Gospel Guidebook: Getting and Keeping It Right 
Works are NOT Evidence of Saving Faith
The Reformed tradition has a good understanding of the Gospel and the implications of the Gospel, mainly as it pertains to God's glory, limited atonement, the active and passive obedience of Christ, and double imputation. However, it is not enough to understand the Gospel. It is also necessary to understand what it means to believe the Gospel. The Reformed tradition, for the most part, does not understand the nature of saving faith. No further proof is needed than to quote the Reformed mantra, "We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone." This mantra is commonly attributed to Martin Luther who said, "faith is not idle" in one of his discourses on faith in 1520, as well as John Calvin who said, "It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone" in his Antidote to the Council of Trent in 1547. If the mantra is taken at face value, it is not hard to see that it is paradoxical. First, it says that faith is alone, but then it says that faith isn't alone. Obviously, it can't be both, but because of this mixing of faith and works, it ends up nullifying faith and grace.
Salvation isn't by works. All Reformed people agree with this. But they inconsistently also say that works are evidence of salvation. It makes no sense. If salvation isn't by works, then how can works be evidence of salvation? It's completely illogical. To say that works are evidence of saving faith is to subtly redefine faith to include the seed of works. (And this is why they love to use the illustration of faith being like a fruit tree that bears fruit.) However, the Apostle Paul goes to great lengths to tell us that saving faith is apart from works, signifying that works do not accompany faith, nor are works inherent to faith. Again, Paul speaks of the ungodly man who doesn't work but believes, signifying once more that belief can never be accompanied by works. There can be no mixture or accompaniment of faith and works. Faith doesn't produce works. To say (or even imply) that works are inherent to faith or accompany faith is to deny biblical faith altogether. Saving faith is bare belief, the mere persuasion that the historical record of the Gospel is true. But this type of faith is repudiated by all the Reformed confessions and catechisms. For example the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) says in Chapter 11.2 that saving faith is "ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love." The confessions and catechisms are ashamed of the biblical words "belief" and "believe" and replace them with the mystical and elusive words "receiving and resting," "hearty trust," and "upright faith."
But what about Galatians 5:6 where it says that "faith works through love"? Most people interpret this verse as if it said that faith produces love, but that isn't what it says at all. Instead, faith by itself is unable to do anything. Although the WCF says that saving faith is "no dead faith," the Apostle James likens biblical faith to a body without a spirit. It needs to be empowered by works to do anything. So, in stark contrast to the WCF, saving faith is actually a "dead faith" in the sense that it cannot do anything by itself. It is merely a bare persuasion of truth. The only way faith can work is if it is empowered by works. According to James, if faith isn't empowered by works, then it is dead because it is useless in saving the poor (i.e., the "him" of James 2:14 and needy brothers and sisters in 2:15). Such a "dead faith" is sufficient for personal salvation (which James never doubts of his letter's recipients, calling them beloved brothers and born-again people), but insufficient for anything else. And this is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he said that faith works through love. When a person believes the Gospel, he becomes persuaded of the love of God at the cross, and this recognition of love, in turn, constrains him (2 Cor. 5:14) to reciprocate the love toward God and His people. So, it is really the love of God in a person that produces the works, not faith. Faith can only be said to work in the sense that it is empowered by love. Horatius Bonar in his book The Everlasting Righteousness said something similarly when he wrote, "The free, boundless love of God, pouring itself into us, expands and elevates our whole being; and we serve Him, not in order to win His favour, but because we have already won it in simply believing His record concerning His Son."
James 2:26 and Galatians 5:6 parallel each other well. James 2:26 says, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." From this we can see that the body lives through the spirit. Without the spirit, the body cannot live. The body cannot produce life. It is only when empowered through the spirit that it can live. Likewise, in Galatians 5:6, faith works through love. Without love, faith cannot work. Faith cannot produce works. It is only when empowered through love that it can work.
But what about Ephesians 2:10 where it says that God created us in Christ Jesus for good works? This verse has nothing to do with faith producing works. The Apostle Paul just carefully explained in verses 8 and 9 that salvation is not by works. So, the works that God foreordained for believers in verse 10 cannot possibly serve as evidence of saving faith. If they did serve as evidence, the believer would have grounds for boasting in something other than the cross of Christ. The whole point of saving faith is to exalt Christ in the recognition that Christ did it all, leaving not a single good work for the believer to do. If this be true, and it no doubt is, how foolish it would be to look at works for assurance of one's acceptance with God. There is no question that God causes believers to perform good works, but to turn around and say that those good works are evidence of His favor is a non sequitur (i.e., an illogical conclusion). Judas was also empowered by Jesus to perform good works, but Jesus said in John 6:64 that he didn't believe!
In light of the above, Ephesians 2:8-10 are extremely important because they refute Roman Catholic soteriology and the Reformed concept that works are evidence of saving faith. This is because the works in verse 10 are clearly Spirit-empowered works (as opposed to unregenerate works of the flesh). Again, because Paul just emphasized in verses 8-9 that salvation isn't by works, it follows that the Spirit-empowered works in verse 10 cannot be the Catholic's "unmerited" means of salvation or the Reformed's "evidence" of salvation! The Apostle Paul is teaching the exact opposite of Catholic and Reformed theologians.
Justification by faith apart from works is only known by the believer and God. Good works are never an evidence of saving faith. Faith cannot produce works. Rather, good works give the believer intimacy in his relationship with God and demonstrate to other people that he is in fellowship with God. The Apostle James gives us an example of this when he speaks of Abraham being justified by works and thereby being recognized by other people as the friend of God. (By the way, James is very careful not to say that Abraham was justified by faith and works. He speaks of two types of justification: justification by faith and justification by works. The word "only" in James 2:24 is an adverb, not an adjective. This means that it doesn't modify the word "faith," but goes with the omitted verb "justify." See the American Standard Version's translation of James 2:24 for an accurate translation of the verse that shows that James is talking about two types of justification.)
People need to stop looking to their works for evidence of salvation. Works can never give us assurance of salvation. Belief in the Gospel is assurance and the anchor of our soul, sure and steadfast. The Gospel itself must be our joy and sufficiency.