Last time, we went through the first chapter of Ephesians, and we discovered what a packed chapter it was. Right out of the gate, Paul covers some major doctrinal issues. We saw how we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We have been chosen by him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him in love. We have been foreknown and predestined (marked out beforehand) to be adopted sons by faith in Jesus Christ. We have been called, justified, and glorified. God has done all this according to the good pleasure of His will. We are highly favored in God’s perfect, divine love. We have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and are recipients of His abounding grace. We have been united in Christ. We have been predestined to an inheritance of Heaven and eternal life that is incorruptible, undefiled, does not fade away, and that is being preserved for us. We have been sealed (stamped) with the Holy Spirit of promise, being preserved by God until the day of redemption.
Last time I was struck by just how much God has given us. He hasn’t held anything back from us in Christ. In Romans it states, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:31-32) I believe He has done this for us because of His love for us. Paul writes further in Romans, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39) Paul prayed they would receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God so that they would have a greater understanding of these truths.
Lastly, that we would understand the exceeding greatness of God’s power who raised Jesus from the dead, and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places far above all other power and authority, and gave Jesus to the Church to be its head. It’s truly some amazing stuff. Now, let’s move into chapter 2.
Paul begins the chapter by reminding them where they came from. As believers it is important to remember where we came from. Sometimes, especially if we have been a believer for a while, we become prideful and self-righteous, forgetting what God has saved us from, and we can become overly critical or harsh with others’ sins. He states, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. We ended the last chapter with Paul talking about the exceeding greatness of God’s power who raise Jesus from the dead, and it is that same power that makes us alive again spiritually. We are all born with a sin nature inherited from Adam and Eve, and as a result, are spiritually dead. Trespass has the idea of crossing a line or boundary that God has set. It can be accidental or willful. The word sin is an archery term, and simply means to miss the mark, God’s righteous standards. So, whether we sin ignorantly or willfully, it is still sin.
He reminded them that they walked (past tense) according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who works in the sons of disobedience. First, they used to walk. A true convert won’t be comfortable in their sin any longer, whereas a spiritually dead man does not care. This temporal world is under Satan’s control or influence (Acts 26:18, Col 1:13, and 1 Jn 5:19). He also blinds the minds of those who do not believe from seeing the truth (2 Co 4:4). Next, Paul includes himself in stating how wea all walked after our own lusts, and as a result, were the children of wrath like the others. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (Jn 3:36) The wrath of God is a real thing, and we should be eternally grateful for what God has saved us from. It’s good to remember what God has saved us from, and it’s good to remember what He has saved us to.
We did not deserve anything, but God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love for us, made us alive together with Christ when we were dead. The word “mercy” is used in connection with feelings of compassion, as well as the actions that result from it. I have heard it said that mercy is not giving someone what they deserve. It is God’s compassion and divine love that causes Him to not pour out His wrath on us, but to give us a second chance. Asaph, in speaking of Israel’s provocations of God in the wilderness, said that God remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. He knows our struggles, and how difficult it is to do what is right at times. It’s kind of like our own kids: sometimes they deserve more discipline than we give them, but we go lighter on them because we love them and know their struggles.
Paul inserts in parentheses, “by grace you have been saved.” So, we see both mercy and grace at play here in connection with our salvation. Grace means kindness or favor, and is referring to the unmerited favor and kindness of God towards humanity. I have heard it said that it is God giving us what we don’t deserve. Not only have we been spared the punishment of Hell, we have been given the inheritance of eternal life in Heaven with the Lord.
God has raised us up and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ. I think that is interesting, God views us as already seated in the heavenly places because of our faith in Jesus. We tend to view ourselves based off where we are presently, but God views us in light of where we are headed. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:12) Now, if we recall, Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. The Lord told him he would save Israel, and when Gideon protested, the Lord told him He would be with him and that Gideon would defeat them as one man. So, we may not feel like we’re seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, but the Lord has told us we are. He is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. He’s done all this so that He can show us the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ in the ages to come. Again, this is Heaven, and this is where we are headed.
