How can people do good?

[kenblogton]

Reply to Paidion
So God not only asks them to cease from evil and to learn to do good, but he specifies that good. There is nothing—nothing at all in the passage to indicate that they CANNOT do good.
So are you saying that anyone can do good if they choose to?
kenblogton

[kenblogton]

Reply to dseusy
We must become righteous... trying to obey all of God's commands will lead us to Christ.
So we do good when we try to obey all of God's commands?
kenblogton

[kenblogton]

Reply to jaydam
In other respects though, perhaps our good is really good. We save a life, we help the poor, etc.
So the good we do is good if we save a life, help the poor, etc.?
kenblogton

[kenblogton]

Reply to Paidion
Jesus believed people could do good:
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. (Luke 6:35 ESV)
So if I love my enemies and lend at 0% interest, I'm doing good?
Your answer tells me what to do.
My question to you is how do I make the good I do godlike and not like filthy rags?
kenblogton

[Homer]

Matthew 5:16, New American Standard Bible (NASB)

16. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.


If it brings glory to God it is good, if it brings glory to self, it is not good. Jesus' teaching presupposes we can do good and informs us what is characteristic of that which is good.

I'm always reminded of the wealthy couple in a nearby city who donated millions to enable a performance center to be built. But it came with a catch - the building had to be named after them. Were they "good"?

[Paidion]

Jesus believed people could do good:
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. (Luke 6:35 ESV)
So if I love my enemies and lend at 0% interest, I'm doing good?

Yes

Your answer tells me what to do.

Jesus tells you what to do. In the very verse you quoted above, He said, "Do good", then he told you how to do it.

My question to you is how do I make the good I do godlike and not like filthy rags?

I think if you had read and understood the part of my post about the "filthy rags", you would not need to ask that question. To summarize, your good deeds are filthy rags, if your general lifestyle is sinful, but yet you do a few good things for some reason, perhaps to demonstrate to God or your friends that you are a good person, or perhaps to ease your conscience. This kind of "goodness" means nothing to God. But a consistent life-style of righteous living, (I didn't say perfection) God accepts.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:9-10)

[kenblogton]

Reply to Homer
If it brings glory to God it is good, if it brings glory to self, it is not good. Jesus' teaching presupposes we can do good and informs us what is characteristic of that which is good.
Is that sufficient for it to be a truly good deed - that it brings glory to God and not to self?
kenblogton

[kenblogton]

Reply to Paidion
To summarize, your good deeds are filthy rags, if your general lifestyle is sinful, but yet you do a few good things for some reason, perhaps to demonstrate to God or your friends that you are a good person, or perhaps to ease your conscience. This kind of "goodness" means nothing to God. But a consistent life-style of righteous living, (I didn't say perfection) God accepts.
So if I manifest a consistent but imperfect life-style of righteous living, God accepts that as good?
In Luke 18:9-14, we have the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. The Pharisee would be characterized by a consistent life-style of righteous living, and the Tax Collector a more consistently sinful life-style, and yet Jesus tells us the Tax Collector, and not the Pharisee, was justified before God in that instance.
Ezekiel 18:24 states " "But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin [demonstrates he is not perfect] and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die." The unrepentant imperfectly righteous will die (are condemned to hell).
Ezekiel 18:21 states " "But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed [repents] and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die." The repentant sinner will live - inherit heaven.
I don't believes a consistent but imperfect life-style of righteous living is sufficient to be accepted by God as good.
kenblogton

[Paidion]

I don't believes a consistent but imperfect life-style of righteous living is sufficient to be accepted by God as good.

That doesn't matter to those of us who do believe that such a life is accepted by God as good. Jesus and His apostles believed it, and that's what counts. Indeed, the very purpose of Christ's death was to enable people to be set free from the power of sin and to live righteously.

I Peter 2:24 He himself endured our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

II Corinthians 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Romans 14:9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Heb 9:26 ...he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

All of these verses indicate that Jesus died to do away with sin, to purify a people of his own, and to enable them to live for Him. God is pleased with a life lived for Him and a life filled with good works. Yet He is not satisfied. In this life, no one is yet perfect, but every genuine disciple of Christ is moving on toward perfection, travelling the difficult road which leads to life.
The apostle Paul wrote:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Php 1:6 ESV)

As the writer to the Hebrews wrote:

For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. (Heb 6:10 ESV)

[kenblogton]

Reply to Paidion
All of these verses indicate that Jesus died to do away with sin, to purify a people of his own, and to enable them to live for Him.
All of the verses you cite (1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:15, Romans 14:9, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:26) speak of Christ's redemption work. Not one of them tells me how to do the good that is pleasing to God - to enable me to live for Him.
You also cite And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Php 1:6 ESV) How will Christ bring His good work begun in a person to completion?
You also cite For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. (Heb 6:10 ESV) What makes the work people do and the love they show pleasing to God? How is it different from work and love that is not pleasing to God? Is all work and love pleasing to God?
kenblogton