Are People Capable of ‘Good’ Works without Christ? – A Response to Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch

“We need to seriously get over Christendom’s theological cringe factor regarding the value of human goodness (dualism again?). We don’t have to denigrate genuine goodness in order to glorify God. James says that all good things come from God and have their source in God (1:17) and so it does not denigrate God when we say that some human acts are good. If someone sacrifices his or her life or possessions to help someone else, then we must affirm that it is in itself a good act. It has intrinsic value. Will that act bring that person salvation? No, a person can be saved only through active trust in God’s saving work in the Messiah Jesus” (Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, The Shape of Things to Come, 138).

Here, Frost and Hirsch make the case that humans can and do perform good actions. Is this the case? Before the fall of humanity (thanks Adam and Eve), all of God’s creation was deemed good. After the fall, humanity was separated from God and the goodness of humanity was forever marred this side of heaven. 

On the surface, people often do good things for people: they donate to many worthy causes, work hard to provide for their children, help out the poor, etc. But are these “good” things actually good in the eyes of God? They are good if they are done to the glory of God. Does the doer of the good deed perform the good deed because of his/her desire to glorify God? This desire for God’s glory arises from a heart that has been touched by the grace of God, a heart that is filled with God’s Spirit, and a heart that has been reconnected and restored to God through repentance and faith in Christ. Such a heart as this cannot be had by those who have not come into a saving relationship with God. Given this, no human action performed outside of a saving relationship with Christ can be deemed good in the eyes of God.