9. No One Can of Himself Do Good That Is Good

No one has previously known whether the good he does originates from himself or from God, because the church has separated faith from charity, and goodness is an expression of charity. A person gives to the poor, donates to the needy, contributes to churches and shelters, looks out for the welfare of his church, country, and fellow citizens, regularly goes to church, devoutly listens then and prays, reads the Word and books of piety, and thinks about salvation; and this without knowing whether he does these things of himself or from God. He can do these very things from God, or he can do them of himself. If he does them from God, they are good. If he does them of himself, they are not good. In fact, we encounter goods of this kind, done by people of themselves, which are clearly evil, such as hypocritical goods, which are deceptive and fraudulent.

24. 1. If a person wills and does good before he refrains from evils as being sins, the good that he does is not good. That is because he is, prior to that, not in the Lord, as we said above. So for example, if someone gives to the poor, aids the needy, contributes to churches and shelters, is of service to the church, the country, and his fellow citizens, teaches the gospel and makes converts, is just in his judgments, honest in his business dealings, and upright in what he does, and yet regards evils as being hardly sins, such as instances of fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and the like, then he cannot help but do good that has evil within it; for he does those things of himself and not from the Lord. Thus he himself is in the deed, and not the Lord, and every good that has the person himself in it is defiled with his evils and has regard to himself and the world.

On the other hand, those same deeds recounted above are inwardly good if a person refrains from evils as being sins, such as instances of fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and the like; for he does those deeds from the Lord, and they are called deeds “done in God” (John 3:19-21).