“If you place any trust in your own actions, or in the actions of any other person, or any saint, then you diminish the truth, mercy, and goodness of God. For if God looks upon your works, or the works of any other person, or the goodness of the saint, then He does not do all things purely out of mercy and goodness, nor for the sake of truth, which He has sworn in Christ. Now Paul says, “Not of the righteous deeds which we did, but of His mercy saved He us.” (Titus 3) Our blind debaters will say, ‘If our good deeds do not justify us; if God does not look upon our good deeds, does not regard them, nor loves us more for them, what need do we have to do good deeds? I answer, God looks upon our good deeds and loves them; yet does not love us for their sake. God loves us first in Christ, out of His goodness and mercy, and pours His Spirit into us, giving us the power to do good deeds. And because He loves us, He forgives our sinful actions, which we commit out of weakness, not intentionally or for a momentary purpose. Our good deeds only testify that we are justified and beloved. For unless we are beloved and possess God’s Spirit, we could neither do nor consent to any good deed. Antichrist turns the roots of the trees upward. He makes the goodness of God the branches, and our goodness the roots. According to Antichrist’s doctrine, we must be good first, moving God and compelling Him to be good again for our goodness’ sake: so, God’s goodness must spring from our goodness. No, indeed; God’s goodness is the root of all goodness; and our goodness, if we have any, springs from His goodness.” William Tyndale
Titus 3:
3 For we ourselves also were *in times past, *unwise, disobedient, deceived, *in danger of *lusts and to divers’ *manners of voluptuousness, living in *maliciousness and envy, *full of hate, *hating one another.
4 But after that the kindness and love of *our Saviour God *toward man appeared,
5 not *of the deeds of righteousness which we *wrought, but *of his mercy he saved us, by the *fountain of the *new birth, and with the renewing of the Holy Ghost,
6 which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour,
7 that we *once justified by his grace, *should be heirs *of eternal life, *through hope.
8 This is a *faithful saying, *and these things I *will that thou *affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, might be *careful to *maintain good works: These things are good and profitable unto men.
Tyndale’s NT 1534
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