Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
8. For by grace, &c.] The connexion of thought (“ for ”) is with the leading truth of Eph 2:4-7; the gratuitous “loving-kindness of the Lord” in the salvation of the Church. This, we have just read, will be the great future lesson of that salvation to the intelligent Universe; and this accordingly is re-stated here.
This important ver., and Eph 2:9, are rendered lit., For by grace ye have been saved, by means of faith; and that, not of you God’s is the gift; not of works, that no one should boast. Here the main teaching is clear in itself, and clearer than ever as illustrated by e. g. Romans 3; Philippians 3. The salvation of the soul, and of the Church, is essentially and entirely a matter of sovereign Divine mercy in purpose and accomplishment. It is deliberately meant that no exception or reserve is to be made to that statement. But in detail, the verse presents a problem. Does it distinctly state that “faith” is the “gift of God,” or does it state, more generally, that “gratuitous salvation” is the “gift of God,” leaving it open whether the faith which accepts it is His gift or not? The question is largely occasioned by the construction of the Greek, in which “ that ” (neuter) does not agree with “ faith ” (feminine). Many great expositors, Calvin at the head of them, accordingly take “that” to refer to the main previous idea, and “through faith” to be a separate inserted thought. Alford, who takes this view, states the case for it briefly and well. Nevertheless we recommend the other explanation, and for the following simple reason: the phrase “ and that ” (lit., “ and this ”) is familiar in N.T. Greek to introduce an addition of thought, enforcing or heightening what has gone before. See 1Co 6:6; 1Co 6:8; “ and that before the unbelievers;” “ and that, your brethren;” Php 1:28; Heb 11:12, (A.V., “ and him, &c.”). But if it here refers only to the general previous idea, gratuitous salvation, it is hard to see what new force of thought it adds to the words “ by grace.” If on the other hand it refers to the last special statement, “ through faith,” there is a real additional point in the assertion that even the act of believing is a gift of God; for thus precisely the one link in the process where the man might have thought he acted alone, and where therefore, in St Paul’s sense, he might claim to “boast,” is claimed for God. Let the clauses, “and that, not of you; God’s is the gift,” be taken as a parenthesis, and the point of the interpretation will be clear; while the Greek amply admits the arrangement.
That “faith” is a matter of Divine gift is clear from e. g. 2Co 4:13; Php 1:29. Not that a new faculty of trust is implanted, but gracious manifestations of the soul’s need and the Saviour’s glory prevail upon the will to choose to repose trust in the right Object. The “gift” of faith is but one phase of the Divine action which (Php 2:13) “worketh in us to will.” And it may be said to be one aspect of the “gift of repentance” (Act 5:31; 2Ti 2:25), for repentance is no mere preliminary to faith; it is the whole complex “change of mind” which includes faith.
See Bp O’Brien’s Nature and Effects of Faith, Note I.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For by grace are ye saved – By mere favor. It is not by your Own merit; it is not because you have any claim. This is a favorite doctrine with Paul, as it is with all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity; compare the notes at Rom 1:7; Rom 3:24, note.
Through faith – Grace bestowed through faith, or in connection with believing; see the notes at Rom 1:17; Rom 4:16, note.
And that not of yourselves – That is, salvation does not proceed from yourselves. The word rendered that – touto – is in the neuter gender, and the word faith – pistis – is in the feminine. The word that, therefore, does not refer particularly to faith, as being the gift of God, but to the salvation by grace of which he had been speaking. This is the interpretation of the passage which is the most obvious, and which is now generally conceded to be the true one; see Bloomfield. Many critics, however, as Doddridge, Beza, Piscator, and Chrysostom, maintain that the word that ( touto) refers to faith ( pistis); and Doddridge maintains that such a use is common in the New Testament. As a matter of grammar this opinion is certainly doubtful, if not untenable; but as a matter of theology it is a question of very little importance.
Whether this passage proves it or not, it is certainly true that faith is the gift of God. It exists in the mind only when the Holy Spirit produces it there, and is, in common with every other Christian excellence, to be traced to his agency on the heart. This opinion, however, does not militate at all with the doctrine that man himself believes. It is not God that believes for him, for that is impossible. It is his own mind that actually believes, or that exercises faith; see the notes at Rom 4:3. In the same manner repentance is to be traced to God. It is one of the fruits of the operation of the Holy Spirit on the soul. But the Holy Spirit does not repent for us. It is our own mind that repents; our own heart that feels; our own eyes that weep – and without this there can he no true repentance. No one can repent for another; and God neither can nor ought to repent; for us. He has done no wrong, and if repentance is ever exercised, therefore, it must be exercised by our own minds. So of faith. God cannot believe for us. We must believe, or we shall be damned. Still this does not conflict at all with the opinion, that if we exercise faith, the inclination to do it is to be traced to the agency of God on the heart. I would not contend, therefore, about the grammatical construction of this passage, with respect to the point of the theology contained in it; still it accords better with the obvious grammatical construction, and with the design of the passage to understand the word that as referring not to faith only, but to salvation by grace. So Calvin understands it, and so it is understood by Storr, Locke, Clarke, Koppe, Grotius, and others.
It is the gift of God – Salvation by grace is his gift. It is not of merit; it is wholly by favor.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eph 2:8; Eph 2:10
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.
The respective places of faith and works in salvation
I. Consider now we are saved by or through faith.
1. Without faith we cannot be saved.
(1) Faith is necessary in the appointment of God.
(2) Faith is necessary in the nature of the case.
2. All who have faith will be saved. But remember, faith is not a mere assent to and profession of the truth; but such a belief as purifies the heart and governs the life.
II. Consider what place and influence works gave in our salvation.
1. In one sense our Salvation is not of works.
(1) We are not saved by works, considered as a fulfilment of the original law of nature.
(2) Nor are we saved by virtue of any works done before faith in Christ, for none of these are properly good.
2. Yet there is a sense in which good works are of absolute necessity to salvation.
(1) They are necessary as being radically included in that faith by which we are saved. A disposition to works of righteousness is as essential to faith, and therefore as necessary to salvation, as a trust in the righteousness of the Redeemer.
(2) A temper disposing us to good works is a necessary qualification for heaven.
(3) Works are necessary as evidences of our faith in Christ, and of our title to heaven.
(4) Good works essentially belong to religion.
(5) Works are necessary to adorn our professions and honour our religion before men.
(6) Works are necessary, as by them we are to be judged in the great day of the Lord.
III. The necessity of works does not diminish the grace of God in our salvation, nor afford us any pretence for boasting. The whole scheme of redemption originated in Gods self-moving mercy. And our spiritual services are acceptable only by Jesus Christ, not by their own intrinsic worth. Practical reflections:
1. Humility essentially belongs to the Christian temper.
2. The mighty preparation which God has made for our recovery, from ruin teaches us that the human race is of great importance in the scale of rational beings, and in the scheme of Gods universal government.
3. It infinitely concerns us to comply with the proposals of the gospel.
4. Let no man flatter himself that he is in a state of salvation as long as he neglects good works. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
The source and way of salvation
The Christian salvation may be divided into three parts: the salvation which delivers us from sin and its consequences; the salvation which restores us to the favour, image, and communion of God; and the salvation which preserves us amidst all the temptations and dangers of our present state until we reach the heavenly kingdom. Yet the salvation itself is but one. Its several parts are inseparably united to each other; and they form that mighty scheme which excludes all evil and involves all good, which fills time with peace and eternity with triumph.
I. The source from which our salvation flows is grace–the grace of God.
1. It is the grace of God which gave origin and existence to the scheme of our salvation by the death of the Messiah.
2. It is the grace of God which has given execution or accomplishment to the scheme of our Christian salvation.
3. It is the grace of God which gives application and effect to this scheme of salvation.
II. The way in which the Christian salvation is to be obtained–through faith.
1. An exceedingly plain and simple way.
2. A divinely appointed way.
3. A humiliating way.
4. A holy and practical way. (John Hannah, D. D.)
Salvation of God through faith
If we drew out, in order, the teaching of these verses, it would perhaps fall into something like the following statements. That an affection in the Divine nature is the primary cause of human salvation–By grace ye are saved. This affection of God is apprehended by the creatures faith–By grace ye are saved through faith. Though the creatures faith is his own, by the free consent and voluntary exercise of his own heart and mind, nevertheless, in its principle and operation, it is the work of God–not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Mans salvation, instead of consisting in a single act of God, is His most patient work–For we are His workmanship. With respect to our new nature, which is the work of God, Jesus Christ is our father Adam–We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. This new nature gives evidence of itself by a corresponding excellence of character–We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. These good works are adequately provided for by a prearranged plan of God, and by the nourishment of our new nature in His Son–Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God before prepared that we should walk in them. We must consent to it with our whole heart, that our salvation from first to last is of God and by God. (John Pulsford.)
Salvation
1. Look at salvation in its origin–it is by grace.
2. Look at it in its reception–it is through faith.
3. Look at it in the manner of its conferment–it is a gift. (J. Eadie, D. D.)
Saved by grace
It is a very important word surely, that word saved. It brings before our minds the most solemn consideration that we can possibly be occupied with. Nothing is nearer to us than our own souls; hence there is nothing more important than that we should not lose those souls of ours. Some of us love our money dearly, but what is money to our soul? Some of us love our friends very dearly, but we shall have to part company with them. Some of us love the pleasures of life dearly. What is it to be saved? Before we can answer that question, we must ask another: What is it to be in danger? If I were to meet one of you strolling along the road, and rushed up to you with frantic eagerness, and seized you by the arm, and said, My dear friend, do let me save you! you would think I had come out of a lunatic asylum, and would wish that I were back there again. Nobody in his senses would address his neighbour in that way, under such circumstances. But supposing we were at Brighton together, and I was walking along the Esplanade, and, looking out to sea, saw you in a little cockle shell boat, tossing about on the waves, and, by and by, I saw that boat go over, and you sinking in the sea; and suppose I stripped off my clothes, and sprang into the water, and swam out to you, and as I drew near, you heard me shout, Will you let me save you? would you be astonished at my asking you the question, under such circumstances. Then that brings before us this conclusion–we only want a Saviour when we are in danger. Before the Lord Jesus Christ is of any use to us as a Saviour, we must endeavour to realize what our danger is. Let us, then, try and discover what it arises from. It is not a pleasant thing to think that we are in danger, is it? There is one way of getting away from the sense of danger, that is to trifle with Gods truth, and persuade ourselves that danger is not danger. We flatter ourselves that all is safe, when all the time, in the sight of God, we are in a state of terrible danger. Now, I want to point out to you that, so far from that making matters better, it only makes them worse. If I was wandering out near some of your cliffs, on a night dark as pitch, so that I could not see my hand before my face, I should be in a state of great danger. If I knew that there were sharp precipices descending to the sea, three or four hundred feet, I should be on the look out for them, feeling my way carefully with a walking stick, if I had one, doing all I could to avoid falling over the precipices and being dashed to pieces. But supposing I did not know that there were any precipices in the neighbourhood, and I said to myself, I have only to walk along this moor, and, sooner or later, I shall get to the place I want to reach, how should I walk then? Although it was dark, I should step out bravely; if I had only so much as a single star to direct me, or a light in the distance, I should steer my course by it, and I should go on, probably, till I came to the edge of the precipice, and, taking a false step, should go over. Do you not see that if we are in danger it is far better for us to know that we are in danger than to think that we are in safety? Now, I cannot help thinking that there are some of us in this double danger: first of all, we are in danger because we are sinners; and, in the second place, we are in danger because we do not think that we are sinners; or, if we think that we are sinners at all, we think so little about it that we really do not feel the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and therefore do not tremble at the thought of what sin must bring. And what does our danger proceed from? It proceeds from the fact that sin has entered our nature. Let us look at a consumptive patient. He is walking down the lane with a brisk step, and is not so very unhealthy looking. You ask him how he is. Oh, he says, he is not so particularly bad; he has got a cold, but he is going to shake it off. You look at him carefully; you are a doctor, and you know about such things; you see the hectic flush on his cheek, a certain appearance in his complexion that alarms you: there is a ring in his cough that seems to tell of something fatally wrong. What is the matter with him? He is in terrible danger, he does not know it, but he is none the less in danger. What is it makes him in danger? A disease has taken hold of his body. Somewhere in the lungs there is a formation taking place; he cannot see it, but its effects begin to manifest themselves. There is a poison within the blood, so to speak, and the man is doomed; in all probability, in the course of a few months, you will see him laid on a bed of languor and wretchedness, and in a few months more he will be carried to his grave, a wasted corpse, the terrible disease having done its work! Now, sin is a disease of the soul. The question is not whether the disease has been largely developed, or whether it is only just beginning to develop itself! the point is, Is the disease there? Has it begun its fatal work? If it has, then you are in terrible danger. If I were drowning off Brighton sands, and a man came along the Parade, with a multitude of medals of the Royal Humane Society on his breast, indicating the number of lives he had saved; if I cried out to him, Come and help me! and he replied, Oh! I am a saviour, I have saved lots of people, I should say, Save me; yea are of no use to me unless you save me; I am drowning; dont talk of how many you have saved, but save me. Then suppose he said, Hope on; perhaps I will think about it by and by, and then went on and left me drowning, would that be any considerable consolation to me? Suppose he had said, Perhaps, by and by, when you have gone under water three or four times more, and lost all consciousness, and you think you are dying, I will take it into consideration whether I will save you, would that be a comfort to me? Would you like to have such a saviour as that? Now, when I have this terrible disease of sin upon me, what I want is a Saviour who will save me now, who will bring me into a state of conscious salvation, or safety–for that is the meaning of the word in plain English. Can we get such a Saviour? We can. The Saviour revealed in the gospel is a Saviour who comes down to me, and lays hold of me as I am sinking in the jaws of death, and puts me in a position of safety, so that I tan look round triumphantly, and say as the apostle said, Being justified by faith, I have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I come back to the old question. We have seen what the danger is, and we have seen what the salvation is; now we come to ask–How is a man to be saved? What is it that will save him? The apostle makes a very clear statement here–By grace are ye saved. What does grace mean? There is not a child here who does not know. By favour, by Gods free kindness towards us. We do not deserve any favour, do we? If you knew a man who had been robbing and injuring you, trampling on your rights, and rebelling against your will, that is not the man you would choose to do a favour to, naturally. Well, that is just how we have treated God; we have been robbing Him of all that He has most a claim to; robbing Him of our time, of our money, of our influence; rebelling against His laws, turning our back upon His love, playing the part of base ingrates against His mercy. We have no claim upon Gods favour. Now, says the apostle, the grace of God which brings salvation to every man hath appeared. Now, I want you to know, dear friends, that that grace floods this sin-stricken world like a glorious tide. Wherever it reaches a human heart, it brings salvation to our very door. There is not one of you who is not included in this assertion of the apostle, The grace of God, which bringeth salvation to every man, hath appeared. You may bring the biggest nugget of gold in the world to my door; there it may be outside on a wheelbarrow, and I may be inside dying of starvation; the nugget will do me no good if I do not take it in: if I do not turn it into money, and apply it to the satisfaction of my wants, I shall be as badly off as if the nugget had never been presented to me at all. The glorious gift of salvation is brought to our doors, and the question is, Have we taken it into our hearts? Now, my brother, God will either give you salvation, or else you shall never have it; it shall be His free gift, accepted by you for nothing, or else it shall never be yours; so if you are going to purchase it by your tears, your repentance, your good works, your good resolutions, or your faith–if you come and offer God such terms, you will simply have to go empty away. It is an insult to a man to offer him money in payment for a gift, is it not! Supposing I were to go home to Lord Chichester tonight, and he were to make me a handsome present; suppose he said, That splendid clock, worth a couple of hundred guineas, is to be yours, if you will accept it, and suppose I put my hand into my pocket, and said, My lord, I should like to pay something towards it, will you accept sixpence? How would he feel? It would be a great insult to him, would it not? If I received it gratefully, and thanked him for it, I should be pleased, and he would be pleased; I should be the gainer, and he would have the pleasure of making me a handsome present; but if I insisted on paying my sixpence, it would make a mess of it all; probably he would be offended with me, and I with him, and we should part enemies instead of friends. That may serve to bring before you how ridiculous it is to try and buy Gods salvation with anything. If you pay so much as a single tear for your salvation, it spoils the whole arrangement. Do I mean that you are not to shed tears? No, no. By all means, if God has given you oceans of tears, shed them, but not to purchase salvation. If God has given you all the sorrow and penitence that ever racked the human heart, there is no objection to that, but do not offer it for salvation. If God gives you the strongest faith that ever moved in the human soul, exercise it, but do not bring it in payment for salvation. That is wholly and solely the gift of God. Is it not a glorious gift? (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
The freeness of grace and love
I. It is a great matter and of infinite concernment to be saved and to go to heaven forever. For–
1. You are thereby saved from wrath to come. Yea–
2. You shall be delivered from all sorrow, both inward and outward; and if so, how blessed and happy are you, for you shall die in the Lord.
