-Those who thus trust in Christ and follow Him are created FOR good works, not BY good works. God Himself prepared these good works before we ever heard of Christ, and He intends for His people to be living a life characterized by these good deeds, yet they are not means of grace but rather by-products of it. But wait, there’s more...
-The Greek word here for ‘workmanship’ is the noun form of the verb ‘to make/do’ (poieo). There multiple nouns in the Greek actually. There is the one who is doing the making - that english word is ‘maker’ (poietes). And then there is the thing they are making (poiema) - but we have no English noun for this, at least not one which derives directly from the verb. We have ‘to do/doer/deed’, but not a noun for what is made (so, a doer does a deed, but a maker makes a ____?). But in this case, those who believe are clearly having been made by God Himself - we are "what He made" - twice, in fact! Those who believe are His creation (where incidentally English does have all three words - create/creator/creation-creature). They are what they are because of what God did - again, not because of anything they did.
-Note also that while most English translations use the phrase "created UNTO good works" or "FOR good works", that is not what it says in the Greek. One would expect a different preposition (the Greek word eis) for that. But the word Paul uses is epi - meaning "above" or "upon". When refering to creation, it means the place where the Creator creates His creation, where He intends it to live. God created man upon the earth (Isaiah 45.12) - as His creatures we were meant to live on, to inhabit the earth. (the very first command God ever gave to man speaks to this - Genesis 1.28). But now in this instance, God has (re)created those who believe in Christ UPON good works, intending for His people to live ON good works, to inhabit them, to live into them and fill them up, which is exactly what Paul says in the next phrase - "in order that we should walk in them". The meaning is essentially the same, but the word picture is certainly more nuanced than what we get in the English. It is not just what we do, it is who we are. It is our life. It is as if God pre-formed this planet named Good Works, and He breathed the breath of spiritual life (His Spirit) into so much spiritual dust and formed those who believe in Christ Jesus to live on planet Good Works. We are now Good Work-lings. Good works are our life, they are where we live, we live into them, inhabit them, and fill them up. It is as much about identity as it is about function, if not moreso. And again, good works are not any kind of rocket ship that takes us to the planet - they are the skin in which we live having now been born upon that world. They are not the means to the destination - they ARE the destination. Or part of it, at least...
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