[boatbums]

It's a dumb question, if you ask me. We ALL go about our lives either in obedience to the Lord or disobedience. When we are obedient, the very way we act towards others, the outward examples we give to others of what we believe, the very motivations behind the things we do - whether good things or sinful things - are all evidence of the kind of faith we have. When we are disobedient to the commandments of God, when we ignore the discipline of the Holy Spirit, when we get lazy or selfish or angry, when we give in to the old nature and fall back on past habits that we know are wrong, we are also showing the kind of faith we have.

So when someone asks if another person had/has "good works", the correct answer is exactly "so what?". There are plenty of lost souls who do good works and we know that at the final judgment these works will NOT save them. Without faith, without the new birth, all our righteousnesses are filthy rags in God's sight. Good works are more than things we "do", they are also things we DON'T do. Living God-pleasing holy lives comes from our being yielded to the Holy Spirit and having God work through us and with us to bring glory to Him and draw the lost to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Anyone who insists that "good works" are necessary for salvation really shortchange faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. He desires that we live in holiness but it sure isn't what saves us - even if we also have faith. God through Paul made it pretty clear:

However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. (Romans 4:5)

[metmom]

Works have their part to be sure, but the real evidence is the character of Christ in our lives.

Jesus told His disciples that the world would know His disciples by their what?

Their LOVE for each other.

The pharisees had all the works you could want and Jesus was pretty harsh with them in Matthew 23.

Paul said this about works.....

Philippians 3:2-15 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.