For us to
understand this verse of being saved by grace through faith. We need to
understand God’s definitions of those words that are given to us in His word,
correct? Let us do that. Can we go back
and look at Eph. 2:8-10 and look at the verse itself? Excellent "For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV. First, I would like to ask,
what is grace according to scripture? Many rightly say grace is “the free and
unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal
of blessings.” Mariam Webster defines grace as “unmerited divine assistance
given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification”1 That’s correct. That explains it, but it does not give us a
full picture. I still have questions about grace, don’t you? A good question I
have is, How did God accomplish this? And where did that definition come from
in the Bible? Ephesians 2:8-10 does not give us the answer to those questions. God not being an author of confusion and
giving us the gift of His word that holds everything about life and godliness
should give us an answer.
Let us look and see if there is one. “And the
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 NKJV We learn in this verse that the Word, Christ,
became flesh and dwelt among us. He is full of grace and truth. In fact, in the
same context, we read that we, who receive Him, have received grace and His
fullness because of Him and He came to bring us both grace and truth. “And of
His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given
through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:16-17
NKJV. Then in the letter to Titus, God
makes this information abundantly clear as it harmonizes with these other
verses.
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.” Titus 2:11-15 NKJV.
Christ is what has appeared to mankind. God says Christ is His grace in verse 11. He goes on to say that grace, Christ, brings salvation. That Christ, grace, teaches us. That Christ, grace, gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people. That’s where the definition comes from and how God has accomplished it. The definition was “the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.”. Putting it all together, we can see that Christ freely and not being merited made Himself manifested in the flesh so He could die, be buried, and raise to give us salvation from our sins. Grace is Christ.
We can accurately
say when looking at this verse, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” Ephesians 2:8 KJV, For by
Christ are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God.
Based on what we
have looked at so far, Grace is Christ. We have accomplished a lot with that.
We have not come to a complete understanding of that verse yet. What is faith?
We need to take the same steps in studying faith as we did with grace. Faith
would be trust according to this verse, “But without faith it is impossible to
please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a
rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Faith is obedience in this verse, “By faith
Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive
as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Hebrews
11:8 NKJV. Faith is active according to what we read here, “What does it
profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can
faith save him?” James 2:14, NKJV. Our active obedience because we believe God
is the life force of our faith when we look at this verse, “For as the body
without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 2:26,
NKJV. This faith we have God says comes
by hearing His word in, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God.” Romans 10:17, NKJV. So far,
this means that faith means we can trust and actively obey because God has
given us Christ. We need to look a little deeper.
In Johns 1:17, it
says, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ.”. It doesn’t say He came to bring grace and faith. However, if we
receive the truth, then this truth sets us free and makes us disciples, “Then
Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you
are My disciples indeed. ‘And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free” John 8:31-32 NKJV. This
truth sanctifies us, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John
17:17 NKJV. This truth will judge us, are everlasting life and from God,
“He who rejects Me,
and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have
spoken will judge him in the last day."For I have not spoken on My own authority;
but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I
should speak."And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore,
whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”" John
12:48-50 NKJV.
This truth is where our faith comes from,
“How then shall they
call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him
of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of
peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!" But they have not all
obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "LORD, who has believed our
report?" So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Romans 10:14-17
This truth is how grace, Christ teaches us, “For the grace
of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in the present age,” Titus 2:11-12 NKJV. The truth is written down for us by
God through Holy men, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV and “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture
is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man,
but holy men of God spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21 NKJV. That was the work of the Holy
Spirit after Christ ascended, to bring us the truth in its fullness, “These
things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the
Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all
things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” John
14:25-26 NKJV. That is also why the
truth is living and active, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 NKJV. That means that our faith comes by God’s gift
of Christ that brought truth.
That means that
the truth and grace are both a gift of God. Grace is Christ death, burial, and
resurrection for our sins, and the truth is the God-given words that were
gifted to us that gives us a chance to believe and have an active, obedient
trust. Both are gifts. Both are why we have salvation. None of them are because
we earned them or worked for them.We are saved “For by grace you have been
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” Ephesians
2:8 NKJV. We can say this accurately For by Christ, you have been saved through
actively obeying the truth God spoke because you trust God, that is not of yourselves
it is a gift.
