Good Works (Lutheran Theology)

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Good works are a concept of Christian ethics. They show how justification and sanctification are related to one another. The polemics against forms of late medieval piety permeates the writings of the reformers. The plural “works” is misleading, because the reformers were not concerned with individual achievements, but with a basic human attitude.

Evangelical Lutheran Theology

Martin Luther

In 1520 Luther wrote the sermon on good works . He formulated programmatically that faith is the only good work, but not a work of man, but a work that God does in him. From this other good works emerged, regardless of whether they were everyday actions or difficult, extraordinary deeds. Genuine acts of charity are unspectacular, they are not "glaring". Good works are the fruits of faith and are done joyfully and of their own accord ( sponte et hilariter ).

Philipp Melanchthon

In the Confessio Augustana , Article 6 (“On New Obedience”), Melanchthon unfolded Luther's doctrine of good works. However, he developed his ethics further and in part in contrast to Luther. In his later years he could say that Christians do good works for three reasons:

  1. Because God commanded them;
  2. Because only he who believes believes;
  3. Because of the reward. There are spiritual and physical rewards for Christians who are reconciled to God in this life as in the next.

Gnesia Lutherans and Philippists

Within Lutheranism, this difference sparked disputes between followers of Melanchthon and Gnesiolutherans. Georg Major and Justus Menius claimed in 1552 and 1554 that good works were “necessary for happiness” ( necessaria ad salutem ). Nikolaus von Amsdorf promptly took the opposite position, and Matthias Flacius stood up for him: good works are "harmful to bliss" ( noxius ad salutem ). The concord formula (Epitome, Art. IV) attempted a compromise. Good works have nothing to do with human justification, but they are the fruits of faith, and therefore the congregation should be exhorted to good works in the sermon. The formulations of Major and Menius on the one hand and Amsdorf on the other hand were rejected as misleading. The concord formula wants to return to Luther, but shares Melanchthon's conviction that theology has an educational role.

Evangelical Reformed Theology

The Heidelberg Catechism explains to question 86 why Christians do good works: Out of gratitude for God's benefits and “that we are certain of our own faith from its fruits” ( Syllogismus practicus ), also so that one can meet one's neighbors through our own way of life win for Christ.

Karl Barth replaced the traditional term “the good works” with “the praise of works”: works that are pleasing to God, that is, are praised by God, but at the same time also to praise God and not to the self-praise of pious people. Man is allowed to participate in God's work with his actions; It is a gift from God when man and his life story are transferred to the covenant history of God and instituted and used by God.

Roman Catholic theology

The Tridentinum expressly rejected the Reformation doctrine and taught that justified Christians earned an augmentum gratiae (“increase in grace”) with good works , with which they contribute to their eternal life and their own glorification.

Ecumenism

The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification basically establishes a consensus: “We confess together that good works - a Christian life in faith, hope and love - follow justification and are the fruits of justification. Biblically speaking, when the justified one lives in Christ and works in grace received, he bears good fruit. For the Christian, insofar as he fights against sin all his life, this consequence of justification is at the same time an obligation that he must fulfill; therefore Jesus and the apostolic writings exhort Christians to perform works of love. "(§ 37)

However, there are still different emphases. According to Catholic doctrine, good works contribute to the Christian's growth in grace (not: growth of grace), whereby fellowship with Christ is deepened. The term “merit” emphasizes man's responsibility for his actions, but does not dispute the gift character of good works and justification (§ 38).

Lutherans called the good works the fruits and signs of justification, not merit; Eternal life is, according to New Testament usage, an undeserved “reward”, namely the fulfillment of God's promise to believers (§ 39).

literature

  • Martin Honecker: Introduction to Theological Ethics. Basics and basic concepts. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1990. ISBN 3-11-008146-6 .
  • Wilfried Joest: Dogmatics , Volume 2: The way of God with man . 3rd, revised edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993. ISBN 3-525-03264-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wilfried Joest: Der Weg Gottes mit dem Menschen , Göttingen 1993, p. 474 f.
  2. ^ Corpus Reformatorum 23, p. 181.
  3. ↑ Corpus Reformatorum 21, p. 177 f.
  4. ↑ Martin Honecker: Introduction to Theological Ethics , Berlin / New York 1990, p. 100.
  5. ^ Karl Barth: Kirchliche Dogmatik , Volume IV / 2, p. 661 f.
  6. ^ Karl Barth: Kirchliche Dogmatik , Volume IV / 2, p. 671.
  7. ↑ Session VI, can. 32, Denz. 842.