3. You shall not only be freed from these troubles, but you shall also be brought into a possession, into an inheritance that is incorruptible, that fadeth not away.
4. If you go to heaven and be saved, you shall then be filled with glory. If you have but a little taste of glory here, you are ready to break under it, under a little glory; but the time will come when you shall be filled with glory, and your hearts shall bear up under it; your bodies shall be changed; you shall be filled with glory, soul and body both.
5. If you be saved, your graces shall be always in act, always in exercise; your understandings shall be fully enlightened, your difficulties shall be removed, and your wills, hearts, and affections shall be drawn out to God with infinite satisfaction and infinite delight.
6. If you be saved, you shall have the knowledge of the continuance of this condition.
II. But in what way does a man come to this attainment? How and in what way is a man saved? Why, in a way of free love and grace; for, if God bestow anything in a way of gift, it is free, for what is more free than gift? Now do but consider what these things are which are called in Scripture, salvation; and you may observe that they all come in a way of gift. Sometimes salvation is put for the Author of salvation, Jesus Christ (Luk 2:29-30). Sometimes salvation is put for eternal glory. Who would have all men to be saved, both Jew and Gentile. And this salvation is the gift of God too. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 6:23). Now salvation, as to the Author of it, as to the means of it, and as to the salvation itself; it is all of free grace.
III. But you will say, If it be so, that by free grace we are saved, then why need we use the means of salvation; you say we are saved by grace, by free grace, wherefore then need we endeavour? Yes, we are to endeavour: do you not use your endeavour to get your daily bread? and yet that is the gift of God.
IV. Wherein doth the freeness of the grace of God appear in the matter of our salvation? There is a great deal of free grace in this, that God should ordain us to eternal life and salvation (2Ti 1:9). Yet, further, it is in the matter of our salvation, as it is in the matter of our consolation and comfort; and as I said of that, so I say also of this: That the greater and the more glorious any mercy is, and the more worthy and great the person is that giveth it, and the more unworthy the person is that receives it, the more doth the grace of him appear who giveth it; now what greater mercy, what more glorious mercy, than heaven and salvation? It is called the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven; it is called the kingdom of glory, and eternal glory; it is called joy, enter into the joy of our Lord: and great is the joy of our Lord; that joy which was set before Christ, that is the joy of the saints in heaven. Now, what are the arches and pillars of free grace and love, upon which our salvation under Christ is laid? I shall name some of them. The absoluteness of the covenant. That God justifies the ungodly. Thus our righteousness is not in us, but in Christ. That the guilt of our sins by which we lay liable to condemnation is removed. That a little sincerity covers a great deal of infirmity. That what God calls ours is not indeed ours, but Gods, as our graces, our duties, which are not indeed ours but Gods. That God will in due time glorify us and honour us. Sin doth provoke God and cause Him to be angry with us, but grace doth provoke Him to love us; and, therefore, the pillars of our salvation are laid under Christ upon grace, upon free grace and love: and thereby the freeness of the grace of God doth the more appear in the matter of our salvation.
V. Salvation is a work of grace; and seeing we are saved by grace alone, why then doth God choose to save men in this way of free grace? I answer, It is because this is the most honourable way unto God. If there was somewhat of the good pleasure of God in the worlds condemnation, all the reason in the world then that there should be free grace in the way of salvation. Pray, how came Adam to stand for the whole world? He was not chosen by us, why it was the good pleasure of God that he should stand for the whole world, and that he sinning, we should be all guilty of sin by, and through him: so, I say, if there was, as I may speak with reverence, somewhat of the good pleasure of God in the old worlds condemnation, why then should there not be free grace in the souls salvation. God would have heaven and salvation to be of one piece; He would have the work of heaven to be the same; now there were many angels that fell, and many thousands that stood, why how came they to stand that did stand, more than the others that fell? it was only by free grace, they were elect angels. Now men and angels in heaven are of the same choir and sing the same song; and therefore those men that are saved, oh, who are they? why they are the elect, and they have great cause to glorify the grace, the free grace of God. God saves men in a way of free love and grace, because none shall miss of salvation. As God will punish and condemn all the proud, all the wicked, that none shall escape; so He will also save all that He hath a mind to save, by free grace because they shall not miss of salvation. God will save men in such a way as whereby He may be glorified to all eternity, and therefore He saves them in a way of free grace and love; for what have we to praise God for in heaven, but only for free grace, free grace, to glorify His name for that; therefore, I say, God will save men in this way of free love and grace, that He may be thereby glorified hereafter to all eternity. (W. Bridge.)
Salvation all of grace
We see a golden thread of grace running through the whole of the Christians history, from his election before all worlds, even to his admission to the heaven of rest. Grace, all along, reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, and where sin aboundeth, grace doth much more abound.
I. This doctrine should inspire every sinner with hope.
1. If salvation be of mercy only, it is clear that our sin is by no means an impediment to our salvation.
(1) This prevents the despair which might arise in any heart on account of some one especial sin. Undeserved mercy can pardon one sin as well as another, if the soul confess it. The great sinner is so much the fitter object for great mercy–a black foil to set forth the brilliant diamond of the Masters grace.
(2) If the sinners despair should arise from the long continuance, multitude, and great aggravation of his sins, there is no ground for it. For if salvation be of pure mercy only, why should not God forgive ten thousand sins as well as one? Oh, sayest thou, I see why He should not. Then thou seest more than is true; for once come to grace, you have done with bounds and limits.
2. Remember, too, that any spiritual unfitness which may exist in a man should not shut him out from a hope, since God deals with us in mercy. I hear you say, I believe God can save me, but I am so impenitent. Yes, and I say it again, if thou wert to stand on terms of debt with God, thy hard heart would shut thee out of hope. How could He bless such a wretch as thou art, whose heart is a heart of stone? But if He deal with thee entirely upon another ground, namely, His mercy, why I think I hear Him say, Poor hard-hearted sinner, I will pity thee, and take away thy heart of stone, and give thee a heart of flesh. Do I hear thee confess that thou canst not believe? Now, the absence of faith from thee is a great evil, yea a horrible evil; but then the Lord is dealing with thee on terms of grace, and does not say, I will not smite thee because thou dost net believe, but He saith, I will give thee faith, for faith is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
II. This doctrine affords direction to the sinner, as to how to act before his God in seeking mercy. Clearly, O soul, if salvation he of grace alone, it would be a very wrong course of action to plead that thou art not guilty, or to extenuate thy faults before God. Take care that all your pleas with God are consistent with the fact that He saves by His grace. Never bring a legal plea, or a plea that is based upon self, for it will be an offence to God; whereas, if thine argument be based on grace, it will have a sweet savour to Him. Let me teach thee, seeking sinner, for a moment how to pray. Plead with God thy miserable and undone condition; tell Him that thou art utterly lost if He do not save thee. Show Him the imminence of thy danger. Then argue with Him the plenteousness of His grace, Say to Him, Lord, Thy mercy is very great, I know it is.
III. A full conviction of this truth will reconcile. Our hearts to all Divine ordinances with regard to salvation. I feel in my own heart, and I think every believer here does, that if salvation be of grace, God must do as He wills with His own. None of us can say to Him, What doest Thou? If there were anything of debt, or justice, or obligation, in the matter, then we might begin to question God; but as there is none, and the thing is quite out of court as to law, and far away from rights and claims, as it is all Gods free favour, we will henceforth stop our mouths and never question Him. As to the instrument by whom He saves, let Him save by the coarsest speaker, or by the most eloquent; let Him do what seemeth Him good.
IV. A most powerful motive for future holiness. A man who feels that he is saved by grace says, Did God of His free favour blot out my sins? Then, oh, how I love Him. Was it nothing but His love that saved an undeserving wretch. Then my soul is knit to Him forever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Salvation by grace
I. Definition of grace. Grace has been too often represented in forms which dishonoured the righteousness of God, and were unfriendly to the righteousness of man. In our modern religious language it occurs less frequently than in the language of our fathers. But the word is too precious to be surrendered. Among the Greeks it stood for all that is most winning in personal loveliness, for the nameless fascination of a beauty which is not cold and remote but irresistibly attractive and charming. It was also used for that warm, free handed, and spontaneous generosity which is kind where there is no claim or merit, and kind without hope of return; a disposition lovely in itself, and winning the admiration and affection of all who witness it. This beautiful word, with all its beautiful associations, has been exalted and transfigured in its Christian uses.
1. Grace transcends love. Love may be nothing more than the fulfilment of the law. We love God, who deserves our love. We are required to love our neighbour, and we cannot refuse to love him without guilt. But grace is love which passes beyond all claims to love. It is love which, after fulfilling the obligations imposed by law, has an unexhausted wealth of kindness.
2. Grace transcends mercy. Mercy forgives sin, and rescues the sinner from eternal darkness and death. But grace floods with affection the sinner who has deserved anger and resentment, trusts penitent treachery with a confidence which could not have been merited by ages of incorruptible fidelity, confers on a race which had been in revolt honours which no loyalty could have purchased, on the sinful joy beyond the deserts of saintliness.
3. Grace transcends majesty. The eternal righteousness of God is that which constitutes His dignity and majesty, makes Him venerable and august; but His grace adds to His dignity an infinite loveliness, to His majesty an ineffable charm, blends with the awe and devout fear with which we worship Him a happy confidence, and with our veneration a passionate affection.
II. Achievement of grace. Our salvation is the achievement of Gods grace: this is the central thought of the Epistle to the Ephesians. Gods free, spontaneous lave for us, resolved that we who sprang from the dust, and might have passed away and perished like the falling leaves after a frail and brief existence, should share through a glorious immortality the sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. This was the wonderful idea of human greatness and destiny which was formed by the grace of God. The race declined from the lofty path designed for it by the Divine goodness. But as by the grace of God Christ was to be the root of our righteousness and blessedness, and as the ground and reason of our ethical and spiritual greatness were in Him, so in Christ God has revealed the root, the ground, the reason of our redemption. We have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of Gods grace. There is nothing abnormal in the forgiveness of our sin being the result of Christs death; all our possible righteousness was to be the fruit of the perfection and energy of His eternal life. The original idea of the Divine grace, according to which we were to find all things in Christ, and Christ was to be the root of a perfection and glory surpassing all hope and all thought, was tragically asserted in the death of Christ for human salvation. Our fortunes–shall I say it?–were identified with the fortunes of Christ; in the Divine thought and purpose we were inseparable from Him. Had we been true and loyal to the Divine idea, the energy of Christs righteousness would have drawn us upwards to height after height of goodness and joy, until we ascended from this earthly life to the larger powers and loftier services and richer delights of other and diviner worlds; and still, through one golden age of intellectual and ethical and spiritual growth after another, we should have continued to rise towards Christs transcendent and infinite perfection. But we sinned; and as the union between Christ and us could not be broken without the final and irrevocable defeat of the Divine purpose, as separation from Christ meant for us eternal death, Christ was drawn down from the serene heavens to the shame and sorrow of the confused and troubled life of our race, to pain, to temptation, to anguish, to the cross and to the grave, and so the mystery of His atonement for our sin was consummated. In His sufferings and death, through the infinite grace of God, we find forgiveness, as in the power of His righteousness and as in His great glory we find the possibilities of all perfection. Our union with Him is not dissolved. Through His death we receive forgiveness, through His death we die to the sin which brought the death upon Him; and in His resurrection and ascension we see the visible manifestation of that eternal life which we have already received, and which will some day be manifested in us as it has been manifested in Him. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Gods grace and mans salvation
1. The ground of all our salvation is the free favour of God. Much comfort for us in this; for if our salvation be of mere grace, and depend not on our own worth, endeavour, and holiness, why should we fear? If it were for anything in us to be procured, we might utterly despair; but since it is of God, we may boldly accept, and confidently trust in this free grace of God, although we are unworthy of it. It is not true humility, but a foolish pride, to put away, and judge ourselves unworthy of this salvation, whereof it has pleased God (in rich mercy) to deem us worthy.
2. To the full glorifying of us in heaven, all is from the free, mere grace of God. He does nothing by halves. What He has begun, He will complete (Php 1:6).
3. Gods grace and mans faith ever stand together (Gal 3:22; Joh 3:16). To this it may be objected that the grace of God cannot stand with anything in man. How then (you will ask) can it stand with faith? Answer: It is true, that the grace of God does not brook anything inherent in man, and of man; and yet, notwithstanding, it may well agree with faith. For
(1) Faith is not of man, no, not in man by nature; but it is in man renewed, and as a gift of mere grace.
(2) Faith does not justify, as it is an inherent quality in us, but as it apprehends Christ Jesus the Redeemer.
(3) Faith receives only, and shows to God the righteousness and merit of Christ.
(4) It is therefore the Lords grace that accepts faith for the righteousness of the believer.
4. No power in man can quicken him; and no virtue, quality, or dignity, when he is quickened, can merit his salvation. (Paul Bayne.)
