Westminster Confession XVI, 7—“Works done by unregenerate men … things which God commands, and of good use”

Works done by unregenerate men, although, for the matter of them, they may be things which God commands, and of good use both to themselves and others … (WCF, 16:7)

COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:

The first part of the article is sometimes quoted to support the contention that the unregenerate not only are “good” (at least in some sense), but are also capable of doing good—all because of an operation of common grace.

(I)

Prof. David J. Engelsma

[Source: The Standard Bearer, Vol. 69, Issue 4]

[This] use of the quoted words makes the Confession say the very opposite of that which it actually is teaching in this article:

Works done by unregenerate men, although, for the matter of them, they may be things which God commands, and of good use both to themselves and others: yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith; nor are done in a right manner, according to the word; nor to a right end, the glory of God; they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God … (my emphasis, DJE).

[The article] expressly states that all the works of the unregenerate are “sinful and cannot please God,” including those works that outwardly conform to God’s law …

… In this article of the Westminster Confession appears the same definition of a good work that is found in Question 91 of the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q. But what are good works?

A. Only those which proceed from a true faith, are performed according to the law of God, and to his glory; and not such as are founded on our imaginations, or the institutions of men.

According to both the Westminster Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism, a good work is one that has three characteristics. These characteristics concern source, standard, and goal. The source is faith; the standard is the law of God; and the goal is God’s glory.

According to both the Westminster Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism a good work is exclusively one that has these three characteristics. No work that lacks these three characteristics is good. Every work that lacks these three characteristics is evil.

Christ alone is the source of good for men, and, therefore, only [those] works that originate in the faith that draws from Christ are good.

The law of God is the sole standard of good, and, therefore, only [those] works that conform to the command to love God and the neighbor are good.

There is none good but God, and, therefore, only works that aim at God—the Triune, holy God revealed in Scripture—are good.

This creedal definition of a good work rules out all possibility of an unregenerated man doing good works, and it judges all the works of the unregenerated to be sins …

… Accordingly, whatever is not out of faith, according to the law of God, and to God’s glory is sin. If, outwardly, the deed conforms to the law’s precept and if, seemingly, it serves humanity well, it is only a glittering sin. Augustine called such deeds of the ungodly “glittering vices”; the Puritans called them “painted sins.”

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(II)

More to come! (DV)

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QUESTIONS:

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Q. 1. “May we define good works as ‘doing what nature teaches, showing natural affection and manifesting respect for life, property and marriage, for duly constituted authority and for the ordinances of the church’?”

The devising of good works is forbidden by the WCF in the opening article of chapter sixteen: “Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his holy word, and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men, out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intention.” (Prof. David J. Engelsma, “The Standard Bearer,” vol. 69, no. 4.)