"It is also taught among us that good works should and must be done, not that we are to rely on them to earn grace, but that we may do God's will and glorify him. It is always faith alone that apprehends grace and forgiveness of sin. When through faith the Holy Spirit is given, the heart is moved to do good works." The Augsburg Confession, Article XX, "Faith and Good Works.
"Good works follow such faith, renewal and forgiveness.... To this we must add that if good works do not follow, our faith is false and not true."
Smalcald Articles: Part III: Article XIII "How Man is Justified before God, and His Good Works."
"When, however, the question is asked, how a Christian can identify, either in his own case or in the case of others, a true living faith and distinguish it from a simulated and dead faith (since many lazy and secure Christians delude themselves into thinking that they have faith when they do not have true faith), the Apology gives the following answer: 'James calls that faith dead where all kinds of good works and the fruits of the Spirit do not follow.'"
Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article III, "Righteousness"
This is a bigger deal than may appear at first. For hundreds of years the Lutheran Church has been quoting Ephesians 2: 8-9 to demonstrate that we are saved by grace through faith, not by what we do. And rightly so. But Luther and the writers of The Lutheran Confessions did not stop there, and we cannot either. Ephesians 2: 10: "For we are His creation - created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them." (Holman Christian Standard Bible) (emphasis added).
My favorite work on this subject is Martin Luther's "Freedom of a Christian" (which is not a part of The Lutheran Confessions). Luther wrote it in three parts. First he laid the foundation of salvation by grace through faith apart from works (Ephesians 2:8-9). But then in the second part he went on to say that while God's Love for us is unconditional, we respond to that love with love for God, including devotion and worship. In part three he continued that we serve The Lord by serving those whom He loves - everyone. Obedience is a response of love for the love that God showed us.
I love the King James translation of logiken (logos) in Romans 12: 1. Most translations these days translate it "spiritual". But King James uses "reasonable" (logical - which is the literal word). In light of all that Jesus has done for us in the love of God, it just makes sense that we would offer ourselves to Him in love and service.
An observation I have been making for awhile now is that for hundreds of years we as Lutherans have focused so much on "saved by faith through grace apart from works" and on sharing the Good News that "God loves you" that we missed an important piece. We have spent so much time answering the question whether God loves us, that we have failed to ask, "But do you love God?" And following, "If you did, what would that look like?" For a long time Lutheran churches tended to have pews with people sitting around being loved by God. But then most of them "did the math" and realized that since "nothing you can do can make God love you more, and nothing you can do can make God love you less" that they could sit around at home (or wherever) "being loved by God" and instead our churches tended to have mostly just pews. I believe a big reason for that was that no one asked them, "But do you love God?" I have been studying Scripture for almost 40 years now, and I remain convinced that God's promises are NOT for those whom God loves. God loves everyone. Scripture is clear that God's promises ARE FOR THOSE WHO LOVE GOD. We needed long ago to move on to the next question.
In 2000 the ELCA made an excellent attempt to address this "oversight" in the Discipleship Materials "Living Faith Practices." They put out excellent study materials showing that this is what a living faith actually looks like: pray, worship, study the Bible, invite others, encourage the generations behind us, serve and give. VERBS!
So, in conclusion, I am sick to death that any suggestion that we might actually do something with our faith in response to God's love, is met with responses like: "That's works righteousness!" "That's fundamentalist legalism!" "That's not Lutheran." NO. It IS VERY LUTHERAN to use verbs in a sermon and to suggest an actual response to The Good News that looks something like "Go in peace and serve The Lord." Such a response in obedience and love just makes sense.
Martin Luther in "Freedom of a Christian" called our response to God's love in devotion, obedience and service "Faith active in Love." Yea. That.
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