Salvation by the sovereign love and free grace of God
I. Salvation.
1. We are delivered from death. So long as we continued under the impending curse, there was nothing due to us but death. Death temporal, spiritual, and eternal, were all included in the threatening. Death temporal is the separation of the soul from the body. Death spiritual is the separation of the soul from God. And death eternal is the separation of both soul and body from God forever. But from all these we are saved. Death temporal, no doubt, performs its work, but it is not now penal; in its rapacity to devour it caught Jesus, but He was too mighty for death! He overcame it, and left it vanquished in the grave; so that it is now in the hand of the Mediator, converted into a mean for bringing His saints to glory. And spiritual death shall have no dominion over us; now and then, indeed, we may experience a compunction of conscience and a pang of mind, because we carry about with us bodies of sin and death. But these shall no longer prove destructive, but are all so many incentives to bring us to Jesus, and to cause us to rely upon Him more fully. And death eternal shall have no place; whenever the soul is set free from the body, that moment shall it be in paradise, carried by the angels, and so shall it be forever with the Lord.
2. We are delivered from the love of sin. By the covenant transgression of Adam, there is a sinful bias given to our minds. Because we have broken the law, there is a deep-rooted enmity in our hearts to all that is holy; and we cannot think of returning to God, for that would be calling our sins to remembrance, and setting before our face the curse which awaits us from an offended Judge. But when we obtain salvation from the Lord, we have no more desire for sin. But now does the Lord become the supreme object of our delight. We see in Him a beauty and an all-sufficiency suited to give true comfort to the saint, something which is congenial to our celestial part, and which in life and in death continues alike calculated to give deliverance, and to present with a crown of glory.
3. We are saved from the power of sin; for whom we serve, His we are.
4. We are saved from the practice of sin.
II. The source whence this salvation flows. The sovereign love and free grace of God.
1. The sovereign love and free grace of God are the source of salvation; because when man had sinned, and all the clouds of wrath were thickening around him, and all the thunders of Jehovahs justice were ready to burst around mans guilty head, it remained with God to manifest whether justice should take its course, or He would stretch out His strong arm to deliver; whether He would be reconciled to man, or punish him according to his iniquities, by everlastingly secluding him from His presence. And, until the decree was declared, there must have been a solemn pause, as if the pulse of nature stood. All the angels in glory must have looked on with intense interest, and devils must have trembled in dire suspense for the declaration of the Divine will, which made fully known whether man was to be restored to the favour of his God, or eternally to expiate his guilt, by bearing the punishment due to his crimes. And, at that all-important moment, in the riches of His grace, and gave the intimation of His pleasure, Deliver from going down to the pit; for I will be merciful.
2. The sovereign love and free grace of God are the source of salvation, inasmuch as, in the bowels of His compassion, God so loved the world, that He gave the Son of His bosom for the sin of mans soul, and thus provided a ransom. When the rebellion of man had plunged him into the depth of distress, and he was altogether helpless as an infant abandoned in the open field, then did God make known the Deliverer. This no ingenuity of man could ever have discovered, nor could the united prowess of the human race ever have procured the Mediator.
3. The sovereign love and free grace of God are the source of salvation, inasmuch as salvation can be applied to the soul only by the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit. Paul may plant, and Apollos may water; but God alone can give the increase. There is both a natural and a moral inability about man to prevent him from being saved. His moral inability lies in the utter perversion of his will; he has no desire for that which is good; but his whole affections are set on things which are evil, and his natural inability lies in the utter incompetency of created capacity to change itself.
III. The medium through which salvation is applied to the souls of men. Faith.
1. Faith, in the case of the saint, is the same thing which is known in the world by the name of belief, and signifies the assent of the mind to the truth of some statement, so as to act upon the belief of what is said to us.
2. Salvation is by grace when applied to our souls through faith, because faith neither flows from intrinsic worth in us, nor does it beget in our hearts any principle, upon the ground of which we can merit salvation.
3. Salvation through faith is by grace; because, even when we are made to believe, faith gives no remuneration to God for what we receive.
I shall now conclude this discourse with a few remarks.
1. From what has been said, learn the humility with which this subject ought to inspire us. Is all by grace? Then let us come to God, humbled in heart and soul, and entreat of Him that He would make us participants of His free favour; that He would put down every high thought, and every haughty imagination, which exalteth itself; that we may be enabled to say, Not unto us, O God; not unto us, but to Thy name be the glory.
2. From this subject, learn the duty of living in complete obedience to the holy will of God. In this passage there is no mention made of the world, nor of the things of the world; but salvation is the whole theme of the verse, and that is certainly calculated to direct our attention from time unto eternity.
3. From this subject learn the complete disappointment which all those shall receive who trust to the law for the salvation of their souls.
4. From this subject learn the firm footing upon which believers stand. The foundation of their hope is placed upon Christ, who is the Rock of ages, and the pillar and ground of the truth. (R. Montgomery.)
Bishop Ryles conversion
Bishop Ryle, of Liverpool, was converted, when an undergraduate in Oxford, by the eighth verse of the second chapter of Ephesians, which was read in his hearing in church in the second lesson, with a pause between each clause by a stranger whose name he never knew.
We are saved by grace only
Mr. Maclaren and Mr. Gustart were both ministers at the Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh. When Mr. Maclaren was dying, Mr. Gustart paid him a visit, and put the question to him, What are you doing, brother? His answer was, Ill tell you what Im doing, brother: I am gathering together all my prayers, all my sermons, all my good deeds, all my evil deeds; and I am going to throw them all overboard, and swim to glory on the plank of free grace.
We are saved by faith–not of ourselves
It is not what I do that I trust in, but what Christ has done for me. Youve been down the shaft into the mine, sir. This will help me to tell you what I mean. For a long time I was trying to do what was right–to live as I ought to; and so was trusting to my own works for salvation. But all the while I felt as if I was still down at the bottom of the shaft. All I could do didnt get me out of the pit. Then God showed me that all my righteousness was but filthy rags, as the Bible says. But how was I to get out of the shaft? Why, at last I found that the only way out of the deep mine into which sin had brought us was to do just as I do when I want to get out of the coal mine. To do this, I have only to get into the bucket when it comes down, and trust to the men at the windlass to draw me out. And so I find it is about my soul. I cant draw myself out of the pit; but I trust in Jesus, and leave it all to Him. (D. L. Moody.)
Saved
There was, some years ago, a shipwreck on the Cornish coast. The wind was blowing an awful gale; no lifeboat was near, but a pilot boat, with a brave crew, put out to rescue the perishing. The ship was on a sand bank, and the pilot boat got alongside her, and as the waves ran higher and higher, the sailors, one after another, sprang from the ship on to the deck of the boat, till there was but one left on the sinking vessel, and just as he was in the act of springing, a tremendous billow struck the ship on her broadside; she heeled over, and the returning wave swept the pilot boat back to a considerable distance. At that moment a scream was heard from the stern of the pilot boat. A hoary-headed man, with tears starting from his eyes, and agony depicted on his countenance, was heard to cry out, Captain, for Gods sake, save my boy I save my boy! It was his only son who was in the sinking ship. And as his cry rose, there was another voice to meet it; from the sinking vessel there came back a shout clear and strong amidst the tumult of the tempest, Never mind, father; thank God, I am saved. They were the last words he ever spoke. Another moment the mighty billows swept him away, and his soul was in eternity, in the very bosom of its God. Could you have said what that young man said? Could you have said, Thank God, I am saved? Perhaps you say, No, I could not. Then dont sleep tonight until you can. What! may you have it tonight? Yes, the gift is at your door. How am I to have it? Trust Jesus for it. Take that poor weary soul of yours, and lay it in His hand. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
Salvation by grace
I. Set forth mans state by nature, and show that there could be nothing in him to move God to bestow so great a gift upon him.
II. Such being mans stare by nature, it is manifest that salvation must be entirely of free grace. (R. Shutte, M. A.)
Salvation a gift
Once there was a poor woman who greatly desired a bunch of grapes from the kings greenhouse for her sick child; so she took half a crown, and went to the kings gardener, and tried to purchase the grapes, but was rudely sent away. A second effort with more money met with a similar repulse. It so happened that the kings daughter heard the angry words of the gardener, and the crying of the poor woman, and inquired into the matter. When she had related her story, the princess said, My good woman, you were mistaken. My father is not a merchant, but a king: his business is not to sell, but to give; whereupon she plucked a fine bunch from the vine, and gently dropped it into the womans apron. So the poor woman obtained as a free gift what the labour of many days and nights had been unable to procure for her.
Gods gift
As the earth engendereth not rain, nor is able, by its own strength, labour, or travail, to procure the same, but receiveth it of the mere gift of God from above, even so faith, grace, forgiveness of sins, and Christian righteousness, are given us of God without our works or deservings. (Cawdray.)
How we are saved
It is evident that the first intention of these words is to show what a very, very easy thing it is to be saved if we would only take it rightly. And secondly, to take away all the honour and all the desert from those who are saved, and to place it where all belongs–on God only. But now I come to a very important part. Let us be careful, very careful, here to discriminate and see clearly the distinction. Remember what we are speaking about. We are not speaking about holiness! We are not speaking about going to heaven; we are speaking only of being saved. We are speaking of the initiatory step, of the becoming a Christian; of the entrance into a life of holiness, and of safety. Remember that is what the word salvation means. It means no less, and it means no more. Being safe! Still it is only safety, only safety! There is a great deal to be done after that. Conflict; love; prayer; penitence; conversion of heart; sanctification; a useful life; a brightness in death; a brightness in heaven. In all these, indeed, it is still God who works in you to do it; but still you do it, you do it. You work out the grace of the salvation which God has given you; but for your pardon, for your safety, you do nothing at all, but simply accept it. You accept it. More than that–the power to accept it, the will to accept it–they are given you. The triple chain of salvation has three links, and no more–grace, faith, safety. Then come afterwards–love, holiness, heaven. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Faith: its meaning, source, and power
I. The nature of faith. Faith, in ordinary language, means the assent of the understanding to some statement as true–propounded upon the authority of another. It seems, however, in Scripture to be most commonly used in a somewhat more extensive sense, as comprehending what in strictness (metaphysical correctness) might be regarded rather as consequences of faith than as faith itself. Saving faith, according to the views of it given in Scripture, may be described as such an assent to the doctrines of the gospel as leads men to receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation, and to submit themselves entirely to His authority.
II. How faith is produced. Faith implies certain objects presented to our minds–a capacity to perceive, and a disposition to attend to them, and to act under their influence. Now, in regard to the faith of the gospel, God both given us the objects, and enables us to perceive them. Faith, therefore, is His gift, not merely in the sense in which any other ordinary exercise of our faculties is His gift, but in a higher and more peculiar manner. It is God who sets before us those objects which faith embraces, and without which it could never have existence. We had known nothing of God unless He had chosen to reveal Himself to us. We have no certain knowledge of His character except what He is pleased to acquaint us with. We could have known absolutely nothing of Jesus Christ, who is the great Object of Faith–of all that He has done and suffered for us–of the whole scheme of redemption that is founded upon His work, and of the covenant of grace that is sealed with His blood–of the authority which He now exercises, and of the great and glorious purposes to which the exercise of that authority is directed–unless God had seen fit, not only to bring all these important results into existence, but to transmit them to us in His Word. We could have learned nothing of the future and unseen world, unless God had undertaken to remove the veil that conceals it, and open it up to our view. Thus there would have been no objects for our faith; and of course faith could never have existed unless God had made revelation of Himself, of His character, and ways–unless He had brought certain events to pass, and then made them known to us. But faith appears still further to be Gods gift, from this, that men are naturally indisposed to attend to the objects set before them in the sacred Scriptures, and, according to the principles of our natural constitution, there can be no clear knowledge of anything without some degree of attention being directed towards it; whilst without clear knowledge there can be no sound and rational faith.
III. The effect of faith as uniting us to Christ, and thus saving the soul. Now, when a man believes in Christ, he is, according to Gods appointment, united to Him. There is a union formed between them. God regards him as if he were Christ, and treats him as if he had suffered the full punishment for his sins which Christ endured in his room–as if he had in his own person performed that full and perfect obedience to the Divine law which our Saviours conduct exhibited. It is this imputation of Christs sufferings and of His righteousness–or, as it is often called, of His active and passive obedience–it is this communion of suffering and of merit, in which the union of believers with Christ mainly consists; and this union and communion with Him is the foundation of their salvation, in all its parts and in all its aspects. Viewing them thus, as united to Christ, as one with Him–God bestows upon them the blessings which Christ purchased for all who should believe on His name; they obtain through faith the forgiveness of their sins, acceptance with God as righteous persons, the renovation and sanctification of their natures, and, finally, an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Christ is the great Head of Influence; all spiritual blessings are the fruits of His purchase; it is only by abiding in Him that we are enabled to bring forth fruits unto eternal life: as it is written (Joh 15:5), I am the Vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. You see now the great importance of faith in the salvation of sinners. It is the instrument by means of which we receive everything necessary to our peace. None can be saved without it, and every one who has it will assuredly be saved. (W. Cunningham, D. D.)
Faith: what is it? how can it be obtained?
Faith occupies the position of a channel or conduit pipe. Grace is the fountain and the stream: faith is the acqueduct along which the flood of mercy flows down to refresh the thirsty sons of men. It is a great pity when the acqueduct is broken. It is a sad sight to see around Rome the many noble acqueducts which no longer convey water into the city, because the arches are broken and the marvellous structures are in ruins. The acqueduct must be kept entire to convey the current; and, even so, faith must be true and sound, leading right up to God, and coming right down to ourselves, that it may become a serviceable channel of ,mercy to our souls. Still, I again remind you that faith is the channel or acqueduct, and not the fountain head, and we must not look so much to it as to exalt it above the Divine source of all blessing which lies in the grace of God. Never make a Christ out of your faith, nor think of it as if it were the independent source of your salvation.
I. Faith: what is it? What is this faith concerning which it is said, By grace are ye saved through faith? What is faith? It is made up of three things–knowledge, belief, and trust.
1. Knowledge comes first. Know God, know His gospel, and know especially Christ Jesus, the Son of God and Saviour of men. Endeavour to know the doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ, for that is the point upon which saving faith mainly fixes itself.
2. Then the mind goes on to believe that these things are true. The soul believes that God is, and that He hears the cries of sincere hearts; that the gospel is from God; that justification by faith is the grand truth that God hath revealed in these last days by His Spirit more clearly than before. Then the heart believes that Jesus is verily and in truth our God and Saviour, the Redeemer of men, the prophet, priest, and king unto His people.
3. So far you have made an advance towards faith, and one more ingredient is needed to complete it, which is trust. Trust is the life blood of faith: there is no saving faith without it. The Puritans were accustomed to explain faith by the word recumbency. You know what it means. You see me leaning upon this rail, leaning with all my weight upon it; even thus lean upon Christ. It would be a better illustration still if I were to stretch myself at full length and rest my whole person upon a rock, lying fiat upon it. Fall flat upon Christ. Cast yourself upon Him, rest in Him, commit yourself to Him. That done, you have exercised saving faith. Faith is not a blind thing; for faith begins with knowledge. It is not a speculative thing; for faith believes facts of which it is sure. It is not an unpractical, dreamy thing; for faith trusts, and stakes its destiny upon the truth of revelation.
