According to the Bible, there are several crowns for which believers can aspire. These crowns are held in prospect for the Christian by the Lord as incentives for faithfulness unto Him. As Christians, we are created in Christ Jesus as new creatures to serve the true and living God. Our salvation is by the grace of God…grace that can operate only through faith, to be sure…but nevertheless, it (salvation) is by the grace of God, which simply means that it is unmerited and undeserved, the free gift of God (See Eph. 2:4-9).

           Notice particularly the statement, regarding salvation, in verse 9…”NOT OF WORKS, that no man should glory.” So, to Christians Paul makes it clear that our salvation is by grace…provided for us wholly of the Lord…and received through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, in verse 10, Paul goes on to say: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them,”.

          Yes, good works enter the picture, not, however, as a procuring cause of salvation, but as God’s purpose for those whom He has saved. As Christians, we are to be conscious of the fact that a divine work has been wrought upon us, and within us—-that we are God’s workmanship. As Christians who are the very workmanship of God, we are new creatures in Christ Jesus, as stated in II Cor. 5:17: “Wherefore if’s man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new,”

          Now God’s stated purpose for making us new creatures in Christ Jesus is that we might pursue good works, yea, the VERY (specific) works that He has AFORE PREPARED for us to walk in. (“Good works” are not necessarily, in God’s sight, the mere doing of things that might be classified as “good” in contrast with things that are in themselves “bad”; “good works”, according to this passage, are those works that we engage in as the result of the directive will of God for our lives…the very works “which God afore prepared that we should walk in.”)

          These “good works” are not, as has been stated, the procuring cause of our salvation. Salvation if the free gift of God, and “not of works, lest any man should glory.” However, God does not ignore the “good works” of His children: He does not overlook faithful Christian service and living. In fact, He even takes note of so small a thing as the giving of “a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple”, with the promise that truly “he shall in no wise lose his reward.” (Matt. 10:42.)

           Obviously, to give someone a cup of cold water is not the procuring cause of salvation; so, when the promise is made “he shall in no wise lose his reward”, the word REWARD does not refer to salvation, but to recognition on the part of Gods for faithfulness even in the smallest matters. Now, in this particular discussion, we not dealing with the teaching of God’s Word on the subject of rewards as a whole (since space will not permit), but on the subject of CROWNS in particular, thus taking note of the fact that we are indeed created to serve and destined to reign!

           We are created in Christ Jesus for good works; we are to “suffer hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (II Timothy 2:3) with the promise that ”if we endure, we shall also reign with Him.” (II Timothy 2:12)

 

Robert B. Boyd. “In “Good Tidings,” April  1954