Dead Works

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

Hebrews 6:1-2

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 9:1

To follow Christ as we should, we must be purged of dead works, and repenting from dead works. So what, exactly, is a dead work? As it turns out the phrase holds two different significances. The first meaning of the phrase, and the most commonly thought of one, is that dead works are those actions which lead to spiritual death. That is, dead works are sinful deeds. And it is easy to see in scripture that we should not do those things which are evil in the sight of God.
Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

I Corinthians 15:34

And it is equally easy to see that these actions lead to death.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Revelation 21:8

The other meaning of the phrase “dead works” refers to those actions, which may be good of themselves, which are done without faith, half-heartedly, or merely out of habit or rote. This was the fault of the hypocrites in Matthew 6:1-17. They did good actions, but did so in order to receive the praise of other men. Their works were dead. In Matthew 15:1-9, the Pharisees performed dead works in that they gave money to the temple in place of supporting their parents. While God approved of giving the money to the temple, their action was dead because it ignored what God wanted. Instead, they were replacing it with a tradition of men.

We must be sure to not only be doing the right actions, but to do them in the right way, with the right heart, and with the right purpose. Otherwise, our works are dead. In the second chapter of James, he writes that faith without works is dead. The opposite is also true. Works without faith is dead.

The Hebrew writer wrote his letter to Christians, reminding them that although they should have been past this point, they still needed to repent of their dead works. We too must repent of dead works and strive to become a fully living, active, and productive Christian, pleasing to the Lord.