{"id":17172,"date":"2020-06-08T07:46:33","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T14:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=17172"},"modified":"2020-06-08T07:46:41","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T14:46:41","slug":"what-is-the-biblical-definition-of-good-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2020\/06\/08\/what-is-the-biblical-definition-of-good-works\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Biblical definition of  &#8220;good works&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Romans 2:6, <em>Every man according to his works.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Scriptures are clear:<\/strong> every person will be judged, both the wicked and the saints. The writer of Hebrew says,<strong> \u201cAnd as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment\u201d (Heb. 9:27). <\/strong>Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:10, <strong>\u201cFor we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.\u201d <\/strong>Yeshua said in Jn. 5:24 that Believers in him <strong>\u201chave everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but have passed from death unto life.\u201d <\/strong>The question is begged, therefore, what is the purpose of judgment of believers? It is for believers to receive their rewards in addition to eternal life (salvation). There are various levels of rewards or positions in the kingdom of Elohim. In the Sermon On the Mount Yeshua reveals at least two levels of reward: the least and the greatest. He says in Matthew 5:19,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Torah-commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What we see revealed here is that one\u2019s level of reward will be commensurate to their obedience to his Torah (the righteous instructions, teachings, or precepts of YHVH Elohim as revealed to the nation of Israel through Moses). Revelation 20:12\u201313 speaks of this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works (emphasis added).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What are the works of the saints that will gain them the highest position in Elohim\u2019s kingdom? We have already seen from Yeshua\u2019s words that Torah-obedience will gain one the highest position. Revelation 19:7\u20139 states the same thing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God (emphasis added).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scripture defines righteousness as obedience to the Torah commandments of YHVH (Ps 119:172). Yeshua goes on to say elsewhere that, <strong>\u201che shall reward every man according to his works\u201d <\/strong>(Matt 16:27). Paul says in Ephesians 2:8 thought we are saved by YHVH\u2019s grace and not through any human effort the result of our salvation should be good works:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of Elohim. Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua unto good works, which Elohim hath before ordained that we should walk in them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">James says that faith without works is dead (Jas 2:17, 20, 26) and that faith is made perfect through works (Jas 2:22). The works spoken of here are the fruits of the Spirit of Elohim (Gal 5:22\u20133) which is a summation and end result of the Torah-law\u2019s outworking in the life of the Believer: to love Elohim with all your heart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27; Deut 6:5 and Lev 19:18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concept of \u201cgood works\u201d as related to the life of the saints is a theme that is echoed more than 30 times in the Testimony of Yeshua from the mouth of Yeshua in the Gospels to the end of the book of Revelation (e.g. Matt 5:16; 16:27; 1 Tim 5:10; 6:18; 2 Tim 3:17; Tit 2:7; 3:8; Heb 10:24; 1 Pet 2:12; Rev 2:5, 9, 13, 19, 23, 26; 3:1, 2, 8, 15; 20:12\u201313). The mainstream Christian church has down-played the role of \u201cworks\u201d in the life of the saint, but it must be remembered what Yeshua said in John 14:15, <strong>\u201cIf you love me, keep my commandments\u201d <\/strong>and what John said in 1 John 2:7, <strong>\u201cHe that says, I know [YHVH] and does not keep his Torah commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.\u201d <\/strong>Obedience to YHVH\u2019s commandments is \u201cworks\u201d or otherwise stated, \u201cgood fruits\u201d of a saint\u2019s life. Such is pleasing to YHVH and will determine our position of service and honor in his kingdom.<\/p>\n<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemory\"><a href=\"javascript:\" onclick=\"Evernote.doClip({title: 'What is the Biblical definition of  \\&quot;good works\\&quot;?',url: 'https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2020\/06\/08\/what-is-the-biblical-definition-of-good-works\/',contentID: 'post-17172',suggestTags: 'good works,Good Works of the Law',providerName: 'Hoshana Rabbah Blog',styling: 'text' });return false\" class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryLink\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.evernote.com\/article-clipper.png\" \nclass=\"evernoteSiteMemoryButton\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryClear\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Romans 2:6, Every man according to his works.\u00a0 The Scriptures are clear: every person will be judged, both the wicked and the saints. The writer of Hebrew says, \u201cAnd as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2020\/06\/08\/what-is-the-biblical-definition-of-good-works\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2725],"tags":[2432,2694],"class_list":["post-17172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-torah-law","tag-good-works","tag-good-works-of-the-law"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is the Biblical definition of &quot;good works&quot;? | Hoshana Rabbah Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2020\/06\/08\/what-is-the-biblical-definition-of-good-works\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is the Biblical definition of &quot;good works&quot;? | Hoshana Rabbah Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Romans 2:6, Every man according to his works.\u00a0 The Scriptures are clear: every person will be judged, both the wicked and the saints. 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