Are good works automatically produced?
Are good works automatically produced?
GOOD WORKS are not automatically produced.
Paul wrote that people may be careful to take the lead in GOOD WORKS, as it is written that "the (ones) having-believed (in) God may-be-careful to-take-the-lead (in) GOOD WORKS" (Titus 3:8).
Paul wrote that people must learn to take the lead in GOOD WORKS, as it is written: "our (people must) also be-learning to-take-the-lead (in) GOOD WORKS" (Titus 3:14).
There would have been no need for Paul to write that people may be careful and learn something that would happen automatically anyway without that.
There is a need for people to be careful and learn to take the lead in good works (instead of waiting that they will just happen by themselves automatically).
GOOD WORKS are not automatically produced after someone is SAVED.
For example, Paul wrote: "(by) grace you-are SAVED" (Ephesians 2:8) "not out-of WORKS" (Ephesians 2:9), and then Paul added: "For we-are His (creation-)made, having-been-created in Christ Jesus for GOOD WORKS, which God prepared-beforehand in-order-that WE-MAY-WALK in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
Paul wrote about "GOOD WORKS" (Ephesians 2:10) that "WE-MAY-WALK in them" (Ephesians 2:10). The Greek word for "WE-MAY-WALK" (Ephesians 2:10) is in the Subjunctive mood, which is the mood of possibility and potentiality, meaning that the action described may or may not occur, depending upon other conditions.
Paul wrote to Titus to "Be-reminding them to-be-subject (to) rulers, (to) authorities; to-be-obedient; to-be ready for every GOOD WORK" (Titus 3:1), and Paul indicated 4 verses later about God that "He-SAVED us" (Titus 3:5). There would have been no need for people who were already SAVED that someone needed to "Be-reminding them" (Titus 3:1) "to-be ready for every GOOD WORK" (Titus 3:1) if GOOD WORKS would automatically have been produced anyway without that.
GOOD WORKS are not automatically produced after someone receives GRACE.
For example, Paul wrote: "God is-able to-cause all GRACE to-abound to you in-order-that in everything, always having all sufficiency, YOU-MAY-BE-ABOUNDING for every GOOD WORKS" (2 Corinthians 9:8). The Greek word for "YOU-MAY-BE-ABOUNDING" (2 Corinthians 9:8) is in the Subjunctive mood, which is the mood of possibility and potentiality, meaning that the action described may or may not occur, depending upon other conditions.
Paul also wrote: "His GRACE toward me did not become vain. But I-labored even more (than) them all — yet not I, but the GRACE (of) God with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10). Paul suggests in this passage that the GRACE of God did not become vain because instead: he labored. To the same Corinthians, Paul warned: "working-with (Him), we also are-appealing (that) you not receive the GRACE (of) God in vain" (2 Corinthians 6:1). So the same Corinthians could "receive the GRACE (of) God in vain" (2 Corinthians 6:1), which would imply that they would not labor with it like Paul did, and thus could fail to produce GOOD WORKS, even if the GRACE of God would have been received.
GOOD WORKS are not automatically produced after someone has FAITH.
James wrote: "FAITH, if it-does not have WORKS, is dead by itself" (James 2:17). It is possible for FAITH to "not have WORKS" (James 2:17).
A FAITH without WORKS can still be a real FAITH. Indeed, James for example compared FAITH with the body of a human, when he wrote: "just-as the body without spirit is dead, so also FAITH without WORKS is dead" (James 2:26). The same way that the real body of a human can be "without spirit" (James 2:26), in a similar way the real faith of someone can be "without WORKS" (James 2:26). A body can be a real body even though it is dead. A faith can be a real faith even though it is dead.
James taught about Abraham that his "faith had-been-working-with his WORKS" (James 2:22). James did not teach about Abraham that his faith had been "producing" his WORKS, but James taught about Abraham that his faith "had-been-working-with his WORKS" (James 2:22). This would suggest a cooperation of two different things that can work-with one another. When one's WORKS would work-with one's FAITH, that FAITH would be alive. When one's WORKS would not work-with one's FAITH, that FAITH would be dead.
Further evidence of the conditionality of producing GOOD WORKS.
The conditionality of producing GOOD WORKS can explain why Paul used the conditional particle "IF" when he wrote for example: "Let (a) widow be-put-on-the-list" (1 Timothy 5:9) "IF she-followed-after every GOOD WORK" (1 Timothy 5:10).
The conditionality of producing GOOD WORKS can explain why Paul wrote to "Be-commanding the (ones) rich" (1 Timothy 6:17) "to-be-working-good, to-be-rich in GOOD WORKS" (1 Timothy 6:18). There would have been no need for Paul to write to "Be-commanding" (1 Timothy 6:17) people "to-be-rich in GOOD WORKS" (1 Timothy 6:18) if GOOD WORKS would automatically be produced anyway without that.
The conditionality of producing GOOD WORKS can explain why it is written in Hebrews that we are said to have fellowship with other believers to be provoked and exhorted by them to do good works: "let us be-considering one-another for (the) PROVOKING (of) love and GOOD WORKS, not forsaking the gathering-together (of) ourselves as (is a) habit (with) some, but exhorting (one another)" (Hebrews 10:24-25).
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