And now we come to one of the most famous passages in Scripture in V 8-10: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We have been saved by the unmerited favor of God through our faith in Jesus Christ, nothing more, nothing less. The overwhelming Scriptural evidence is that we are saved by faith. This word for faith in the original language (pistij) is a noun, and, in context, means a belief or reliance on Jesus for salvation. Its root is in another Greek word that means to persuade or be persuaded. Paul wrote to the Romans, “There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” (Rom 3:11-12) Jesus said in John, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (Jn 6:44) So, this calling and persuasion is itself a gift from God offered to us; it’s only up to us to receive it.
The corresponding verb used by John in his Gospel and by Paul in his epistle to the Romans “believe” is pisteuw, and means to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing). It is to entrust one’s spiritual well-being to Christ. it is referring to the response of the heart to the call of God bringing eternal life.
It's not of ourselves, but it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. There is nothing that you or I can contribute or offer God for our salvation; it is a free gift. I cannot stop doing enough bad things and do enough good things to make myself right with the Lord. Even repentance inn and of itself cannot save a person, because it is not accompanied by faith. As we discussed in Romans, repentance does not erase our previous debts of sin; it merely means we are not adding more debt to our account. We need God’s righteousness imputed or credited to our account by faith to pay our debts in full. To believe justification by our works is to say that Jesus’ sacrifice was not enough, and that I’m not really that bad. However, what does the Scripture say? As we have already read, there is none who does good, no, not one.
I don’t believe we can cover this topic of justification by faith apart from works without covering some ground in the book of Romans. So, if you would please turn with me to Romans 3, beginning at verse 19, and read through 4:16. It states:
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
God’s law stops all our mouths and our attempts to justify ourselves by showing us our guilt.
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.”
The righteousness of God is given to not just some, but to ALL who believe.
“For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
All have sinned, but We are justified freely by His grace. Grace is free to us, but it cost God the life of His only begotten Son. Propitiation means a place or thing used to appease or atone for wrong-doing. This word is used for the lid of the ark in which the blood of the sin offering was sprinkled on the day of Atonement. Jesus appeased God’s wrath toward us by dying on the cross in our place.
“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”
We don’t have room to boast, for we are all justified by faith, apart from the deeds of the law.
Continuing into chapter 4:
“What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.”
Even Abraham, the father of the faith, was not justified by his works. Those who seek to be justified by works end up in debt to God.
“But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.’ Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.”
Abraham’s justification came before circumcision, and so our justification comes before our obedience.
“The Promise Granted Through Faith For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
The Law brings about wrath because it can only leave us in debt to a righteous and holy God. “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.” This is why salvation must be by grace through faith apart from our works. We must trust in Jesus who is our propitiation. He is where we find mercy, grace, and forgiveness.
We are saved by grace through faith, apart from our works, but that doesn’t mean that works are not important. Paul continues, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” The word for “workmanship” is poihma, and is where we get our word poem. We are God’s work of art. Spurgeon said, “Our new life is as truly created out of nothing as were the first heavens, and the first earth. This ought to be particularly noticed, for there are some who think that the grace of God improves the old nature into the new. It does nothing of the sort.” Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Co 5:17)
I think Paul’s approach here is interesting. He focuses on God’s artistic abilities as it relates to our good works. We are all unique, and the Lord has different plans for each of us that He will work out if we trust Him by faith. If we are God’s work of art, this means that He loves us and takes pleasure in us, and if He loves us and takes pleasure in us, then what He tells us to do or not to do we can believe it is for our good. God’s mercy, grace, and love should be our primary motivation for obeying Him. David Guzek writes, “God’s love is a transforming love. It meets us right where we are at, but when we receive this love it always takes us where we should be going.”
In closing, we were once dead in our trespasses and sins, but we are now saved and made alive by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, and we have been created to do good works which God has already prepared for us beforehand to do.
