Why Should We Do Good?

“Someone told me that nonbelievers have no guideline or reason to do good because they don’t know that God is real and he will punish them. . . . Do we all just do good to be rewarded/not punished because we’re scared of God?”

Thanks for your thoughtful question, Luci. I’ve broken the answer into three parts.

1. Our good works cannot make us right with God.

God is holy and just, so we must be perfect to have eternal life, not just do more good than bad. It is impossible to do enough good to gain eternal life. Because no one is perfect, does that mean we have no hope?

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is good news! Jesus was perfect in our place, and he took the penalty of our sin on the cross. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

2. We should do good works out of love for God because he has freed us.

If we aren’t saved because of our good works, why should Christians do good? Should we intentionally keep sinning because God gives grace? Paul answers, “By no means!” (Romans 6:1–2). If we’re saved, our old, sinful selves were crucified with Christ, and we have been set free from sin (Romans 6:6–7). Galatians 5:13 says that we should use the freedom God has given us to serve others—to do good!

The reality is, sometimes doing good means we experience blessings, and other times it means we experience hatred and hurt from others. So we shouldn’t do good because of what we might get in return—we should do good because we greatly respect (have fear and reverence for) and love our incredible God, and he has told us how he wants us to live in the Bible. Our hope is that others will “see [our] good works and give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

3. Unbelievers can still have reasons for doing good—but not the right ones.

Unbelievers can still do kind and sacrificial things for others because all people are made in the image of God, meaning they reflect him in some ways. They have a variety of reasons for doing good deeds: Some may hope to please their false god, escape punishment, or gain some sort of reward. Sadly, they aren’t being kind out of a love for the true God, and they are still slaves to their own sin—and if they don’t repent, that slavery will lead to death. We need to pray for these people and share the gospel with them so that hopefully, they come to know the freedom found in Jesus.

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