II. Let us inquire, why faith is selected as the channel of salvation?
1. There is a natural adaptation in faith to be used as the receiver. Suppose that I am about to give a poor man an alms: I put it into his hand–why? Well, it would hardly be fitting to put it into his ear, or to lay it under his foot; the hand seems made on purpose to receive. So faith in the mental body is created on purpose to be a receiver: it is the hand of the man, and there is a fitness in bestowing grace by its means.
2. Faith, again, is doubtless selected because it gives all the glory to God. It is of faith that it might be of grace, and it is of grace that there may be no boasting; for God cannot endure pride.
3. It is a sure method, linking man with God. When man confides in God there is a point of union between them, and that union guarantees blessing. Faith saves us, because it makes us cling to God, and so brings us into connection with Him. I am told that years ago, above the Falls of Niagara, a boat was upset, and two men were being carried down the current, when persons on the shore managed to float a rope out to them, which rope was seized by them both. One of them held fast to it, and was safely drawn to the bank; but the other, seeing a great log come floating by, unwisely let go the rope, and clung to the log, for it was the bigger thing of the two, and apparently better to cling to. Alas, the log, with the man on it, went right over the vast abyss, because there was no union between the log and the shore. The size of the log was no benefit to him who grasped it; it needed a connection with the shore to produce safety. So when a man trusts to his works, or to sacraments, or to anything of that sort, he will not be saved, because there is no junction between him and Christ; but faith, though it may seem to be like a slender cord, is in the hand of the great God on the shore side; Infinite Power pulls in the connecting line, and thus draws the man from destruction. Oh, the blessedness of faith, because it unites us to God!
4. Faith is chosen, again, because it touches the springs of action. I wonder whether I shall be wrong if I say that we never do anything except through faith of some sort. If I walk across this platform, it is because I believe my legs will carry me. A man eats because he believes in the necessity of food. Columbus discovered America because he believed that there was another continent beyond the ocean: many another grand deed has also been born of faith, for faith works wonders. Commoner things are done on the same principle; faith in its natural form is an all-prevailing force. God gives salvation to our faith, because He has thus touched the secret spring of all our emotions and actions. He has, so to speak, taken possession of the battery, and now He can send the sacred current to every part of our nature.
5. Faith, again, has the power of working by love; it touches the secret spring of the affections, and draws the heart towards God. Faith is an act of the understanding; but it also proceeds from the heart. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and hence God gives salvation to faith because it resides next door to the affections, and is near akin to love, and love, you know, is that which purifies the soul. Love to God is obedience, love is holiness; to love God and to love man is to be conformed to the image of Christ, and this is salvation.
6. Moreover, faith creates peace and joy; he that hath it rests, and is tranquil, is glad, and joyous; and this is a preparation for heaven. God gives all the heavenly gifts to faith, because faith worketh in us the very life and spirit which are to be eternally manifested in the upper and better world. I have hastened over these points that I might not weary you on a day when, however willing the spirit may be, the flesh is weak.
III. How can we obtain and increase our faith? A very earnest question this to many. They say they want to believe but cannot. What am I to do in order to believe?
1. The shortest way is to believe, and if the Holy Spirit has made you honest and candid, you will believe as soon as the truth is set before you.
2. But still, if you have a difficulty, take it before God in prayer. The Lord is willing to make Himself known; go to Him, and see if it be not so.
3. Furthermore, if faith seem difficult, it is possible that God the Holy Spirit will enable you to believe, if you hear very frequently and earnestly that which you are commanded to believe.
4. Consider the testimony of others. I believe there is a country called Japan, although I never have been there. I believe I shall die: I have never died, but a great many have done so whom I once knew, and I have a conviction that I shall die also; the testimony of many convinces me of this fact. Listen, then, to those who tell you how they were saved, how they were pardoned, how they have been changed in character: if you will but listen you will find that somebody just like yourself has been saved. As you listen to one after another of those who have tried the word of God, and proved it, the Divine Spirit will lead you to believe. Have you not heard of the African who was told by the missionary that water sometimes became so hard that a man could walk on it? He declared that he believed a great many things the missionary had told him; but he never would believe that. When he came to England it came to pass that one frosty day he saw the river frozen, but he would not venture on it. He knew that it was a river, and he was certain that he would be drowned if he ventured upon it. He could not be induced to walk on the ice till his friend went upon it; then he was persuaded, and trusted himself where others had ventured. So, mayhap, while you see others believe, and notice their joy and peace, you will yourself be gently led to believe. It is one of Gods ways of helping us to faith. A better plan still is this–note the authority upon which you are commanded to believe, and this will greatly help you. He bids you believe in Jesus Christ, and you must not refuse to obey your Maker. The foreman of a certain works in the north had often heard the gospel, but he was troubled with the fear that he might not come to Christ. His good master one day sent a card round to the works–Come to my house immediately after work. The foreman appeared at his masters door, and the master came out, and said somewhat roughly, What do you want, John, troubling me at this time? Work is done, what right have you here? Sir, said he, I had a card from you saying that I was to come after work. Do you mean to say that merely because you had a card from me you are to come up to my house and call me out after business hours? Well, sir, replied the foreman, I do not understand you, but it seems to me that, as you sent for me, I had a right to come. Come in, John, said his master, I have another message that I want to read to you, and he sat down and read these words–Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Do you think after such a message from Christ that you can be wrong in going to Him? The poor man saw it all at once, and believed, because he saw that he had good warrant and authority for believing. So have you, poor soul; you have good authority for coming to Christ, for the Lord Himself bids you trust Him. If that does not settle you, think over what it is that you have to believe–that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in the room and place and stead of men, and is able to save all who trust Him. Why, this is the most blessed fact that ever men were told to believe: the most suitable, the most comforting, the most Divine truth that ever was set before men. If none of these things avail, then there is something Wrong about you altogether, and my last word is, submit yourself to God. May the Spirit of God take away your enmity and make you yield. You are a rebel, a proud rebel, and that is why you do not believe your God. Give up your rebellion; throw down your weapons; yield at discretion; surrender to your King. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The clinging power of faith
God gives to His people the propensity to cling. Look at the sweet pea which grows in your garden. Perhaps it has fallen down upon the gravel walk. Lift it up against the laurel or the trellis, or put a stick near it, and it catches hold directly, because there are little hooks ready prepared with which it grasps anything which comes in its way: it was meant to grow upwards, and so it is provided with tendrils. Every child of God has his tendrils about him–thoughts, and desires, and hopes with which he hooks on to Christ and the promise. Though this is a very simple sort of faith, it is a very complete and effectual form of it, and, in fact, it is the heart of all faith, and that to which we are often driven when we are in deep trouble, or when our mind is somewhat bemuddled by our being sickly or depressed in spirit. We can cling when we can do nothing else, and that is the very soul of faith. O poor heart, if thou dost not yet know as much about the gospel as we could wish thee to know, cling to what thou dost know. If as yet thou art only like a lamb that wades a little into the river of life, and not like leviathan who stirs the mighty deep to the bottom, yet drink; for it is drinking, and not diving, that will save thee. Cling, then I Cling to Jesus; for that is faith. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The realizing power of faith
Faith also realizes the presence of the living God and Saviour, and thus it breeds in the soul a beautiful calm and quiet like that which was seen in a little child in the time of tempest. Her mother was alarmed, but the sweet girl was pleased; she clapped her hands with delight. Standing at the window when the flashes came most vividly, she cried in childish accents, Look, mammal How beautiful! How beautiful! Her mother said, My dear, come away, the lightning is terrible; but she begged to be allowed to look out and see the lovely light which God was making all over the sky, for she was sure God would not do His little child any harm. But harken to the terrible thunder, said her mother. Did you not say, mamma, that God was speaking in the thunder? Yes, said her trembling parent. Oh, said the darling, how nice it is to hear Him. He talks very loud, but I think it is because He wants the deaf people to hear Him. Is it not so, mamma Thus she went talking on; as merry as a bird was she, for God was real to her, and she trusted Him. To her the lightning was Gods beautiful light, and the thunder was Gods wonderful voice, and she was happy. I dare say her mother knew a good deal about the laws of nature and the energy of electricity; and little was the comfort which her knowledge brought her. The childs knowledge was less showy, but it was far more certain and precious. We are so conceited nowadays that we are too proud to be comforted by self-evident truth, and prefer to make ourselves wretched with questionable theories. For my own part I would rather be a child again than grow perversely wise. Faith, is to be a child towards Christ, believing in Him as a real and present person, at this very moment near us, and ready to bless us. This may seem to be a childish fancy; but it is such childishness as we must all come to if we would be happy in the Lord. Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Faith takes Christ at His word, as a child believes his father, and trusts him in all simplicity with past, present, and future. God give us such faith! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The mistake of relying upon faith considered
In this discourse I shall take notice of and examine the mistake of those men who appear to be induced, by some texts of the New Testament, to rely upon faith, or their believing in Jesus Christ, and confident application of His merits to themselves; and to expect salvation from this, considered as distinct and separate from obedience to the moral laws of the gospel.
I. It will be very proper to lay before you the plain meaning of St Paul in the text. The apostles design here is to raise the gratitude of the Ephesians to Almighty God, and to inspire them with all possible regard to Him, by putting them in mind that they were formerly in a helpless and miserable condition, dead in sins, void of the true life of reasonable creatures; that they had no thought themselves of such salvation as had been offered them by the Christian religion, that they had no merit to engage God Almighty to make them such an offer, and preach such a state of reconciliation and salvation to them.
II. That no such pretence as that which makes faith alone, separated from a good life and conversation, the condition on which we shall be accepted at last; that no such pretence as this, I say, can be built upon this passage of the New Testament, which will lead us likewise to the further consideration of this mistake, and to give a true account of what St. James and St. Paul, upon other occasions, have affirmed upon this subject.
1. St. Paul saith that Abraham was justified without and before such works as circumcision. St. James saith that Abraham was not justified by an empty faith without works of obedience, and would never have been accepted of God unless he had shown the reality of his faith by obedience to the call and command of God. Here is no contradiction between them. So likewise Christians will be justified by means of believing the gospel dispensation, without any such works as circumcision, or any other works of the ceremonial law; as St. Paul argued: but they will never be justified, and finally acquitted by any belief in Christ, without bringing forth, as they have opportunity, such good fruits, and walking in any such good works, as the gospel of Christ directs, and commands them to practise; as St. James saith. Again–
2. Abraham was, for one signal act of faith and trust in God, called by Him righteous, taken for such, and reputed as a person free from the guilt of his past sins; as saith St. Paul. But it is manifest, saith St. James, that this faith of Abraham was not such an empty faith as some Christians pretend to rely upon; nay, that he would not have been justified finally by God, unless he had, when he was tried by God, shown by the obedience of his life that his faith was real and sincere. Neither in this is there any contradiction between them. St. Paul had to deal with a sort of Jewish Christians, who retained an affection for the works of the law, and circumcision particularly; and therefore found occasion to tell them that their father Abraham himself was justified without such works; that is, eminent faith was one time counted to him for righteousness, or justification; that for the sake of that faith he was esteemed by God free from all the guilt he had contracted by sin before that time; and that therefore it was nothing but what was agreeable to that great example which they pretended to love and honour, that God should accept such as believed in His Son Jesus Christ, without their adhering to such works as circumcision; and for the sake of that faith in reward, and for encouragement of it, should acquit them from the guilt of all their sins committed before that time. But St. James found that some misunderstood and perverted such doctrine as this, and that some Christians began to pretend that no works at all–not even those of piety and charity–were necessary to their justification at the great day; and that their believing in Christ would acquit them from the guilt of all their sins that they should commit after this belief, and during the time of their Christian profession. And therefore he found it necessary to tell them that Abraham showed his obedience to Gods will in the highest instances, and trusted not in an empty faith.
III. St. Paul doth, in this very Epistle, as well as in many other places, sufficiently declare against any such pretence; as our blessed Lord did likewise before him in the plainest words. See Eph 1:10. Although in some places St. Paul doth vilify the merits of the world and their behaviour, before the coming of the gospel; and though in others he vilifies the works of the law of Moses, with which some would have burthened the evangelical profession: yet no one can show any one text, or any one single passage, in which he vilifies, and sets at nought, the works of evangelical righteousness, or obedience to the moral laws of virtue. To vilify and decry the behaviour and works both of Jew and Gentile before the faith of Christ prevailed, was not to set at nought good works, but bad ones; and only to observe the corrupt and sad estate of mankind. To vilify the ceremonial law, after the coming in of justification by faith (or the gospel) was not to vilify such works as we are speaking of: but, indeed, to take mens minds off from shadows and ceremonies; and to fix upon them good works that are more substantial. Nay, when he ever toucheth upon the moral duties; with how much vehemence doth he recommend them? When he speaks of the Ephesians, or other Christians, having improved in virtue, since their conversion to Christianity; what commendations doth he give them! And with how much joy doth he offer up his thanks to God for it? But we never find him depressing that sort of works; or setting up faith against them; or taking off the bent of mens minds from them; but pressing them into the love and practice of them with all the earnestness possible. And then, if he mentions the sins of any professed Christians; doth he do it as if he thought their faith would avail them? Or rather, doth he not do it with such a spirit and zeal against them, as if no words were bad enough for them? And yet they had an easy reply to make to him, had he taught them any such doctrine, as that a strong faith would save them at last, though separate from good works.
IV. To show you in what sense faith, or believing the gospel, is said to save Christians.
1. This may be well said of them, because it is their faith, or believing, which saves them from the guilt of all their sins committed before this faith: a privilege which peculiarly belonged to the first Christians converted, at years of discretion, from a life of sin and impurity.
2. We may be well said to be saved through faith, because it is by believing in Jesus Christ that we come to know and embrace those terms which are offered by God for our salvation and happiness.
3. Christians are saved by faith, because it is the foundation of their obedience and of all their good actions. It is the tree which bears good fruit. (Bishop Hoadly.)
The qualities of justifying faith
These are the properties of faith which justifies.
1. It is persevering; a shield against all the fiery darts of the devil. It cannot be lost or overcome of any creature, because it is built on the Rock, Christ.
2. It is lively, working by love. It makes that we shall neither be idle nor unprofitable. It is no dead thing which will stand us in stead. There are, indeed, many kinds of these dead faiths; some are blind presumptions, which are merely counterfeit; some are historical persuasions, touching the truth of the articles of religion, without any particular confidence; some are common illuminations in the points of the gospel with misgrounded persuasions, like that of Haman, What shall be done to the man whom the king will honour? He no sooner heard it was in the heart of the king to honour a man, but who should the person be except himself?
3. Saving faith is sincere and sound.
4. It is a precious faith; within itself a pearl, rare, and of greatest worth, the least grain better than a kingdom. (Paul Bayne.)
Works excluded
1. No works of ours can merit salvation. Even the justified merit nothing.
(1) Works even of sanctification cannot merit salvation, because they are the motions of us already saved; they are the effects of salvation already revealed in us, not the causes of that we have not.
(2) Works are imperfect in us, the flesh and spirit so striving, that the action even of that which is predominant is brought forth (by reason of this strife) with great imperfection.
(3) Infants are saved, but they have no merits; for the habits of holiness are not meritorious, as being freely received. Salvation, therefore, is grounded on some other thing than works, or infants could not be heirs of heaven.