But in verse 9 it
says we do not work for it. We do not earn it. It's not of our doing but God’s
so we cannot boast. That is right. Let us look at it. The verse reads, "For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV. “Not of works” means what? It cannot be
talking about our actively obey the gift of truth that our faith is born from
and maintained by. Let’s look at the word work in the New Testament as it
pertains to our study.
A good and well-known verse to look at that
calls for our faith to be full of good works reads like this, “For as the body
without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 2:26,
NKJV. The Greek word for work is “ergo.”
Strong defines are as “ἔργον érgon, er'-gon; from a primary (but obsolete) ἔργω
érgō (to work); toil (as an effort or occupation); by implication, an
act:—deed, doing, labour, work.”2 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon lets us
know that this New Testament uses of the word work means apply to conduct of
men special good conduct in this specific verse. Let read us Thayer’s input, “ἔργα
is applied to the conduct of men, measured by the standard of religion and
righteousness — whether bad, Matthew 23:3; Luke 11:48; John 3:20; Revelation
2:6; Revelation 16:11, etc.; or good, John 3:21; James 2:14, 17f, 20-22, 24-26;
James 3:13; Revelation 2:5, 9 (Rec.),Rev 2:19; Revelation 3:8;”3
As the word in
Ephesians 2:9, “not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Needs to be considered,
as well. Thayer lets us know that the word “ergon” is used as such, “in Paul's
writings ἔργα νόμου, works demanded by and agreeing with the law (cf. Wieseler,
commentary iib. d. Br. an d. Gal., p. 194ff): Romans 3:20, 28; Romans 9:32
Rec.; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:2, 5, 10; and simply ἔργα: Romans 4:2, 6;
Romans 9:12 (11); Romans 9:32 G L T Tr WH; Romans 11:6; Ephesians 2:9; 2
Timothy 1:9 (see δικαιόω, 3 b.).”3
There is an issue when looking at these two
verses without understanding work. If your faith is dead without works, then
works are needed. We are not saved of any works lest we should boast. But we
cannot have works, Or we don’t have faith. They must be speaking of two different
things. That is what the Greek Lexicon is pointing out. Their usages of the
word matters. God is saying through Paul to the church in Ephesus that they not
saved by the works of keeping the law. God is saying through James without your
active good works that’s comes from obeying the truth your faith is dead. You
have to obey and do if you say you believe.
Believing and
activity obeying God because you trust Him is not a work that saves you. It is
faith. That is the biblical definition of faith. You are simply doing what he
asks. We are given grace. We are given the truth. Both come by Christ. Both are
a gift. Being saved by Christ by actively obeying Him is a gift. We are simply
doing what He asked. We have to remember doing that even in doing what He asks,
we are still unprofitable servants. “So likewise you, when you have done all
those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We
have done what was our duty to do.' " John 17:10 Even in obeying God, we
don’t earn salvation. It’s a gift, and it’s a gift to obey. That means doing
what God commands us is not a work that earns us anything. It is our reasonable
sacrifice for the gift He has given us. “ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1. In so doing,
there is salvation. This is a salvation that we can honestly say we didn’t earn
nor work for.
Let us read our verse of study again, "For by grace are
ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not
of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV. With what we have looked at we can
say, in congruence with all of scripture, We can now accurately say we are
saved by God’s gift of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection through His
gift of truth that we actively obey because we believe. It’s not by keeping the
works of the Law so we can boast about making it on our own. We are God’s handy
work created in Christ Jesus, grace and truth, unto good works that God
established beforehand for us to walk in.
Another good study is
to figure out what part the truth New Testament Christians actively obeyed that
they believed that God is reminding them of.
________________________________________
Bibliography
1. “Grace.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grace.
2.
Strong, James LL.D S.T.D., Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Thomas Nelson Publishers,
Nashville 1990, pg. 36 2041.
3.
THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic
Database.Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights
reserved. Used by permission. BibleSoft.com
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