Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
CHAPTER XVIII.
JUSTIFICATION BY WORKS NOT TO BE INFERRED FROM THE PROMISE OF A REWARD.
Let us now proceed to those passages which affirm that
“God will render to every man according to his deeds;”[177]
that “every one may receive the things done in his body, according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”[178]
“Tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doeth evil;
but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh
good.”[179]
And, “All shall come forth; they that have done
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”[180]
“Come, ye
blessed of my Father; for I was a hungered, and ye gave me
meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink,” &c.[181]
And
with these let us also connect those which represent eternal
life as the reward of works, such as the following: “The recompense
of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him.”[182]
“He that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.”[183]
“Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in
heaven.”[184]
“Every one shall receive his own reward, according
to his own labour.”[185]
The declaration, that God
will render to every one according to his works, is easily explained.
For that phrase indicates the order of events, rather
than the cause of them. But it is beyond all doubt, that the
Lord proceeds to the consummation of our salvation by these
several gradations of mercy: “Whom he hath predestinated,
them he calls; whom he hath called, he justifies; and whom
he hath justified, he finally glorifies.”[186]
Though he receives
his children into eternal life, therefore, of his mere mercy, yet
since he conducts them to the possession of it through a course
of good works, that he may fulfil his work in them in the order
he has appointed, we need not wonder if they are said to be
rewarded according to their works, by which they are undoubtedly
prepared to receive the crown of immortality. And
for this reason, they are properly said to “work out their own
salvation,”[187]
while, devoting themselves to good works, they
aspire to eternal life; just as in another place they are commanded
to “labor for the meat which perisheth not,” when
they obtain eternal life by believing in Christ; and yet it is
immediately added, “which the Son of man shall give unto
you.”[188]
Whence it appears that the word work is not opposed
to grace, but refers to human endeavours; and therefore
it does not follow, either that believers are the authors of
their own salvation, or that salvation proceeds from their works.
But as soon as they are introduced, by the knowledge of the
gospel and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, into communion
with Christ, eternal life is begun in them. Now, “the
good work which” God “hath begun in” them, “he will perform
until the day of Jesus Christ.”[189]
And it is performed,
when they prove themselves to be the genuine children of God
by their resemblance to their heavenly Father in righteousness
and holiness.
II. We have no reason to infer from the term reward, that
good works are the cause of salvation. First, let this truth be
established in our minds, that the kingdom of heaven is not
the stipend of servants, but the inheritance of children, which
will be enjoyed only by those whom the Lord adopts as his
children, and for no other cause than on account of this adoption.
“For the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with
the son of the free-woman.”[190]
And, therefore, in the same
passages in which the Holy Spirit promises eternal life as the reward
of works, by expressly denominating it “an inheritance,”
he proves it to proceed from another cause. Thus Christ enumerates
the works which he compensates by the reward of
heaven, when he calls the elect to the possession of it; but at
the same time adds, that it is to be enjoyed by right of inheritance.[191]
So Paul encourages servants, who faithfully discharge
their duty, to hope for a reward from the Lord; but at the same
time calls it “the reward of the inheritance.”[192]
We see how
they, almost in express terms, caution us against attributing
eternal life to works, instead of ascribing it to Divine adoption.
Why, then, it may be asked, do they at the same time make
mention of works? This question shall be elucidated by one
example from the Scripture. Before the nativity of Isaac,
there had been promised to Abraham a seed in whom all the
nations of the earth were to be blessed, a multiplication of his
posterity, which would equal the stars of heaven and the sands
of the sea, and other similar blessings.[193]
Many years after,
in consequence of a Divine command, Abraham prepares to
sacrifice his son. After this act of obedience, he receives this
promise: “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because
thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying
I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the
sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess
the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my
voice.”[194]
What? did Abraham by his obedience merit that
blessing which had been promised him before the command
was delivered? Here, then, it appears, beyond all doubt, that
the Lord rewards the works of believers with those blessings
which he had already given them before their works were
thought of, and while he had no reason for his beneficence,
but his own mercy.
