Christian Behavior - Good Works Flow From Faith
(This article is part of a modernized series in which John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress, discusses four observable characteristics of Christian behavior) I begin with the first . That good works flow from faith . This is evident in several ways. First, from the impossibility of their flowing from any other thing; they must either flow from faith, or not at all: 'For whatsoever is not from faith is sin' (Rom 14:23). And again, 'Without faith it is impossible to please him' (Heb 11:6). Every man by nature, before faith, is an evil and a corrupt tree; and a corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit: 'Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?' (Matt 7:16,17). Now a man is made good by faith, and by that produces the fruits that are acceptable to God (Heb 11:4; Col 1:4-6). For this reason, sinners, before faith, are compared to the wilderness, whose fruits are briars and thorns; and whose hearts are the home of dragons; that is, of devils (Isa...