The Curse of Works Religions

Almost every human being on earth adheres to a religion that requires you to perform a list of works in order to be righteous. That includes almost all the different groups that operate under the umbrella of Christianity. It includes Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, many Protestants, the so-called marginal groups like Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the religions outside Christianity such as Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. And it includes the secular religions like Marxism and theological liberalism.

A religion of works requires you to keep a set of rules and/or undergo certain rituals in order to become righteous. It could be a righteousness that gets you in good with God and gets you to heaven. Or it could be a sort of secular righteousness that makes you feel like a good person. But whatever the religion the requirements are the same—a set of works you have to perform in order to be saved.

Let’s examine some of the lists of religious requirements:

Let’s start with the Catholic list: A Roman Catholic will tell you that to go to heaven you have to have faith in Jesus Christ. But that’s not enough. You also must be baptized, take communion, and go to confession. If you commit a mortal sin—which Catholics vaguely define and isn’t that hard to do—then you are no longer in a state of grace. If you die in such a condition you go to hell. In addition to all the above you have to love God and love your neighbor. How much you have to love your neighbor is never stipulated. Even if you die in a state of grace you will probably have sins that need to be purged before you can enter heaven so you have to go to an intermediate state called purgatory which involves suffering for your sins and being cleansed through that suffering. 

Catholics argue that their road to heaven is simple but it doesn’t seem simple to me. It appears to involve quite a few steps and a lot of rituals. But worst of all it seems so uncertain. If you accept the biblical definition of sin it seems like a mortal sin would be easy to commit so you could fall out of a state of grace quickly and easily. I don’t see how you could ever be certain you are going to heaven.

Let’s move beyond the more traditional Christian groups and look at the Mormon list. The Mormon way of salvation is a little complicated in that there are multiple eternal destinies. There are three levels of heaven—the top one they call the celestial level and is a rough equivalent to the biblical heaven. So that’s the one you aim for. And getting there isn’t easy. Like most of the religions that fall under the general category of Christian you have to repent of your sins and have faith in Jesus. That’s a good start for a Mormon. But it’s only a start. Then you have to be baptized but not any old baptism will do. You have to be baptized by them following their baptismal ritual. You have to be in the right organization—theirs—to get to the top heaven. I then have to be confirmed into the church in order to receive the Holy Ghost, as the Mormons define the Holy Ghost. If I am a man I then join a special Mormon priesthood. In addition I must go to a Mormon temple and do “temple work,” which involves special commitments and duties. I must also get married in the temple in order to advance to the highest levels of Mormon reward. After all this I have to “endure to the end.” This involves keeping the many Mormon rules—there are hundreds—until I die. It’s pretty daunting but I have spoken with Mormons who believe they can do it. And there is a lot of pressure, especially on men, to go on a mission. To spend two years spreading the happy news that the true church has finally arrived on earth. So in this particular works’ religion there is a lot of work.

Let’s move outside the broad fabric of Christianity and look at another monotheistic religion—Islam. Muslims call their heaven paradise and getting there is not easy. You have to believe Muhammad is a true prophet of God, you have to believe the Koran is the word of God. It is important that you follow the Muslim fast during the holy month of Ramadan, and if possible, make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in your life. In addition you need to be a generous person and live a righteous life. Unfortunately, you’re still not done. After all this it is still up to Allah as to whether or not he admits you to Paradise. One of the things I noticed about my Muslim students—you can never be sure. Allah may or may not let you in, the decision hidden behind his inscrutable will.

Let’s move outside traditional religions and look at a secular religion. Let’s consider the Marxist list. I have argued in a number of videos that Marxism is a religion and since it is a religion it has a collection of required beliefs and behaviors. How do Marxists live a righteous life? Being atheists a Marxist does not believe in life after death. You are simply a clump of matter without a soul. But Marxists still have rigid religious demands. To start off, a Marxist has to believe the engine of history is class warfare. Upper class vs. middle class; middle class vs. working class, etc. Modern Marxists have replaced class with other identities. Race, gender, sexual preference. You must believe that your group identity is the most important thing in your life. Marx said your class determined your religion, your values, your thoughts—everything. And a Marxist is defined by what he hates—he hates capitalism, the rich—except for rich Marxists. (I’m talking to you Bernie Sanders.). He hates the military, Republicans, and Christians. And it is a violent hatred. Marxists have murdered more people than any other religion in history. And like all religions Marxists believe in heaven. But it isn’t pie in the sky when you die. The Marxist heaven is here on earth. They call it the worker’s paradise. Like everyone’s heaven it lies in the future. I once asked a Marxist colleague if he believed there really would be a worker’s paradise. He said, absolutely. But we haven’t achieved it yet. When will it appear? Oh, maybe in a hundred years. So I told my Marxist friend, “OK, you believe in a heaven but not one you will ever personally enjoy. At least as a Christian I theoretically get to actually be in heaven. And the worst thing about your point of view is that if you are right you will never know it. If I’m right I’m going to look over the balcony of heaven and say to you, Neener, neener, neener. We both laughed but his was a nervous laugh.