2. There is not anything left in man wherein he may rejoice, as deserving salvation. Whatever he is, or can do, it must be all reckoned as loss in this business; for this is the end of the whole mystery of our salvation, that we might be all in God, out of ourselves.
3. Whatsoever we receive in Christ cannot stand in desert of salvation. The reason is plain.
(1) Whatsoever must be meritorious in salvation and righteousness, must be given us in creation.
(2) Whatsoever is received in Christ, must stand with grace; for, Grace, Christ, Faith, stand together. But whatsoever in us should deserve, cannot stand with grace; therefore, whatsoever we are in Christ cannot deserve; faith is not of doing; grace is not of working.
(3) If this which we become in Christ should enable us to justify and save ourselves, then Christ should bring us back again to the law. But we are dead to the law.
(4) If we should, by that we are in Christ, deserve our salvation, then Christ should make us our own saviours. If Christ have deserved it, we have not; if we have, He hath not.
(5) It is a contradiction to say, Christ has deserved heaven for us, so that He makes us deserve it; as if it should be said, One has paid my debt for me, so I will pay it myself: One has purchased such a thing for me, but so that I must purchase it myself. But it may be said, It is no prejudice that Christ should merit in us: as God is more glorious that He does many things mediately, than if He should do them alone; as He gives light, but by the sun. Answer: Christ merited, not that we should merit, but be accepted. What we come to receive in Christ, is salvation and glory. If Christ should make us also by grace to deserve, then He should make us able to make His death in vain. Anything joined with Christ overturns Christ. Christ has not deserved, that His own desert should be in vain. (Paul Bayne.)
Hot of works
I have read that Dr. Moxey once had as an inquirer an old woman, and he drew her attention to the forty-first and forty-second verses of the seventh chapter of St. Luke! There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. Now he said, Which debtor will you be? She replied, The one that owes five hundred pence. Now, he said, what have you got to pay? She replied, I am very anxious to be saved. Well, he said, we will put that down to the credit side. Immediately after she said, No, I have made a mistake, Ive got nothing to pay. Then, he said, we will go on with the story. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. He said, Thats just the way of the Lord towards us.
Works, no sure foundation
He (Baxter on his death bed) said, God may justly condemn me for the best duty I ever did; and all my hopes are from the free mercy of God in Christ. He had often said before, I can more readily believe that God will forgive me than I can forgive myself. After a slumber he waked, saying, I shall rest from my labours. A minister present said, And your works will follow you. He replied, No works; I will leave out works, if God will grant me the other. When a friend comforted him with the remembrance of the good many had received from his writings, he replied, I was but a pen in Gods hand, and what praise is due to a pen? (Bishop Ryle.)
Christian humility
Remember, the ears of barley which bear the most grain always hang the lowest. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
Humility delights in concealment
The nettle mounteth on high, while the violet shrouds itself under its own leaves, and is chiefly found out by its fragrance. Let Christians be satisfied with the honour that cometh from God only. (H. G. Salter.)
No room for pride
Had God given His saints a stock of grace to have set up with, and left them to the improvement of it, He had been magnified indeed, because it was more than God did owe the creature; but He had not been omnified as now, when not only the Christians first strength to close with Christ is from God, but he is beholden still to God for the exercise of that strength, in every action of his Christian course. As a child that travels in his fathers company, all is paid for, but his father carries the purse, not himself; so the Christians shot is discharged in every condition; but he cannot say, This I did, or that I suffered; but God wrought all in me, and for me. The very comb of pride is cut here; no room for any self-exalting thoughts. (W. Gurnall.)
All glory to God
Doth the Christians strength lie in God, not in himself? This may forever keep the Christian humble, when most enlarged in duty, most assisted in his Christian course. Remember, Christian, when thou hast thy best suit on, who made it, who paid for it. Thy grace, thy comfort, is neither the work of thy own hands, nor the price of thy own desert; be not for shame proud of anothers cost. (W. Gurnall.)
Good works not to be boasted of
If the king freely, without desert of mine, and at the mediation of another, give me a place about him, and never so much right unto it, yet I am bound, if I will enjoy it, to come unto him and do the things that the place requireth. And if he give me a tree growing in his forest, this his gift ties me to be at cost to cut it down and bring it home, if I wilt have it. And when I have done all this, I cannot brag that by my coming and service I merited this place, or by my cost in cutting down and carrying home the tree made myself worthy of the tree, as the Jesuits speak of their works. But only the deed is the way that leads to the fruition of that which is freely given. There cannot be produced a place in all the Scripture, nor a sentence in all the Fathers, which extends our works any further, or makes them exceed the latitude of a mere condition or way whereby to walk to that which not themselves, but the blood of Christ hath deserved. (E. White.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. For by grace are ye saved, through faith] As ye are now brought into a state of salvation, your sins being all blotted out, and you made partakers of the Holy Spirit; and, having a hope full of immortality, you must not attribute this to any works or merit of yours; for when this Gospel reached you, you were all found dead in trespasses and dead in sins; therefore it was God’s free mercy to you, manifested through Christ, in whom ye were commanded to believe; and, having believed by the power of the Holy Spirit, ye received, and were sealed by, the Holy Spirit of promise; so that this salvation is in no sense of yourselves, but is the free gift of God; and not of any kind of works; so that no man can boast as having wrought out his own salvation, or even contributed any thing towards it. By grace are ye saved, through faith in Christ. This is a true doctrine, and continues to be essential to the salvation of man to the end of the world.
But whether are we to understand, faith or salvation as being the gift of God? This question is answered by the Greek text: , “By this grace ye are saved through faith; and THIS (, this salvation) not of you; it is the gift of God, not of works: so that no one can boast.” “The relative , this, which is in the neuter gender, cannot stand for , faith, which is the feminine; but it has the whole sentence that goes before for its antecedent.” But it may be asked: Is not faith the gift of God? Yes, as to the grace by which it is produced; but the grace or power to believe, and the act of believing, are two different things. Without the grace or power to believe no man ever did or can believe; but with that power the act of faith is a man’s own. God never believes for any man, no more than he repents for him: the penitent, through this grace enabling him, believes for himself: nor does he believe necessarily, or impulsively when he has that power; the power to believe may be present long before it is exercised, else, why the solemn warnings with which we meet every where in the word of God, and threatenings against those who do not believe? Is not this a proof that such persons have the power but do not use it? They believe not, and therefore are not established. This, therefore, is the true state of the case: God gives the power, man uses the power thus given, and brings glory to God: without the power no man can believe; with it, any man may.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For by grace, the free favour of God, as Eph 2:5, are ye, even ye Ephesians, Gentiles, who had not such promises made to you as the Jews had, Eph 2:12,
saved, from first to last, from your calling, Eph 2:5, to your glorification, Eph 2:6.
Objection. How are believers said to be saved, when they are not yet glorified?
Answer.
1. Because Christ their Head is glorified.
2. Because their salvation, begun in their effectual calling, shall be as certainly accomplished in them as it is begun in them, and perfected in their Head, Christ.
Through faith; by which ye lay hold on the grace offered you in the gospel. Faith is not considered here as a work done by us, but as an instrument or means applying the grace and salvation tendered to us.
And that not of yourselves; not for your own worth, nor by your own strength.
It is the gift of God; that ye are saved is the gift of God, and therefore free and purely by grace.
God is opposed to self: gift relates not merely to faith immediately preceding, but to the whole sentence.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. Forillustrating “theexceeding riches of His grace in kindness.” Translate as in Eph2:5, “Ye are in a saved state.”
through faiththeeffect of the power of Christ’s resurrection (Eph 1:19;Eph 1:20; Phi 3:10)whereby we are “raised together” with Him (Eph 2:6;Col 2:12). Some of the oldestmanuscripts read, “through your (literally, ‘the‘)faith.” The instrument or mean of salvation on the part of theperson saved; Christ alone is the meritorious agent.
and thatnamely, theact of believing, or “faith.” “Of yourselves”stands in opposition to, “it is the gift of God” (Php1:29). “That which I have said, ‘through faith,’ I do notwish to be understood so as if I excepted faith itself fromgrace” [ESTIUS].”God justifies the believing man, not for the worthiness of hisbelief, but for the worthiness of Him in whom he believes”[HOOKER]. The initiation,as well as the increase, of faith, is from the Spirit of God, notonly by an external proposal of the word, but by internalillumination in the soul [PEARSON].Yet “faith” cometh by the means which man must availhimself of, namely, “hearing the word of God” (Ro10:17), and prayer (Lu 11:13),though the blessing is wholly of God (1Co 3:6;1Co 3:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For by grace are ye saved,…. This is to be understood, not of temporal salvation, nor of preservation in Christ, nor of providential salvation in order to calling, and much less of being put in a way of salvation, or only in a salvable state; but of spiritual salvation, and that actual; for salvation was not only resolved upon, contrived and secured in the covenant of grace, for the persons here spoken to, but it was actually obtained and wrought out for them by Christ, and was actually applied unto them by the Spirit; and even as to the full enjoyment of it, they had it in faith and hope; and because of the certainty of it, they are said to be already saved; and besides, were representatively possessed of it in Christ their head: those interested in this salvation, are not all mankind, but particular persons; and such who were by nature children of wrath, and sinners of the Gentiles; and it is a salvation from sin, Satan, the law, its curse and condemnation, and from eternal death, and wrath to come; and includes all the blessings of grace and glory; and is entirely owing to free grace: for by grace is not meant the Gospel, nor gifts of grace, nor grace infused; but the free favour of God, to which salvation in all its branches is ascribed; as election, redemption, justification, pardon, adoption, regeneration, and eternal glory: the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, “by his grace”, and so some copies; and it may refer to the grace of all the three Persons; for men are saved by the grace of the Father, who drew the plan of salvation, appointed men to it, made a covenant with his Son, in which it is provided and secured, and sent him into the world to obtain it; and by the grace of the Son, who engaged as a surety to effect it, assumed human nature, obeyed and suffered in it for that purpose, and has procured it; and by the grace of the Spirit, who makes men sensible of their need of it, brings it near, sets it before them, and applies it to them, and gives them faith and hope in it: hence it follows,
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; salvation is through faith, not as a cause or condition of salvation, or as what adds anything to the blessing itself; but it is the way, or means, or instrument, which God has appointed, for the receiving and enjoying it, that so it might appear to be all of grace; and this faith is not the produce of man’s free will and power, but it is the free gift of God; and therefore salvation through it is consistent with salvation by grace; since that itself is of grace, lies entirely in receiving grace and gives all the glory to the grace of God: the sense of this last clause may be, that salvation is not of ourselves; it is not of our desiring nor of our deserving, nor of our performing, but is of the free grace of God: though faith is elsewhere represented as the gift of God, Joh 6:65 and it is called the special gift of faith, in the Apocrypha:
“And blessed is the eunuch, which with his hands hath wrought no iniquity, nor imagined wicked things against God: for unto him shall be given the “special gift of faith”, and an inheritance in the temple of the Lord more acceptable to his mind.” (Wisdom 3:14)
—– (I asked the following question from a Greek and Hebrew professor:
“In this verse, to what does the word “that” refer to? Adam Clarke, Wesley & company say that it is neuter plural and “Faith” is feminine hence it cannot refer to faith, (Such an admission would destroy their theological system.) However “Grace” is also feminine as is “Salvation”.”
His reply was:
“Here you ask a wonderful theological/exegetical question to which I can only give an opinion, and not a definitive answer. The problem is that there is NO precise referent. Grace is feminine. Faith is feminine. And even Salvation (as a noun) is feminine. Yet it must be one of these three at least, and maybe more than one, or all three in conjunction. Since all three come from God and not from man, the latter might seem the more likely. However, it is a tautology to say salvation and grace are “nor of yourselves,” and in that case it certainly looks more like the passage is really pointing out that man cannot even take credit for his own act of faith, but that faith was itself created by God and implanted in us that we might believe (i.e. the normal Calvinistic position). In which regard the whole theological issue of “regeneration preceding faith” comes into play. So, that is basically my opinion, though others obviously disagree strenuously, but from an exegetical standpoint, the other positions have to explain away the matter of the tautology.”
Whether you accept the reply or not, it is sufficient to show that the Greek is not as definitive in this verse as some scholars would have you believe. Editor)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
For by grace ( ). Explanatory reason. “By the grace” already mentioned in verse 5 and so with the article.
Through faith ( ). This phrase he adds in repeating what he said in verse 5 to make it plainer. “Grace” is God’s part, “faith” ours.
And that ( ). Neuter, not feminine , and so refers not to (feminine) or to (feminine also), but to the act of being saved by grace conditioned on faith on our part. Paul shows that salvation does not have its source ( , out of you) in men, but from God. Besides, it is God’s gift () and not the result of our work.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
For by grace, etc. This may truly be called exceeding riches of grace, for ye are saved by grace. Grace has the article, the grace of God, in vers. 5, 7. And that. Not faith, but the salvation.
Of God. Emphatic. Of God is it the gift.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For by grace are ye saved” (te gar chariti este sesomenoi) “For by (the) grace ye are (having been) saved;” The grace of God just mentioned, unmerited and undeserved by destitute, transgressing sinners. The term saved” is used to mean “delivered from spiritual death and hell.” What Grace!!
2) “Through faith” (dia pisteos) “Through the means, instrument, or agency of faith,” not “the faith,” the whole body of Christian truth. The gift of “faith,” exercised by the volition or will of a convicted sinner into Jesus Christ, brings salvation to every believer. One is said to be saved through faith, but never by grace through baptism; Gal 3:26; Act 5:9; 1Co 13:13; Joh 1:11-12.
3) “And that not of yourselves” (kai touto ouk eks humon) “And this (salvation) is not of yourselves,” or out of your being or doing. Even “faith,” the last means, instrument, or agency by which grace came to them, was through the initiative grace of God, for apart from or without this offered gift of faith, accepted and exercised by each, salvation came to them. Rom 1:16; 1Jn 5:1.
4) “It is the gift of God” (theou to doron) “God’s gift it is, the salvation that each had. It is not earned, merited, bought, or stolen by any person. Accepted “by faith,” as freely offered, on the merit of the redemptive work of Christ, it is and becomes to every believer the effective gift of God to him, Joh 1:11-12; Heb 11:6; Joh 10:27.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. For by grace are ye saved. This is an inference from the former statements. Having treated of election and of effectual calling, he arrives at this general conclusion, that they had obtained salvation by faith alone. First, he asserts, that the salvation of the Ephesians was entirely the work, the gracious work of God. But then they had obtained this grace by faith. On one side, we must look at God; and, on the other, at man. God declares, that he owes us nothing; so that salvation is not a reward or recompense, but unmixed grace. The next question is, in what way do men receive that salvation which is offered to them by the hand of God? The answer is, by faith; and hence he concludes that nothing connected with it is our own. If, on the part of God, it is grace alone, and if we bring nothing but faith, which strips us of all commendation, it follows that salvation does not come from us.
