In short, the answer is yes! You do not need good works in order to be saved. But the short answer often doesn’t tell the full story, so let’s dive a little deeper.
We cannot earn salvation by good works – we are all sinners who deserve death (Romans 3:23-24). No matter how hard we work, we will never live the perfect life that is required to be saved on our own. While good works cannot save us, however, good works are often used as a measure for those who are authentically following Jesus and have submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Jesus himself presented this through His analogy of the vine:
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15:1-4
Good works, or fruit, are clearly an indicator of a life of abiding in Christ. So you may be thinking, “if fruit shows that I am following Jesus, doesn’t that mean I need good works to be saved?”. The key here is to distinguish between receiving salvation and how our lives are changed after receiving salvation. God’s goal has never been to make achieving salvation difficult for us. He wants to be with us. This is clearly articulated in the most well-known verse in the world, “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God is the one who does the heavy lifting in our receiving of salvation, not us.
The key here is to distinguish between receiving salvation and how our lives are changed after receiving salvation.
But something changes once we are saved. A common analogy used is that the light gets switched on in our hearts. The things that we once tolerated or even enjoyed we are now convicted of and work towards removing from our lives. We can see clearly. The things that matter to God now matter to us. Looking back at John 15, a key point that Jesus makes is that you cannot bear fruit unless you are abiding in Christ. How could we be required to do good works to be saved when it is clear that we cannot do good works without Christ!
Often times, when discussing this topic around good works and salvation, Christians can resort to speculation or logic over Scripture. This is not only dangerous, it also typically results in incorrect conclusions. We can easily see God’s view on this question, not through ourselves, but by looking at Jesus’s declaration:
39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Without even having an opportunity to do good works, Jesus declares that the thief on the cross has received salvation because of his faith in Him. This is of course a very short timeline. If the thief on the cross was carried down before he died or miraculously brought back to life, we would have seen good works start to be expressed in his life. That is what happens after you receive salvation! But even without the privilege of being able to live a life of service to Jesus, the thief on the cross was still declared righteous.
So both the short and long answers are yes. Salvation is a free gift and good works are the result of submitting to Jesus’s lordship over our lives. We cannot do good works without Jesus, but through Him and because of Him, we can become more like Jesus.
