16.5 Section V

    Section V.–We cannot, by our best works, merit pardon of sin, or eternal life, at the hand of God, because of the great disproportion that is between them and the glory to come, and the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom by them we can neither profit, nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins; but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty, and are unprofitable servants: and because, as they are good, they proceed from his Spirit; and as they are wrought by us, they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of God’s judgment.

Exposition This section is also directed against an error of the Church of Rome, which teaches that the good works of the saints are meritorious of eternal life. That we cannot, by our best works, merit pardon of sin, or eternal life, at the hand of God, appears from the following considerations:–1. Our Saviour declares (Luke xvii. 10), that when we have done all those things which are commanded us, we are unprofitable servants, and have only done that which was our duty. 2. Our best works cannot be profitable to God, and therefore can merit nothing at his hand.–Ps. xvi. 2. 3. All our works, as they are good, proceed from the almighty agency of the Spirit of grace (Phil. ii. 13); and as they are not performed in our own strength, they can merit no reward. 4. Our best works, as they are wrought by us, have such a mixture of sin in them, that, instead of meriting anything at the hand of God, they cannot endure the severity of God’s judgment.–Ps. cxliii. 2. 5. Our best works bear no proportion to the inestimable blessing of eternal life (2Cor. iv. 17); accordingly, the reward is represented "as of grace, not of debt;" and we are directed to "look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." - Jude 21.