"works" of the Old Testament Law, or "commandments" (cf. 2.15); practices such as "circumcision" (v.11); ordinances relative to the temple in Jerusalem, which lay in ruins at the time.
Indeed, Paul didn't write "Ephesians", but I have little doubt who actually did. :)
I don't have any scripture, but let me think on that a bit.
It seems to me that "works" would be anything someone does to try to make themselves look better in God's eyes (or to look more "Christian" in general): learning the difference between agapao and phileo, circumcision, witnessing door to door every week-end, getting baptized, taking some "Bible" classes, giving 10% or more of your income when you don't really want to.....
James 2:18
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
The "works" that you do from the goodness of your heart with no ulterior motive, no seeking of reward, recognition or even acknowledgement from anyone - especially not from God - those are "genuine" works and those are the things God smiles upon. Those are the things we do without thinking about it and so those things we don't even realize God is taking note of.
Mat 25:45
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me.
Something about being an hungered and not being fed, asking for a coat and being told to "go be warmed" - those are things that we should do out of the goodness of our heart and not because someone told us to or because we feel an obligation to, but because we WANT to, whether we get "credit" for it or not. When we have that attitude - that's when we do get credit for it.
I do what I'm moved to do and I don't worry about it if I'm not. God knows what I'm capable of and it may not be as much as someone else OR it may be in a different area or way than someone else's specialty. My aunt bemoaned the fact that she didn't want to offer her home to hurricane victims and she felt terrible about that. I reminded her that she was a VERY private person and that it's perfectly fine for her to not want to give in that way. I then reminded her of how she jumped in and took charge of organizing the material needs that their home office employees from N.O. needed and seeing to it that everyone got everything thing they needed. She had done what she was good at. She jumped to it and never gave it another thought. She hadn't even realized how big a task she had done until I pointed it out to her. It helped relieve her guilt somewhat. We do what we can and what we are moved to do.
"works" of the Old Testament Law, or "commandments" (cf. 2.15); practices such as "circumcision" (v.11); ordinances relative to the temple in Jerusalem, which lay in ruins at the time. ..
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TheInvisibleDan
"works" of the Old Testament Law, or "commandments" (cf. 2.15); practices such as "circumcision" (v.11); ordinances relative to the temple in Jerusalem, which lay in ruins at the time.
Indeed, Paul didn't write "Ephesians", but I have little doubt who actually did. :)
Danny
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Belle
I don't have any scripture, but let me think on that a bit.
It seems to me that "works" would be anything someone does to try to make themselves look better in God's eyes (or to look more "Christian" in general): learning the difference between agapao and phileo, circumcision, witnessing door to door every week-end, getting baptized, taking some "Bible" classes, giving 10% or more of your income when you don't really want to.....
The "works" that you do from the goodness of your heart with no ulterior motive, no seeking of reward, recognition or even acknowledgement from anyone - especially not from God - those are "genuine" works and those are the things God smiles upon. Those are the things we do without thinking about it and so those things we don't even realize God is taking note of.
Something about being an hungered and not being fed, asking for a coat and being told to "go be warmed" - those are things that we should do out of the goodness of our heart and not because someone told us to or because we feel an obligation to, but because we WANT to, whether we get "credit" for it or not. When we have that attitude - that's when we do get credit for it.
I do what I'm moved to do and I don't worry about it if I'm not. God knows what I'm capable of and it may not be as much as someone else OR it may be in a different area or way than someone else's specialty. My aunt bemoaned the fact that she didn't want to offer her home to hurricane victims and she felt terrible about that. I reminded her that she was a VERY private person and that it's perfectly fine for her to not want to give in that way. I then reminded her of how she jumped in and took charge of organizing the material needs that their home office employees from N.O. needed and seeing to it that everyone got everything thing they needed. She had done what she was good at. She jumped to it and never gave it another thought. She hadn't even realized how big a task she had done until I pointed it out to her. It helped relieve her guilt somewhat. We do what we can and what we are moved to do.
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Jbarrax
Yeah, what he said. :-D
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