As I was proofing and editing Ken Yates’ new commentary on Mark’s Gospel, I came across the expression good work (Mark 14:6). When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with costly oil, the Lord Jesus defended her saying, “She has done a good work for Me.”
I knew that was a fairly rare expression. So, I went to Logos and searched.
Guess how many times the expression good work is found in the Bible. Would you believe just fourteen times (once in the OT and thirteen times in the NT)?
It might surprise you what the Bible calls good work:
- Rebuilding the broken-down wall of Jerusalem (Neh 2:18).
- Anointing Jesus’ feet with costly oil (Matt 26:10; Mark 14:6).
- Giving money to support Paul’s ministry (Phil 1:6).
- Serving as an elder in a local church (1 Tim 3:1).
- Raising children, lodging strangers, washing feet, relieving the afflicted (1 Tim 5:10).
We typically think of most of those acts as of minor importance. We think of good works as big things like leading someone to faith in Christ, preaching a sermon in front of a big crowd, going to a remote people group as a missionary, dying as a martyr, and spending years in prison for your faith. While those things can be good works, we must not neglect the everyday things. Whatever we do, we are “to do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Col 3:23).
The common chores we do as husbands, wives, and children are all rewardable if we do them heartily as to the Lord. Washing dishes and clothes is good work. Helping your children with their homework is good work.
Often, it is the little things in life that have a huge impact on others’ lives. Powerful are kind words, hugs, a nod of the head, a fist bump, a pat on the back, and a timely card or gift.
The plural expression good works occurs fifteen times in the NT (and not at all in the OT). Most of those references are undefined. We are called to do good works (e.g., Matt 5:16). We know from Scripture what God considers good.i
The word work occurs four hundred times in the Bible. If you want to explore this subject more fully, try a concordance study on the word work in one section of the Bible, like Paul’s epistles, the Gospels, the Pentateuch, or the Minor Prophets. I think you’ll find it to be a very rewarding study.
Keep grace in focus.
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i The Heidelberg Catechism gave this definition: “What are good works?… [They are] only those which proceed from a true faith, are performed according to the law of God, and to his glory; not such as are founded on our imaginations, or the institutions of men” (Question 91). That definition does not strike me as helpful. What is true faith? What does it mean to perform works according to the law of God? What does founded on our imaginations mean? What institutions of men is this talking about?
