A Necessary Partnership: Truth and Good Works

When the Bible speaks of goodness, it is often in relation to good works. I will never forget the time when I was studying the book of Titus, which is where older women are instructed to teach younger women to be good. I started the study because the book had seemed to me to be such a hodgepodge of random topics. I couldn’t see how the book all tied together. I spent over two weeks reading through the book everyday over and over, praying that God would help me understand it and show me the theme of the book. On about day 17, a repeated word suddenly jumped out at me. It was the word good. Eleven times throughout the book, Paul uses the word good. That one word unlocked the book for me. Six of those times it is coupled with the word works: good works. Paul is instructing those who claim to follow Jesus to be good and to manifest that goodness in good works. Whether elders or

women or young men or bondservants, all believers are to be characterized by good character and good works.

Through that one word, I began to see the theme of Titus woven throughout the book:

1.     It is succinctly stated in the very first verse: “the truth that accords with godliness” (NKJV).

2.     In 1:16 the theme is stated in the negative: “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him.”

3.     In 2:1, Titus is exhorted to “speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.” The things Paul tells him to speak or teach relate to character and good works as in 2:5.

4.     In 2:7 good works are again linked with sound doctrine.

5.     In 2:11, “good fidelity” or faithfulness in serving “adorn[s] the doctrine of God our Savior.

6.     In 2:11-14, “the grace of God that brings salvation” teaches us to deny sinful habits and to be characterized by good works.

7.     In 3:1-2, good works are to characterize our relationships to those in authority and to all people.

8.     After giving another description of the Gospel in 3:3-7 in which he clearly shows that our salvation is not based on any “works of righteousness which we have done,” Paul again reiterates in 3:8 that “those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.” He concludes by saying “These things are good and profitable to men.”

9.     In 3:14, Paul gives a final exhortation: “Let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.”

The outflow of the Gospel is a changed life. It is directly linked to goodness in character and lifestyle. Sound doctrine can never be separated from godly living. And godly living is displayed or demonstrated through good works. Truth and godliness necessarily go together, like two puzzle pieces that complete each other. In fact, as Titus 1:16 says, if you say you believe in and know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, but what you do— the way you act displayed in your character and your actions—does not reflect His mercy, grace, and goodness, you are actually denying Christ with your actions. This dichotomy between belief and lifestyle makes a person “disqualified for every good work.” Those are strong, convicting words. James uses even stronger language, stating, "[F]aith by itself (or sound doctrine alone—what you say you believe), if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17, NKJV). In case his readers didn't get it the first time, he states it a second time: "[F]aith without works is dead" (James 2:20). And again a third time: "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). Sound doctrine and good works must go hand in hand.

I encourage you to take some time to read through the book of Titus. It’s a short book and takes less than 10 minutes to read it aloud. Then make two lists of the character qualities mentioned in the book that are to accompany sound doctrine, one list of the positive qualities that should characterize us as believers, and the other, a list of the negative qualities that should not characterize us. Use those lists to examine your own life. Use them as prayer lists for yourself and others. Oh, may God teach us to be a people whose faith is inextricably linked to godly living—to goodness in character and actions—so that no one will have anything evil to say about us (Tit. 2:8). May we be consistently known for our good works.