More Good Deeds than Bad Deeds
The concept of doing more good deeds than bad deeds saves, is also called “balance scale” judgment, and is one of the most common wrong beliefs. This opinion is wrong for at least three reasons:
- God is so holy (perfect and sinless) that “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” to Him (Isaiah 64:6).
- Going to heaven (or “being saved”) is a free gift of God. The Lord made it that way so nobody could boast that they made it to heaven by their own good deeds. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2: 8, 9).
We cannot be justified or saved or sanctified by our good deeds or keeping the law. “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20 ). The law only points out our sin (Romans 7:7-25).
We must be saved by the Lord Jesus “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). In James 1:23-25, our lives are compared to a mirror. When we look into the law of God, we see spots on our character, but the law of God does absolutely nothing about cleaning those spots. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus can cleanse us from sin.
“We Establish the Law”
The apostle Paul wrote, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid” (Romans 6:15). Again he stressed, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31). People, who are under grace, will keep God’s law as the fruit of the Spirit of God working in their lives.
To live under grace just simply means that I was supposed to die (“The wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23 and “All have sinned” Romans 3:23) but the Lord Jesus came along and said, “No, I’ll die for him. I want him to live. I want to give him my strength, my unmerited favor or grace to help him to reach that pattern that I gave him.”
Christians don’t keep the commandment to be saved but because they are saved. “Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10;1 John 5:3;1 John 5: 2; 2 John 1:6; 1 John 3:24). The way that love fulfills the law is that it makes the keeping of God’s law a pleasure. When we try to keep the commandments rigidly or legalistically in our strength, it is impossible, but when the love of the Lord Jesus comes into our hearts with love for Him and love for our fellow men, keeping the law become natural and easy.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