Ought we not then to be silent about free-will, and good intentions, and fancied preparations, and merits, and satisfactions? There is none of these which does not claim a share of praise in the salvation of men; so that the praise of grace would not, as Paul shews, remain undiminished. When, on the part of man, the act of receiving salvation is made to consist in faith alone, all other means, on which men are accustomed to rely, are discarded. Faith, then, brings a man empty to God, that he may be filled with the blessings of Christ. And so he adds, not of yourselves; that claiming nothing for themselves, they may acknowledge God alone as the author of their salvation.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) By grace are ye saved through faith.Properly, ye have been saved; ye were saved at first, and continue in a state of salvation. In Eph. 2:5 this thought is introduced parenthetically, naturally and irresistibly suggested by the declaration of the various steps of regeneration in Christ. St. Paul now returns to it and works it out, before passing on, in Eph. 2:11, to draw out by wherefore the conclusion from Eph. 2:1-7. Remembering how the Epistles were written from dictation, we may be inclined to see in this passage among others, an insertion made by the Apostle, on a revision of that already written.
The two phrasesjustification by faith and salvation by graceare popularly identified, and, indeed. are substantially identical in meaning. But the latter properly lays stress on a more advanced stage of the process of redemption in Christ. Thus, in Rom. 5:9-10 (having been justified, having been reconciled, we shall be saved), salvation is spoken of as following on the completed act of justification (as the release of a prisoner on his pronounced pardon); and it is described, here and elsewhere, as a continuous processa state continuing till the final judgment. Hence to lay especial stress on salvation accords better with the whole idea of this Epistlethe continuous indwelling in Christthan to bring out, as in the Epistle to the Romans, the one complete act of justification for His sake. It is remarkable that the expression of the truth corresponds almost verbally with the words of St. Peter at the Council of Jerusalem (Act. 15:11), We believe that through the grace of God we shall be (properly, we were) saved, except that here the original shows that the salvation is looked upon as a completed act, like justification. It is also to be noted that the use of the name Saviour, applied both to God and to Christ, belongs entirely to the later Epistles. It is used once in this Epistle (Eph. 5:23) and once in the Epistle to the Philippians (Eph. 3:20), but no less than ten times in the Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul, and five times in the Second Epistle of St. Peter. The phrase in the text is, as always in this Epistle, theologically exact. Grace is the moving cause of salvation: faith only the instrument by which it is laid hold of.
And that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.This attribution of all to the gift of God seems to cover the whole ideaboth the gift of salvation and the gift of faith to accept it. The former part is enforced by the words not of works, the latter by the declaration, we (and all that is in us) are His workmanship. The word here rendered gift is peculiar to this passage; the word employed in Rom. 5:15-16; Rom. 6:23, for free gift (charisma) having been appropriated (both in the singular and plural) to special gifts of grace.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(1 b.) Eph. 2:8-10 (taking up and working out the parenthetical by grace ye are saved of Eph. 2:5) form an instructive link of connection between these Epistles and those of the earlier group, especially the Epistles to the Galatians and Romans. (Comp. Php. 3:9.) In both there is the same doctrine of Justification by Faith, the same denial of the merit of good works, the same connection of good works with the grace of God in us. But what is there anxiously and passionately contended for, is here briefly summarised, and calmly assumed as a thing known and allowed. Even the technical phrasesthe word justification, and the declaration of the nullity of the Laware no longer used.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. For In view of this divine organic process now completely stated.
By grace Gratis, for nothing in return.
Are ye saved Not merely converted, justified, and sanctified; but gloriously saved saved from death, the devil, and hell; saved to resurrection, Christ, God, and glory, in the full sight of the endless aeons to come.
Through faith As the instrument in God’s hands; the handle by which he gets hold of us to snatch us from Satan and spring us into heaven. For the Greek preposition for through, here, is the preposition of instrumentality. Hence faith has three aspects. When, (1) it is said that God justifies us through faith, then faith is the instrument with which God rescues us from sin and hell. When (2) it is said “The just shall live by faith,” then faith is to us the means by which we live. When (3) it is said, “Believe and thou shall be saved,” then faith is the condition upon which we are justified, regenerated, and elected to holiness here and heaven hereafter. That faith is indeed empowered in us by the grace underlying our probation: but that faith freely exercised by us, and seen by God, is the underlying condition of our election in time; and foreseen by God is the underlying condition in our eternal election before the foundation of the world, as described in Eph 1:4; Eph 1:11, where see notes.
And be it especially noted that in St. Paul’s view there is no contradiction between the gratuity of our salvation and its conditionality. There is no contradiction between our being saved by grace and its being through faith; just because faith towards God, though a right thing in God’s creatures towards him, and an excellent thing in itself, is not a merit that pays God for any thing, or obligates him to any donation to us. It is his right to drop us into nothingness any moment he pleases, and no wrong is done us. Far less can our faith entitle us to pardon for past wickedness, to a blotting out of past books, and a conferring a glorious immortality at God’s right hand. Notwithstanding the free, rightful, excellent exercise in faith by us, every thing comes from God to us by grace. Surely the faith with which a beggar stretches forth his hand to receive the donation of thousands from a millionaire would not be a merit, a work, a compensation to the donor, neutralizing the graciousness of the gratuity. See note, Rom 3:24; Rom 3:27.
And what a reasonable, beautiful, and delightful condition proffered is this simple coming into obedience to and harmony with God by a pure act of free, submitting, and confiding faith. It is at once the due act of a yielding rebel to a rightful sovereign, and of a returning prodigal to a rightful and ever gracious parent. Gracious, indeed! for it was while dead to God and alive to and with the devil, that God loved us and laid the plan of our rescue.
That it Both, as well as not of works, in next verse, refer to being saved, and not to faith. Faith is, indeed, truly said to be the gift of God; but it is faith as a power, not as an act, that is God’s gift. So sight is either a power or an act. Sight, as a power, is the gift of God; but sight, as an act, is our own exertion of power.
Not of yourselves The whole structure of the apostle’s view of our rescue from the depths, and exaltation to the heights, and our consequent utter gratitude to God, is wholly overthrown if ours is a self-salvation. Our faith, as an act, natural and divinely empowered, is from ourselves: but not our salvation. The structure of that salvation requires all the power depicted in Eph 1:19.
Gift Donation; not pay or wages earned.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For by grace you are those who are saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.’
This links back to ‘in Christ Jesus’. We are in this position outlined above as ‘those who are saved’ because we have put our trust in Christ, and even that salvation was not of ourselves but was a gift given to us by the grace of God, the unmerited, active love and favour of God.
‘By grace.’ By God’s actively revealed and unmerited love.
‘Through faith.’ All God’s gifts come to us through our response of faith. As in our hearts we reached out to Him through Christ, and what He wrought for us through His cross, God responds with saving power.
‘And this not of yourselves.’ ‘This’ may refer back to ‘faith’ (but ‘this’ is neuter and ‘faith’ is feminine, so that it is unlikely) or it may refer to the salvation inherent in ‘you are those who are saved’. Either way it signifies that we have done nothing of ourselves. Faith may be the channel, but it does not deserve anything, nor is it of merit. It is merely the opening though which all that God freely gives us comes. It is the breach in our defences brought about by God when we were dead in sin. It is response wrought in us by His Spirit to something wonderful being offered, and is perfected in us by the grace of God. We long for salvation, we look to Him for salvation, He responds in grace, granting it to us as a gift. It is only then that He works righteousness within us.
‘It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.’ Paul could not have put more clearly that salvation is all of God. It is a gracious gift. We do nothing towards it (‘not of works’), we simply respond for our own selfish reasons and suddenly find ourselves engulfed in the active, unmerited love of God. Thus boasting is excluded. All of us are basically on the same level. Those who have responded have nothing to boast about, but much to rejoice in. But they cannot say ‘we have responded because we were better than they’ otherwise boasting would not be excluded. We must beware of making faith a somehow superior ‘work’. Faith that is ‘our’ work will fail.
Faith as God’s gift is true, lasting faith. It is not faith in ordinances or ceremonies, or in the church. Nor is it faith based on deserts. It is faith in Christ Himself. It is faith in the direct working of God (Col 2:12). It is faith in the Faithful One. When the Apostolic preacher proclaimed Christ, he did not initially call men to a series of ritual acts, nor did he initially ask him to join the church, he called him to put his trust in Jesus Christ. It was of faith not of works.
There is a type of so-called faith which is shallow and receives nothing. It is temporary, and is passing and fading like the grass (see Joh 2:23-25, and compare Mar 4:16-17). It is a faith brought about by the event of the moment, fading when the moment fades. It wants to receive any blessings going but the person who has it has no real desire to be saved. They do not want to be changed, they merely want to remain the same and yet go to Heaven. Such faith does not save.
But when a person recognises his sinfulness and longs to be changed in heart and mind, and cries in his helplessness to the Saviour, then he will be truly saved. We only have to look at the description of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector to see this. The one had strong faith, but it was faith in his own goodness in the sight of God, the other had a weak faith that reached out to God for forgiveness and mercy, and rejected any thought of deserving. And it was the latter which received God’s response (Luk 18:11-14).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eph 2:8. By grace are ye saved through faith; He that reads St. Paul with attention, cannot but observe, that, speaking of the Gentiles, he calls their being brought back again from their apostacy into the kingdom of God, their being saved. Before they were thus brought to be the people of God again under the Messiah, they were, as they are here described, aliens,enemies, without hope,without God,dead in trespasses and sins; and therefore, when by faith in Christ they came to be reconciled, and to be in covenant again with God, and his subjects, and liege people, they were in the way of salvation; and, if they persevered, could not miss of attaining it, though they were not yet in actual possession. The Apostle, whose aim it is in this Epistle to give them a high sense of God’s extraordinary grace and favour to them, and to raise their thoughts above the mean observances of the law, shews them that there was nothing in them, in their miserable state of nature, no deeds or works of theirs, nothing that they could do, to prepare and recommend themselves, which contributed aught to God’s calling them into his kingdom under the gospel;that it was all purely the work of grace, for they were all by nature dead in trespasses and sins, and, without the Spirit of God, could not make one step, or the least motion towards it. Faith, which alone gained them admittance, and alone opened the kingdom of heaven to believers, was the gift of God. Men, by their natural faculties, could not attain to it: it is faith which is the source and beginning of this new life.By a revelation of that, which they could never discover by their own natural faculties, God bestows on them the knowledge of the Messiah, and the faith of the gospel; which, as soon as they have received, they are in the kingdom of God, in a new state of life; and, being thus quickened by the Spirit, may, as men alive, work, if they will. Hence St. Paul says, Rom 10:17 that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; having in the foregoing verses declared, that there is no believing without hearing, and no hearing without a preacher, and no preacher unless he be sent; that is, the good tidings of salvation by the Messiah, and the doctrine of faith, was not, could not be known to any, but those to whom God communicated it by the preaching of his prophets and apostles, to whom he revealed it, and whom he sent on his errand with this discovery. And thus God now gave faith to the Ephesians and the other Gentiles, to whom he sent St. Paul and others his fellow-labourers, to bestow on them the knowledge of salvation, reconciliation, and restoration to the kingdom of the Messiah: to all which, though revealed by the Spirit of God in the writings of the Old Testament, yet the Gentile world were kept wholly strangers by the ceremonial law of Moses, which was the wall of partition that kept the Gentiles at a distance and aliens: this wall God, according to his gracious purpose before the erecting it, having now broken down, communicated to them the doctrine of faith, and admitted them, upon their acceptance of it, to all the advantages and privileges of this kingdom: all which was done of his free grace, without any merit or procurement of theirs;He was found of them who sought him not, and was made manifest to them that asked not after him. He that would clearly understand this second chapter of the Ephesians, should read carefully with it Romans 10 and 1Co 2:9-16 where he will see, that faith is owing to the revelation of the Spirit of God, and the communication of that revelation by men sent by God, who attained this knowledge, not by the assistance of their own natural parts, but from the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Thus faith, we see, is the gift of God; and, with it, comes the Spirit of God, which brings life to the soul. GOD himself, by the gift of faith, creates them, that is, every genuine penitent, unto good works; but when by him they are made living creatures, in this new creation, it is then expected that, being quickened, they should act; and from henceforward works are required, not as the meritorious cause of salvation, but as a necessary indispensable qualification of the subjects of God’s kingdom under his Son Jesus Christ; it being impossible that any one should at the same time be a rebel and a good subject too. And though none can be subjects of the kingdom of God, but those who, continuing in the faith which has once been bestowed on them, sincerely endeavour to conform themselves to the laws of their Lord and Master Jesus Christ; and though God gives eternal life to all those, and to those only, who do so; yet eternal life is the gift of God, the gift of free grace, as purchased solely by the blood of the covenant for every faithful saint
Now, that when God hath, by calling them into the kingdom of his son, and bestowing on them the gift of faith, thus quickened the penitent, and they are by his free grace created in Christ Jesus unto good works,that then works are required of them, is hence evidentthat they are called upon and pressed (1Th 2:12.) to walk worthy of God, who hath called them to his kingdom and glory; and to the same purpose, ch. Eph 4:1. Php 3:17. Col 1:10-12. So that of those who are in the kingdom of God, who are actually under the covenant of grace, good works are strictly required, under penalty of the loss of eternal life. See Rom 6:11-13; Rom 8:13.
Indeed, this is the tenor of the whole New Testament; the apostate heathen world were dead, and were of themselves in that state not capable of doing any thing to procure their translation into the kingdom of God; that was purely the work of grace: but, when they received the gospel in sincerity, they were then made alive by faith, and by the Spirit of God; then they were in a state of life, and working and works were expected of them. Thus grace and works are consistent without any difficulty; and that whichhath caused the perplexity, and seeming contradiction, has been men’s mistake concerning the kingdom of God. God, in the fulness of time, set up his kingdom in this world under his Son, into which he admitted all those who believed on him, and sincerely received Jesus the Messiah for their Lord. Thus by faith in Jesus Christ men became the people of God, and subjects of his kingdom, and were henceforth, during their continuance in the living faith and profession of the gospel, accounted saints,the beloved of God,the faithful in Christ Jesus,the people of God, saved, &c.for in these terms and the like the Sacred Scripture speaks of them. And indeed, those who were thus translated into the kingdom of the Son of God, were no longer in the dead state of the Gentiles; but, havingpassed from death to life, were in the state of the living, in the way to eternal life, which they were sure to attain, if they persevered in that life which the gospel required, viz. faith and sincere obedience. But yet this was not an actual possession of eternal life in the kingdom of God in the world to come; for, by apostacy or disobedience, this, though sometimes called salvation, might be forfeited and lost; whereas he that is once possessed of the other, has actuallyan eternal inheritance in the heavens, which fadeth not away. These two considerations of the kingdom of heaven some men have confounded, and made one; so that a man being brought into the first of these wholly by grace without works (faith being all that was required to instate a man in it) they have concluded, that, for the attaining eternal life, or the kingdom of God in the world to come, faith alone, without good works, is required,contrary to the express words of Scripture, and the whole tenor of the gospel. It is, however, by grace that we are made partakers of both these kingdoms; it is only into the kingdom of God in this world that we are admitted by faith alone without works; but for our admittance into the other, both faith and obedience are requisite,internal holiness, and a sincere endeavour to perform all those duties,all those good works which are incumbent upon us, and come in our way to be performed, from the time of our believing until the hour of death. See the Inferences and Reflections.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eph 2:8 . How entirely was I justified in saying: ! for , etc. Thus Paul now expresses himself with more detail as to the great truth, of which his heart was so full that it had already, Eph 2:5 , interrupted the course of his address.
