever is not saved then being worse than an unbeliever surely cannot lead to salvation.

The possibility of having the free-will to reject God even after believing in Him is an undeniable reality, which shows us that automatically following His commands is not Biblical and has never been taught by the one true Church, the Catholic Church. As John says in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

The concluding argument, while I do not fully agree with Premise 1, is as follows:
Premise 1: All people who believe in Jesus Christ are Christians.
Premise 2: Free-will allows all people to choose freely whether they want to sin, do good works or reject Jesus Christ even after believing in Him.
Conclusion: Therefore, Christians may commit terrible sins or do great works.

If you have a suggestion for an apologetic article please leave me a comment and I will do my best to get to it or a similar topic. I will also credit you with the question.