And it would be unfair if I left my own religious tradition out of this discussion. I grew up as a Baptist. And technically Baptists don’t adhere to a work’s religion. But still, as a kid it was imperative that I did not dance, did not drink, did not smoke, did not go to movies, and did not play cards. We knew Catholics were going to hell because they drank beer at their church picnics. One of my little booklets I read as a kid said gambling was a sin and so was drag racing. And lots of Baptists think keeping this list gets them in better with God. It’s a de facto works’ religion.

There are many other religious groups and they all adhere to some kind of works religion. They all have their own lists. I don’t have time to go over them all. But you get the idea.

What are the problems with all works’ religions?

The list of works is arbitrary. You include some and leave others out for no particular reason. No religion includes everything on everyone’s list. It would simply be too exhausting to keep that many rules—there would be thousands. So you have to pare down the list of required works to make them doable.

Another characteristic of all these man-made religions. Not only is the list of rules arbitrary, it also has to include certain works that are not on anyone else’s list. If you are going to consider yourself righteous and more righteous than anyone else then you have to have rules and works that no one else has. They all depend on you being more righteous than other people. I remember talking to a very nice Mormon young man. I said to him, “Your god grades on a curve, doesn’t he? You have three levels of heaven. If you do the right things then you get to the top.” I then asked him, “Do you think you will make it to the top.” He said he thought he would. So I said that makes you a better person than those who don’t make it. Right? He wouldn’t comment but that’s exactly what he thought. In every works’ religion people who keep the rules look down on everyone else who do not keep the rules. Exactly like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.

In a works’ religion you have to keep the rules in order to impress the other members of your group who are keeping the rules. You can’t be in the community and enjoy it’s fellowship if you aren’t keeping the rules.

The biggest problem in works’ religions is you never know if you’ve done enough. Do you have the requisite level of righteousness to get to whatever heaven your group teaches?

Anyone who believes in a religion of works does not understand the biblical doctrine of sin. If you accept Jesus’ definitions of sins in the Sermon on the Mount you realize you can never be fully righteous. You can be a little bit righteous but not totally righteous. I once asked a young Mormon missionary in my home, “How do I get to the celestial kingdom?” He said, “By keeping the commandments.” I then asked him, “Jesus said that if you looked at a woman with lust in your heart you were committing adultery. How are you doing on that one?” He just shifted nervously in his seat. Apparently, like every man who has ever existed, he wasn’t doing so well on that one.

Works religions ultimately appeal to the arrogance of men. Instead of God receiving the glory for our salvation and blessings we arrogate them to ourselves.

The Bible clearly teaches that we are saved by faith alone. Works play no role in saving us. One of the first verses I learned as a kid was Ephesians 2:8,9: For by grace we have been saved by faith and not of ourselves; it is the gift of God—not by works; lest any man should boast.

Romans 4:5: To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly; to him it is counted as righteousness.

Or John 3:16, possibly the best known verse in the Bible: For God so loved the world He gave us His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That’s a great faith alone verse.

I could cite many more passages but you get the idea.

Then there is one of Jesus’ most famous parables—the prodigal son. You will remember that the prodigal demanded his inheritance and left home. He blew it all on debauchery and then one day—while feeding pigs of all things—he said, “The servants in my father’s house eat better than I do. I will go back to Him and see if He will let me be a servant.” When the father saw him from afar he rushed to him, put a ring on his finger, a robe over his shoulders, and restored to him his full status as a son. No works here. Nothing but faith.

And then there is the thief on the cross. What works could he possibly do to earn his salvation? He was nailed to a cross for goodness sake. All he said was, Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom. We may have our doubts about a lot of people—doubts about whether or not they are truly in heaven. But we have no doubts about this guy. We know he is in heaven because Jesus said he was. And he did absolutely nothing to deserve eternal glory. He wasn’t in a position to do anything. 

The only explanation for the prodigal and the thief on the cross is that they were saved by grace alone plus nothing.

The word that God Himself chose to describe His relationship with us is Father. Now a son does nothing to earn his sonship. And nothing he will ever do will make him any less than a son. We are sons because of the gracious choice of our fathers. We did nothing to earn that status. And I think the Bible teaches that nothing can take that status away.

So that’s my take on religions of works. They are all mistaken about how we establish a relationship with God.

Rather than grinding away in all kinds of religious activity and righteous works we need to rest in the fact of what the Apostle John said: He who has the Son has life. That’s enough. And what glorious rest and security it gives us. Praise God for His goodness!



More: Once saved always save? Here’s what the Bible teaches; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuAl8HVIbNg

Are we saved by faith alone? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=813cz4xt1pI