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motives which are laudable and in so far bear the stamp of God’s approval. Those good works,
however, cannot be regarded as fruits of the corrupt heart of man. They find their explanation
only in the common grace of God. Furthermore, we should bear in mind that, though these
works can be called good in a certain sense and are so called in the Bible, Luke 6:33, they are
yet essentially defective. The deeds of the unregenerate are divorced from the spiritual root of
love to God. They represent no inner obedience to the law of God and no subjection to the will
of the sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth. They have no spiritual aim, since they are not
performed for the purpose of glorifying God, but only bear on the relations of the natural life.
The real quality of the act is, of course, determined by the quality of its final aim. The ability of
the unregenerate to perform good works in some sense of the word has often been denied.
Barth goes one step further when he goes to the extreme of denying that believers can do good
works, and asserts that all their works are sins.
2. THE MERITORIOUS CHARACTER OF GOOD WORKS.
Even from the earliest ages of the
Christian Church there was a tendency to ascribe a certain merit to good works, but the
doctrine of merit was really developed in the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation it
was very prominent in Roman Catholic theology and was pushed to ridiculous extremes in
practical life. The Reformers at once joined issue with the Church of Rome on this point.
a. The position of Rome on the point in question.
The Roman Catholic Church distinguishes
between a meritum de condigno, which represents inherent dignity and worth, and a meritum
de congruo, which is a sort of quasi-merit, something fit to be rewarded. The former attaches
only to works done after regeneration by the aid of divine grace, and is a merit which
intrinsically deserves the reward it receives from the hand of God. The latter attaches to those
dispositions or works which a man may develop or do before regeneration, in virtue of a mere
prevenient grace, and is a merit which makes it congruous or fitting for God to reward the
agent by infusing grace into his heart. Since the decisions of the Council of Trent are rather
dubious on this point, there is some uncertainty, however, as to the exact position of the
Church. The general idea seems to be that the ability to perform good works in the strict sense
of the word springs from grace infused into the sinner’s heart for the sake of Christ; and that
afterwards these good works merit, that is, give man a just claim to, salvation and glory. The
Church goes even farther than that, and teaches that believers can perform works of
supererogation, can do more than is necessary for their own salvation and can thus lay by a
store of good works, which may accrue to the benefit of others.
b. The Scriptural position on this point.
Scripture clearly teaches that the good works of
believers are not meritorious in the proper sense of the word. We should bear in mind,
however, that the word “merit” is employed in a twofold sense, the one strict and proper, and