Good Works and Unbelievers

If we believe in Total Depravity then what do we do with this passage:

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, "Cornelius." And he stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea." (Acts 10:1-6 ESV)

The result of the story is that Peter preached the gospel to Cornelius and he was saved.

We know that our good works do not earn our salvation. In this case, however, Cornelius' good works moved God to make sure that Peter received salvation. Wow! That really runs against the grain of what we would otherwise expect, doesn't it?

Well, I don't want to build a doctrine on this single episode. I just think it should cause us to pause and acknowledge that the nature of our goodness or badness might be a little more complex than some are willing to admit.

Apologetically, I think we should not denigrate the goodness in people. Mis-quoting verses like Isa 64:6 as "Our righteousness is like filthy rags in the sight of a holy God" is, I think, unwise and ineffective. (Look up the verse in context; it says nothing like we make it say.) We can acknowledge that many non-believers perform wonderful acts of goodness with good motives all the time.

The point is that how many good things one does is not the payout window (to borrow an expression from Vin Scully). The problem that we all face is that we have sinned. Though it only takes one sin to break faith with God, that is an unnecessary point. Each of us have sinned many many times and we know it. Our sins separate us from God and he can not have fellowship with sin. We would be lost and without hope but for the fact that God made a way for us to be saved from our sins and their consequences.

And this is point we should make clear--God has made the way. Face it, who else could do so? Not sinful humanity. We are the problem--he is the solution. It is not just that there is a way, but the point is that God decided to create that way. And how simple that way is: Receive the grace and forgiveness present in the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made by dying for our sins. No long periods of study. No hours of meditation. No piling up of good works. No knocking on doors. Just receive the gift, because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10:9 ESV) This might be a tough concept for someone to believe but, once believed, it is easy to accept.

Good works make the earthly life better for the individual and for those around him. But it is only the grace of God that gains him eternal life.

This is not where I wanted to go with this post. Check back in a day or so and I will finish the thought on the mistake of being too extreme with Total Depravity