Grace and Free Will
CHAPTER 20.
THE QUESTION ANSWERED: JUSTIFICATION IS GRACE SIMPLY AND ENTIRELY; ETERNAL LIFE IS REWARD, AND GRACE
This question then seems to me to be by no means capable of solution, unless we understand that even those good works of ours, which are recompensed with eternal life, belong to the grace of God, because of what is said by the Lord Jesus: “Without me you can do nothing.”Joh 15.5 And the apostle himself said, “By grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”Eph 2.8-9 He saw of course, the possibility that men would think from this statement that good works are not necessary to those who believe, but that faith alone suffices for them; and again, he saw the possibility of men’s boasting of their good works, as if they were capable of performing them of themselves. Therefore, to meet these opinions on both sides, he immediately added, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”Eph 2.10 What is the purport8 of his saying, “Not of works, lest any man should boast,” while commending the grace of God? And then why does he afterwards, when giving a reason for using such words say, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works”? Why, therefore, does it run, “Not of works, lest any man should boast”?
Now, hear and understand: “Not of works” is spoken of the works which you suppose have their origin in yourself alone; but you need to think of works for which God has moulded you (that is, has formed and created you). For of these he says, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Now he does not speak here of that creation which made us human beings; but he speaks of that in reference to what one said who was already in full manhood, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”Psa 51.10 Concerning this, the apostle also says, “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new,” and “all things are of God.”2Cor 5.17-18 We are framed therefore (that is, formed and created), “in the good works which” we have not prepared ourselves, but which “God has before ordained that we should walk in them.” It follows then, dearly beloved, beyond all doubt, that as your good life is nothing else than God’s grace, so also the eternal life—which is the recompense of a good life—is the grace of God; moreover [eternal life] is given gratuitously, even as that [good life] is given gratuitously, for which [eternal life] is given. But that for which it is given, is solely and simply: grace. This therefore is also that which is given to it, because it is its reward—grace is for grace, as if it were remuneration for righteousness—in order that it may be true, because it is true, that God “shall reward every man according to his works.”