] by the grace . By the article the divine grace just now spoken of is indicated, after it had been meant doubtless by the anarthrous , Eph 2:5 , but designated by it only as regards the category ( by grace ).
] for the faith in the atonement made by Christ (Rom 3:25 ; Rom 3:30 , al. ) is, as the causa apprehendens of the Messianic salvation, the necessary mediate instrument on the part of man, while the is the divine motive, the causa efficiens of the bestowal. The emphasis, however, is retained by alone , and . is only the modal definition to .
. . .] Nothing is here to be treated as parenthesis; neither the whole down to , Eph 2:9 (Griesbach, Scholz), nor merely (Lachmann, Harless, de Wette), since neither the construction nor the course of thought is interrupted. is referred by the Fathers in Suicer, Thes . II. p. 728, Erasmus, Beza, Grotius, Estius, Wolf, Bengel, Michaelis, and others, including Koppe, Rosenmller, Flatt, Meier, Baumgarten-Crusius, Bisping, to the faith ( ), comp. Phi 1:29 ; 2Co 4:14 . In that case would have to be taken parenthetically. But how violent is this taking to pieces of the text, since and present themselves in a manner alike natural and weighty as elements belonging to one flow of the discourse! Rightly, therefore, have Calvin, Calovius, Baumgarten, Semler, Zachariae, Morus, and others, including Rckert, Matthies, Holzhausen, Harless, de Wette, Schenkel, Bleek, referred it to the salvation just designated as regards its specific mode. Paul very earnestly and emphatically enters into more detailed explanations as to what he had just said, . . ., namely to the effect, that he briefly and forcibly places in the light of the respective contrasts, first, that objective element of the saving deliverance which has taken place ( ) by , , and then the subjective element ( ), by . . . His thought is: “Through grace you are in possession of salvation by means of faith, and that to the exclusion of your own causation and operative agency .” This latter he expresses with the vivacity and force of contrast thus: “ and that ( , see on Rom 3:11 ) not from you, it is God’s gift; not from works, in order that no one may boast .” The asyndetic juxtaposition takes place with a “propria quadam vi, alacritate, gravitate,” Dissen, Exc. II. ad Pind. p. 273.
] negatives their own personal authorship of the salvation (Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 551 f.).
] i.e. , God’s gift is the gift in question (namely, the ). Comp. already Bengel.
] Parallel of , hence to be completed by (not by ), not from work-merit does it come that you have the salvation. The would exclude the as the subjective condition of salvation (Rom 3:28 ; Rom 4:5 ; Rom 9:32 ; Gal 2:16 ; Gal 3:2 ), as would exclude the as the objective cause of salvation, because it presupposes the (Rom 10:3 ). No doubt excludes also the , as does likewise exclude the ; but the two elements opposed to the and the are, on occasion of the proposition , held apart after the manner of a formal parallelism . That, moreover, the notion of the is determined not merely by the Jewish law, but inasmuch as the readers were for the most part Gentile-Christians also by the natural law (Rom 2:14 f.), is self-evident. The proposition in itself, however, , is so essential and universally valid a fundamental proposition of the Pauline Gospel, and certainly so often expressed by the apostle among Jews and Gentiles, that the severe judgment as to its having no meaning, when laid down without reference to the Mosaic law, must appear unfounded (in opposition to de Wette).
] design of God in the relation indicated by , not ecbatic (Koppe, Flatt, Holzhausen). Comp. 1Co 1:29 ; 1Co 1:31 , and as regards the thing itself, Rom 3:27 . Grotius aptly says: “quicquid est in flumine, fonti debetur,” which, however, is not to be limited merely to the prima gratia . See Eph 2:10 ; 2Co 10:17 ; 1Co 15:10 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2099
SALVATION BY GRACE NOT HOSTILE TO GOOD WORKS
Eph 2:8-10. 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.
ALL Gods works, of whatever kind they be, are designed to praise him. His works of creation proclaim his wisdom and his power: his works of providence display his goodness: his works of redemption magnify his grace. It is of these last that the Apostle is speaking in the preceding context, even of all that God has done for us in the Son of his love; and he declares that it was all done, that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. The Gospel is too rarely viewed in this light: it is by many scarcely distinguished from the law; being considered rather as a code of laws enforced with penalties, than as an exhibition of mercies confirmed with promises. But it is as an exhibition of mercy only that we ought to view it; precisely as it is set forth in the words before us: from which we shall take occasion to shew,
I.
That salvation is altogether of grace
By salvation I understand the whole work of grace, whether as revealed in the word, or as experienced in the soul: and it is altogether of grace:
1.
It is so
[Trace it to its first origin, when the plan of it was fixed in the council of peace between the Father and the Son [Note: Zec 6:13.]: Who devised it? who merited it? who desired it? It was the fruit of Gods sovereign grace, and of grace alone. Trace it in all its parts;the gift of Gods only-begotten Son to be our surety and our substitute; the acceptance of his vicarious sacrifice in our behalf; and the revelation of that mystery in the written word: who will arrogate to himself the honour of haying acquired these, or of having contributed to the acquisition of them in the smallest degree?
It may be thought perhaps, that, because an interest in these things is obtained by faith, we may claim some honour on account of the faith which apprehends them; which, being exercised by us, may be considered in some respects as giving us a ground of glorying before God. But this also is the gift of God, no less than the plan of salvation itself: it is not in any man by nature; nor is it to be wrought in man by any human power: it is not the effect of reasoning: for then the acutest reasoners would be the strongest believers; which is frequently far from being the case: it is solely the gift of God: and hence they who have believed, are said to have believed through grace [Note: Act 18:27.]. It is expressly said to be given us [Note: Php 1:29.]: and when Peter declared his faith in Jesus as the true Messiah, Jesus said to him, Flesh and blood had not revealed this truth unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. This is the true reason why many believed the testimony of Christ and his Apostles, whilst others were hardened in unbelief: those whose hearts God opened, as he did Lydias, received the truth; whilst all others treated the word, either with open scorn, or secret indifference.]
2.
It must be so
[Salvation must either be of grace or of works: the two cannot be mixed together, or reconciled with each other: if it be of works in any degree, it is no more of grace [Note: Rom 11:6.]; and in whatever degree it is of works, it so far affords us an occasion of boasting; seeing that it is then a debt paid, and not a gift bestowed [Note: Rom 4:4.].
To avoid this conclusion, some will say, that salvation may be of works, and still be also of grace; because the works being wrought in us by God, he is entitled to all the glory of them. But, granting that they are wrought in us by God, yet, inasmuch as they are our works, they afford us a ground of glorying: and, to say that they do not afford us a ground of glorying, is directly to contradict the Apostle in our text, where he says, It is not of works, lest any man should boast. The same Apostle elsewhere says, It is of faith, that it may be by grace [Note: Rom 4:16.]: from both which passages it is evident, that, if it be of works, from whatever source those works proceed, it can no longer be by grace.
But here it may be asked, If works, notwithstanding they are wrought in us by God, afford us a ground of glorying in ourselves, does not faith afford us the same ground of glorying? I answer, No: for it is of the very nature of faith to renounce all hope in ourselves, and to found our hopes solely on the merits of another: it disclaims all glorying in self, and gives all the glory to Him from whom it derives its blessings. In this it differs essentially from every other work: other works, though wrought in us by God, bring a glory to ourselves; but this, of necessity, transfers to God all the glory resulting from its exercise; and, consequently, neither does, nor can, nor desires to, arrogate any thing to itself.
Thus we hope that the point is clear,salvation is altogether of grace from first to last. The plan of salvation as originally devised, the Saviour who wrought it out for us, the acceptance of his vicarious sacrifice in our behalf, and the faith whereby we are made partakers of his sacrifice, are all the gifts of free and sovereign grace: the foundation and the superstructure are wholly of grace: and, when the headstone shall be brought forth, it must be with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it [Note: Zec 4:7.]!]
If to this it be objected, that by such doctrines we subvert the very foundations of morality, we answer,
II.
That, though good works are wholly excluded from all share in the office of justifying the soul, yet is the performance of them effectually secured
Believers are the workmanship of God altogether, as much as the world itself is: and as the world was created by Christ Jesus, so are they created anew in Christ Jesus. But we are created unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
The concluding words of our text shew us,
1.
That God has ordained good works as the path wherein we are to walk
[This is an unquestionable truth: the whole of the moral law demonstrates it: every promise, every threatening in the whole Bible attests it. Not a word can be found in the whole sacred volume, that dispenses with the performance of good works: on the contrary, it is expressly said, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The least idea of reaching heaven in any other path, is invariably reprobated as a most fatal delusion. The means and the end are indissolubly connected in the councils of heaven [Note: 2Th 2:13.]: and to hope that they shall ever be separated, is to deceive and ruin our own souls. If we are not careful to maintain good works, we entirely counteract all the purposes of God in his Gospel, and cut ourselves off from all hope of salvation [Note: Tit 2:4-8. Mark the eighth verse especially.].]
2.
That God has prepared and fitted his people to walk in them [Note: This perhaps is, of the two, the more exact sense of the original.]
[He has given to his people a new nature, and infused into their souls a new and heavenly principle, by which they have passed from death unto life. They have received from Christ that living water, which is in them as a well of water springing up unto everlasting life [Note: Joh 4:14.]. They can no more sin in the way they did before [Note: 1Jn 3:9.]. Under the influence of the Holy Ghost, they move in a new direction, affecting the things of the Spirit, as formerly they affected the things of the flesh [Note: Rom 8:1-5 and Gal 5:17.]. They are created in Christ Jesus unto good works; and the impulse given them in this new creation they obey. The metaphor here used, may, if not pressed too far, illustrate the matter, and set it in a clear point of view. God, when he created the heavenly bodies, appointed them their respective paths in the regions of space. To each he gave its proper impulse, having previously fitted it for the performance of the revolutions assigned it: and in their respective orbits he has ever since upheld them, so that they all without exception fulfil the ends for which they were created. Thus in the new creation, God has appointed to all their destined course through the vast expanse of moral and religious duty. He has also, at the time of its new creation, given to each soul the impulse necessary for it, together with all the qualities and dispositions proper for the regulation of its motions according to his will: and he yet further, by his continual, though invisible, agency, preserves them in their appointed way [Note: Men fit themselves for perdition: but it is God alone who fits any for glory. See Rom 9:23. where the same word is used as in the text. See also Isa 26:12.]. But further than this the metaphor must not be pressed: for the heavenly bodies have neither consciousness nor volition; but we have both: they too carry with them nothing that can cause an aberration from their destined course; whereas we have innumerable impediments, both within and without: hence they fulfil their destinies without the smallest intermission; whilst we, alas! deviate from the path assigned us in instances without number. Still however, in the event, the purposes of God are at last accomplished, as with them, so with us also: and, notwithstanding, in the estimation of a self-righteous Pharisee, the chief reason for performing good works is taken away, yet are they performed, and shall be performed by every one that has received the grace of God in truth.]
Observe then from hence,
1.
What need we have of humility
[The pride of the human heart can never endure the doctrines of grace. So tenacious are men of every thing that may give them a ground of glorying in themselves, that they will rather perish in their own righteousness, than submit to be saved by the righteousness of another [Note: Rom 9:30-33; Rom 10:3.]? But, brethren, you must submit. God will not condescend to your terms. It is in vain to contest the matter with him: it is folly, it is madness, so to do. You know full well, that the fallen angels have no claim on God for mercy: and what have you more than they? But God, who has passed by the angels, has given a Saviour to you, yea, and salvation too, if you will receive it as a gift of grace. Let it not be a hard matter with you to accept the proffered benefit. Would the fallen angels, think you, refuse it, if a tender of it were made to them? O then, prostrate yourselves before your God, as deserving nothing but wrath; and let him glorify in you the unsearchable riches of his grace!]
2.
The vast importance of faith
[It is by faith alone that you can apprehend the Saviour, or be made partakers of his benefits. You must be saved by grace, through faith. Your whole life must be a life of faith, according to what St. Paul has said, The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. But this faith you must receive from above. You can neither come to Christ, nor know Christ, except as you are taught and drawn by the Father [Note: Mat 11:27. Joh 6:65.]. Pray to him, saying, Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief. Pray also to him to increase your faith yet more and more: for it is only by being strong in faith that you will approve yourselves to God, or abound, as you ought, in all the fruits of righteousness to his praise and glory.]
3.
