Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe in Works-Based Salvation?

Do not fall prey to the propaganda of our opposers. We do not, and never have, taught works-based salvation. Anyone who claims we do makes himself a liar. Our opposers like to use made up terms like "works-learning" to make it sound like we are the ones teaching such strange terms, but the term has never appeared in any of our publications, ever, because we do not teach such things. They make false claims against us and make up a term we have never used, what does that tell you about them? (John 8:44; Revelation 21:8)

Though I know that some religious literature from nominal Christian organizations worm their way around the book of James, it cannot be ignored. It is God's word. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) Paul said we are "declared righteous by faith, apart from works of law." (Romans 3:19-4:8; 6:15; Galatians 2:15-21) "You see that a man is to be declared righteous by [fine] works and not by faith alone." (James 2:8-26) Do these two statements contradict? Not in the least! What Paul said is that, no amount of works of the Mosaic Law can save us. Faith is what saves us. (Thus, we too reject works of aw as a means of salvation.) However, James showed that no amount of faith can save us without fine works. (Works of law and fine works are two different things.)

Note that Paul himself said, "I want you to keep stressing these matters, so that those who have believed God may keep their minds focused on maintaining fine works." (Titus 3:8) In fact, he said to be "rich in fine works", (1 Timothy 6:18), "an example of fine works" and "zealous for fine works". (Titus 2:7, 14) In fact, he said we should "have a reputation for fine works." (1 Timothy 5:10, 25) Regarding this, Jesus himself said, "Likewise, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens." (Matthew 5:16) He was not talking about works of Law.

Why We Should Pursue Fine Works

If a prescribed amount of works were what saved us, such as a certain amount of preaching or counting rosaries or the number of my prayers in a day, or fulfilling the law of Moses to the letter, then all the faith I have demonstrated would be for naught. (Galatians 2:21) I have not done near as much as I think I should. (Luke 17:7-10) So I have faith toward God that he will see the meager amount I have done and be pleased. But I have not done those things to get salvation. I have done them because I love Jehovah and have faith that he sees my fine works and it pleases him. If I did not love Jehovah, I would not do those things. (1 John 5:3-4) Therefore, if I do not do them, and desist from sin, then I would prove that I do not actually love Jehovah. (Matthew 7:21; Romans 6:22) I do not think that I have nor will acquire salvation through any amount of works, but I have hope toward God that he will have mercy on me. (Romans 9:14-18)

Whoever does not do what God and Christ say will not receive salvation. (Matthew 7:15-27) But whoever does what they say, but falls short, can have salvation through faith. (1 John 2:1-6; Hebrews 5:9) Or is Christ also a liar along with James, John, Luke, Matthew and Paul himself? (Romans 10:5-18; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Titus 2:6-3:14) A person invalidates the entirety of the Scriptures if they claim that righteous works have nothing to do with faith. (Hebrews 11:4-38)

I've seen some of our opposers get into this stupid math game of where righteous works fall into the equation, that Jehovah's Witnesses put works first and faith second while it's supposed to be the other way around. Here's what I say to their equation: put it in cement and toss it into the Marianas Trench. Faith is what saves, and works demonstrate faith, but without works, you cannot be saved, just as without faith you cannot be saved, because the absence of righteous works demonstrate an absence of righteous faith. If your faith does not produce a change in your thinking and actions then you have no faith. (Philippians 2:13; Hebrews 10:22) That is what we have always taught and always will teach, because that is what the Bible teaches. We teach the Bible.

Observe what our publications say:

"No. We engage regularly in our door-to-door ministry, but we don’t believe that we earn our salvation by doing such work. (Ephesians 2:8) Why not? . . . Really, no human could ever do enough to merit such an astounding blessing from God. 'He saved us because of his mercy, and not because of any good things that we have done.'—Titus 3:5, Contemporary English Version."
—Frequently Asked Questions, "Are Jehovah’s Witnesses
Trying to Earn Salvation by Their Door-to-Door
Ministry?", jw.org, current as of 1/26/2016


"We do not earn salvation by doing these things, for no human could ever do enough to merit such an astounding blessing. We are not worthy of this magnificent gift, though, if we fail to demonstrate our love and obedience by doing the things that the Bible says God and Christ want us to do. Without works to demonstrate our faith, our claim to follow Jesus would fall far short, for the Bible clearly states: “Faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.”—James 2:17."
—1992 Watchtower 2/1, "What Must We Do to
Be Saved", p. 8, Box: "Which is Right?".


"The entire provision for salvation is an expression of God’s undeserved kindness. There is no way that a descendant of Adam can gain salvation on his own, no matter how noble his works are. Salvation is a gift from God given to those who put faith in the sin-atoning value of the sacrifice of his Son."
—Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1989, p. 359, par. 2


"When a man is dead, there is no animating force or “spirit.” So there is no work produced. Anyone can see this, and can be sure that there is no “spirit” in the body. The corpse is good for nothing, but must be buried out of sight. Likewise, a merely professed faith is as lifeless, unproductive and useless as a dead body. Faith cannot be seen by the literal eye as one can see a person, but works of faith can be seen. Where there is no animation in a person, no moving to good works, this is conclusive evidence that no living faith exists in him, for faith is a motivating force just as “spirit,” or, life force, is motivating for the body. On the other hand, where Christian works abound, evidence abounds that faith is there motivating the individual to right works. So James concludes his argument with an illustration that could hardly have been more appropriate."
—Commentary on the Letter of James, 1975, p. 359, par. 2

Of course our opposers would probably respond the same way they always respond: "You're lying." or "Someone's been lying to you," or "So you changed your views". Because they can't fathom that they are the ones who have been lied to about what we believe. What a shocker.