Works: Insufficiency of, for Salvation
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Psalm 49:7, 8
No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God. / For the redemption of his soul is costly, and never can payment suffice,
Psalm 127:1, 2
A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain. / In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.
Ecclesiastes 1:14
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
Isaiah 43:26
Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.
Isaiah 57:12
I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not profit you.
Isaiah 64:6
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
Ezekiel 7:19
They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs with wealth, for it became the stumbling block that brought their iniquity.
Ezekiel 33:12–19
Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.’ / If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but he then trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, then none of his righteous works will be remembered; he will die because of the iniquity he has committed. / But if I tell the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and does what is just and right—
Daniel 9:18
Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.
Matthew 5:20
For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 17:7–10
Which of you whose servant comes in from plowing or shepherding in the field will say to him, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? / Instead, won’t he tell him, ‘Prepare my meal and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? / Does he thank the servant because he did what he was told?
Luke 18:9–14
To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable: / “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. / The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
Acts 13:39
Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
Romans 3:20–31
Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin. / But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. / And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction,
Romans 4:1–22
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has discovered? / If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. / For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Romans 8:3
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,
Romans 9:16, 31, 32
So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. / but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. / Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Romans 11:6
And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.
1 Corinthians 13:1–3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. / If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. / If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Galatians 2:16, 19, 21
know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. / For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. / I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.
Galatians 3:1–29
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. / I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? / Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?
Galatians 4:9–11
But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? / You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! / I fear for you, that my efforts for you may have been in vain.
Galatians 5:2, 4, 6, 18
Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. / You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. / For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.
Galatians 6:15
For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.
Ephesians 2:8, 9
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, / not by works, so that no one can boast.
Philippians 3:3–9
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— / though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: / circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
Colossians 2:20–23
If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: / “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”? / These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
2 Timothy 1:9
He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.
Titus 3:4, 5
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, / He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 4:3–10
Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world. / For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this manner: “And on the seventh day God rested from all His works.” / And again, as He says in the passage above: “They shall never enter My rest.”
Hebrews 6:1, 2
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith in God, / instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
Hebrews 9:1–14
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. / A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place. / Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
James 2:10, 11
Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. / For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.