“These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith: and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance” (XVI. 2).
The so-called good works of which the WCF here speaks does NOT evidence a “true and lively faith,” but rather a blind and ignorant zeal (cf. Romans 10:1-4) that seeks to “strengthen” and establish a righteousness that will give them greater assurance of a right standing with God. They of course, are ignorant of God’s righteousness, which is why they go about to establish their own righteousness by means of “good works” that “strengthen” their assurance of acceptance before God.
Agrammatos 