What obligations lie upon you to serve and glorify your God
[Be it so; you are not to be saved by good works: but is there no other motive that you can find for the performance of them? Do you feel no obligation to Him who sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that you might live through him? When you know that God has ordained that you should walk in the daily exercise of good works, have you no desire to please him? And when you know that this is the only path in which it is possible for you ever to arrive at your Fathers house, will you wilfully turn aside from it? If gratitude will not constrain you, will you be insensible to fear? But further, it is by your works that men will judge of your principles: and, though they represent the doctrines of grace as leading to licentiousness, they will expect to see you more holy than others; and if they are disappointed in this, they will cast the blame upon your principles, and upon the Gospel itself. Will you then put a stumbling-block in the way of others, and cause the name of your God and Saviour to be blasphemed? No; you have not so learned Christ, if so be ye have heard him and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. See then that ye abound in every good word and work; and put to silence the ignorance of foolish men by well-doing.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Ver. 8. For by grace ye are saved ] So Eph 2:5 , and everywhere almost St Paul is a most constant preacher of the grace of God, as Chrysostom styleth him. Sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae, saith Augustine. The patrons of man’s free will are enemies to God’s free grace.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8 .] For by grace (the article shews us the import of the sentence to take up and expand the parenthetic clause above: but not barely so: that clause itself was inserted on account of the matter in hand being a notable example of the fact, and this takes up also that matter in hand the . . ) ye are (perf.) saved, through [ your ] (or [ the ], but the possessive article is preferable, see below: ‘the’ would make both objective. The abstract, ‘ through faith ,’ must be the rendering if the article be omitted) faith (the dative above expressed the objective instrumental condition of your salvation, this the subjective medial condition: it has been effected by grace and apprehended by faith): and this (not your faith , as Chrys. , , : so Thdrt., al., Corn.-a-Iap., Beza, Est., Grot., Beng., all.; this is precluded (not by the gender of , but) by the manifestly parallel clauses and , of which the latter would be irrelevant as asserted of , and the reference of Eph 2:9 must therefore be changed: but, as Calv., Calov., Rck., Harl., Olsh., Mey., De W., Stier, al., ‘your salvation;’ , as Ellic.) not of yourselves , GOD’S (emphatic) is the gift (not, as E. V. ‘ it is the gift of God ’ ( ), , viz. of your salvation: so that the expression is pregnant q. d., ‘ but it is a gift, and that gift is God’s .’ There is no occasion, as Lachm., Harl., and De W., to parenthesize these words: they form a contrast to ., and a quasi-parallel clause to . below): not of works (for , see on Rom 3:4 , and Gal 2:16 ), that no man should boast (on the proposition implied, see on Rom 4:2 . , has in matter of fact its strictest telic sense. With God, results are all purposed; it need not be understood, when we predicate of Him a purpose in this manner, that it was His main or leading aim; but it was one of those things included in His scheme, which ranked among His purposes).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Eph 2:8 . : for by grace have ye been saved . More exactly “by the grace,” i.e. , by this grace, the grace already mentioned. Grace is the explanation of their own salvation, and how surpassingly rich the grace must be that could effect that! : through faith . That is, by faith as the instrument or means. Paul never says , as if the faith were the ground or procuring cause of the salvation. It is the , not the explanatory that has the first place in Paul’s thoughts here. : and that not of yourselves . That is, not as proceeding from yourselves or of your own performance. The sentence thus beginning with ( cf. Rom 13:11 ) is not parenthetical, but an integral part of the statement. But to what does the refer? To the say some (Chrys., Theod., Jer., Bez., Beng., Bisp., Moule, etc.). The neut. would not be irreconcilable with that. The formula indeed might rather favour it, as it often adds to the idea to which it is attached. It may also be granted that a peculiarly suitable idea results the opportune reminder that even their faith , in which at least they might think there was something of their own, has its origin in God’s grace, not in their own effort. But on the other hand the salvation is the main idea in the preceding statement, and it seems best to understand the as referring to that salvation in its entire compass, and not merely to the one element in it, its instrumental cause, appended by way of explanation. ; it is the gift of God . Or, perhaps, “God’s gift it is”. The salvation is not an achievement but a gift , and a gift from none other than God. This declaration of the free, unmerited, conferred nature of the salvation is made the stronger not only by the contrast with the , but by the dropping of any connecting particle.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
EPHESIANS
SALVATION: GRACE: FAITH
Eph 2:8
Here are three of the key-words of the New Testament-’grace,’ ‘saved,’ ‘faith.’ Once these terms were strange and new; now they are old and threadbare. Once they were like lava, glowing and cast up from the central depths; but it is a long while since the eruption, and the blocks have got cold, and the corners have been rubbed off them. I am afraid that some people, when they read such a text, will shrug the shoulder of weariness, and think that they are in for a dreary sermon.
But the more familiar a word is, the more likely are common ideas about it to be hazy. We substitute acquaintance with the sound for penetration into the sense. A frond of sea-weed, as long as it is in the ocean, unfolds its delicate films and glows with its subdued colours. Take it out, and it is hard and brown and ugly, and you have to plunge it into the water again before you see its beauty. So with these well-worn Christian terms; you have to put them back, by meditation and thought, especially as to their bearing on yourself, in order to understand their significance and to feel their power. And, although it is very hard, I want to try and do that for a few moments with this grand thought that lies in my text.
I. Here we have the Christian view of man’s deepest need, and God’s greatest gift.
‘Ye have been saved.’ Now, as I have said, ‘saved,’ and ‘salvation,’ and ‘Saviour,’ are all threadbare words. Let us try to grasp the whole throbbing meaning that is in them. Well, to begin with, and in its original and lowest application, this whole set of expressions is applied to physical danger from which it delivers, and physical disease which it heals. So, in the Gospels, for instance, you find ‘Thy faith hath made thee whole’-literally, ‘saved thee’ And you hear one of the Apostles crying, in an excess of terror and collapse of faith, ‘Save! Master! we perish!’ The two notions that are conveyed in our familiar expression ‘safe and sound,’ both lie in the word-deliverance from danger, and healing of disease.
Then, when you lift it up into the loftier region, into which Christianity buoyed it up, the same double meaning attaches to it. The Christian salvation is, on its negative side, a deliverance from something impending-peril-and a healing of something infecting us-the sickness of sin.
It is a deliverance; what from? Take, in the briefest possible language, three sayings of Scripture to answer that question-what am I to be saved from? ‘His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.’ He ‘delivers’-or saves-’us from the wrath to come.’ He ‘saves a soul from death.’ Sin, wrath death, death spiritual as well as physical, these are the dangers which lie in wait; and the enemies which have laid their grip upon us. And from these, as the shepherd drags the kid from the claws of the lion or the bear’s hug, the salvation of the Gospel wrenches and rescues men.
The same general conceptions emerge, if we notice, on the other side-what are the things which the New Testament sets forth as the opposites of its salvation? Take, again, a brief reference to Scripture words: ‘The Son of Man came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.’ So the antithesis is between judgment or condemnation on the one hand, and salvation on the other. That suggests thoughts substantially identical with the preceding but still more solemn, as bringing in the prospect a tribunal and a judge. The Gospel then reveals the Mighty Power that lifts itself between us and judgment, the Mighty Power that intervenes to prevent absolute destruction, the Power which saves from sin, from wrath, from death.
Along with them we may take the other thought, that salvation, as the New Testament understands it, is not only the rescue and deliverance of a man from evils conceived to lie round about him, and to threaten his being from without, but that it is his healing from evils which have so wrought themselves into his very being, and infected his whole nature, as that the emblem for them is a sickness unto death for the healing from which this mighty Physician comes. These are the negative sides of this great Christian thought.
But the New Testament salvation is more than a shelter, more than an escape. It not only trammels up evil possibilities, and prevents them from falling upon men’s heads, but it introduces all good. It not only strips off the poisoned robe, but it invests with a royal garb. It is not only negatively the withdrawal from the power, and the setting above the reach, of all evil, in the widest sense of that word, physical and moral, but it is the endowment with every good, in the widest sense of that word, physical and moral, which man is capable of receiving, or God has wealth to bestow. And this positive significance of the Christian salvation, which includes not only pardon, and favour, and purity, and blessedness here in germ, and sure and certain hope of an overwhelming glory hereafter-this is all suggested to us by the fact that in Scripture, more than once, to ‘have everlasting life,’ and to ‘enter into the Kingdom of God,’ are employed as equivalent and alternative expressions for being saved with the salvation of God.
And that leads me to another point-my text, as those of you who have used the Revised Version will observe, is there slightly modified in translation, and reads ‘Ye have been saved,’-a past act, done once, and with abiding present consequences, which are realised progressively in the Christian life, and reach forward into infinitude. So the Scripture sometimes speaks of salvation as past, ‘He saved us by His mercy’: sometimes of it as present and progressive, ‘The Lord added to the Church daily those that were in process of being saved’: sometimes of it as future, ‘now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.’ In that future all that is involved in the word will be evolved from it in blessed experience onwards through eternity.
I have said that we should try to make an effort to fathom the depth of meaning in this and other familiar commonplace terms of Scripture. But no effort prior to experience will ever fathom it. There was in the papers some time ago an account of some extraordinary deep-sea soundings that have been made away down in the South Pacific, 29,400 feet and no bottom, and the wire broke. The highest peak of the Himalayas might be put into that abyss, and there would be hundreds of feet between it and the surface. He ‘casts all our sins,’ mountainous as they are, behind His back ‘into the depths of the sea’; and no plummet that man can drop will ever reach its profound abyss. ‘Thy judgments are a great deep,’ and deeper than the judgments is the depth of Thy salvation.
And now, brethren, before I go further, notice the-I was going to say theory, but that is a cold word-the facts of man’s condition and need that underlie this great Christian term of salvation-viz. we are all in deadly peril; we are all sick of a fatal disease. ‘Ah!’ you say, ‘that is Paul.’ Yes! it is Paul. But it is not Paul only; it is Paul’s Master, and, I hope, your Master; for He not only spoke loving, gentle words to and about men, and not only was grace poured into His lips, but there is another side to His utterances. No one ever spoke sadder, sterner words about the real condition of men than Jesus Christ did. Lost sheep, lost coins, prodigal sons, builders of houses on the sand that are destined to be blown down and flooded away, men in danger of an undying worm and unquenchable fire-these are parts of Christ’s representations of the condition of humanity, and these are the conceptions that underlie this great thought of salvation as being man’s deepest need.
It goes far deeper down than any of the superficial constructions of what humanity requires, which are found among non-Christian, social and economical, and intellectual and political reformers. It includes all that is true in the estimate of any of these people, and it supplies all that they aim at. But it goes far beyond them. And as they stand pottering round the patient, and administering-what shall I say? ‘pills for the earthquake,’ as we once heard-it comes and brushes them aside and says, ‘Physicians of no value! here is the thing that is wanted-salvation that comes from God.’
Brother! it is what you need. Do not be led away by the notion that wealth, or culture, or anything less than Christ’s gift to men will meet your necessities. If once we catch a glimpse of what we really are, there will be no words wanted to enforce the priceless value of the salvation that the Gospel offers. It is sure to be an uninteresting word and thing to a man who does not feel himself to be a sinner. It is sure to be of perennial worth to a man who does. Life-belts lie unnoticed on the cabin-shelf above the berth as long as the sun is bright, and the sea calm, and everything goes well; but when the ship gets on the rocks the passengers fight to get them. If you know yourself, you will know that salvation is what you need.
II. Here we have the Christian unfolding of the source of salvation.
‘By grace ye have been saved.’ There is another threadbare word. It is employed in the New Testament with a very considerable width of signification, which we do not need to attend to here. But, in regard of the present context, let me just point out that the main idea conveyed by the word is that of favour, or lovingkindness, or goodwill, especially when directed to inferiors, and most eminently when given to those who do not deserve it, but deserve its opposite. ‘Grace’ is love that stoops and that requites, not according to desert, but bestows upon those who deserve nothing of the kind; so when the Apostle declares that the source of salvation is ‘grace.’ he declares two things. One is that the fountain of all our deliverance from sin, and of our healing of our sicknesses, lies in the deep heart of God, from which it wells up undrawn, unmotived, uncaused by anything except His own infinite lovingkindness. People have often presented the New Testament teaching about salvation as if it implied that God’s love was brought to man because Jesus Christ died, and turned the divine affections. That is not New Testament teaching. Christ’s death is not the cause of God’s love, but God’s love is the cause of Christ’s death. ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.’
When we hear in the Old Testament, ‘I am that I am,’ we may apply it to this great subject. For that declaration of the very inmost essence of the divine nature is not merely the declaration, in half metaphysical terms, of a self-substituting, self-determining Being, high above limitation and time and change, but it is a declaration that when He loves He loves freely and unmodified save by the constraint of His own Being. Just as the light, because it is light and must radiate, falls upon dunghills and diamonds, upon black rocks and white snow, upon ice-peaks and fertile fields, so the great fountain of the Divine Grace pours out upon men by reason only of its own continual tendency to communicate its own fulness and blessedness.
There follows from that the other thought, on which the Apostle mainly dwells in our context, that the salvation which we need, and may have, is not won by desert, but is given as a gift. Mark the last words of my text-’that not of yourselves it is the gift of God.’ They have often been misunderstood, as if they referred to the faith which is mentioned just before. But that is a plain misconception of the Apostle’s meaning, and is contradicted by the whole context. It is not faith that is the gift of God, but it is salvation by grace. That is plain if you will read on to the next verse. ‘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.’ What is it that is ‘not of works’? Faith? certainly not. Nobody would ever have thought it worth while to say, ‘faith is not of works,’ because nobody would have said that it was. The two clauses necessarily refer to the same thing, and if the latter of them must refer to salvation by grace, so must the former. Thus, the Apostle’s meaning is that we get salvation, not because we work for it but because God gives it as a free gift, for which we have nothing to render, and which we can never deserve.
Now, I am sure that there are some of you who are saying to yourselves, ‘This is that old, threadbare, commonplace preaching again!’ Well! shame on us preachers if we have made a living Gospel into a dead theology. And shame no less on you hearers if by you the words that should be good news that would make the tongue of the dumb sing, and the lame man leap as a hart, have been petrified and fossilised into a mere dogma.
I know far better than you do how absolutely inadequate all my words are, but I want to bring it to you and to lay it not on your heads only but on your hearts, as the good news that we all need, that we have not to buy, that we have not to work to get salvation, but that having got it we have to work thereafter. ‘What shall we do that we might work the works of God?’ A whole series of diverse, long, protracted, painful toils? Christ swept away the question by striking out the ‘s’ at the end of the word, and answered, ‘This is the work’ not ‘works’ ‘of God,’ the one thing which will open out into all heroism and practical obedience, ‘that ye believe on Him to whom He hath sent.’
III. That leads me to the last point-viz. the Christian requirement of the condition of salvation.
Note the precision of the Apostle’s prepositions: ‘Ye have been saved by grace’; there is the source-’Ye have been saved by grace, through faith’-there is the medium, the instrument, or, if I may so say, the channel; or, to put it into other words, the condition by which the salvation which has its source in the deep heart of God pours its waters into my empty heart. ‘Through faith,’ another threadbare word, which, withal, has been dreadfully darkened by many comments, and has unfortunately been so represented as that people fancy it is some kind of special attitude of mind and heart, which is only brought to bear in reference to Christ’s Gospel. It is a thousand pities, one sometimes thinks, that the word was not translated ‘trust’ instead of ‘faith,’ and then we should have understood that it was not a theological virtue at all, but just the common thing that we all know so well, which is the cement of human society and the blessedness of human affection, and which only needs to be lifted, as a plant that had been running along the ground, and had its tendrils bruised and its fruit marred might be lifted, and twined round the pillar of God’s throne, in order to grow up and bear fruit that shall be found after many days unto praise, and honour, and glory.
Trust; that is the condition. The salvation rises from the heart of God. You cannot touch the stream at its source, but you can tap it away down in its flow. What do you want machinery and pumps for? Put a yard of wooden pipe into the river, and your house will have all the water it needs.
So, dear brethren, here is the condition-it is a condition only, for there is no virtue in the act of trust, but only in that with which we are brought into living union when we do trust. When salvation comes, into my heart by faith it is not my faith but God’s grace that puts salvation there.
Faith is only the condition, ay! but it is the indispensable condition. How many ways are there of getting possession of a gift? One only, I should suppose, and that is, to put out a hand and take it. If salvation is by grace it must be ‘through faith.’ If you will not accept you cannot have. That is the plain meaning of what theologians call justification by faith; that pardon is given on condition of taking it. If you do not take it you cannot have it. And so this is the upshot of the whole-trust, and you have.
Oh, dear friends! open your eyes to see your dangers. Let your conscience tell you of your sickness. Do not try to deliver, or to heal yourselves. Self-reliance and self-help are very good things, but they leave their limitations, and they have no place here. ‘Every man his own Redeemer’ will not work. You can no more extricate yourself from the toils of sin than a man can release himself from the folds of a python. You can no more climb to heaven by your own effort than you can build a railway to the moon. You must sue in forma pauperis, and be content to accept as a boon an unmerited place in your Father’s heart, an undeserved seat at His bountiful table, an unearned share in His wealth, from the hands of your Elder Brother, in whom is all His grace, and who gives salvation to every sinner if he will trust Him. ‘By grace have ye been saved through faith.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
through. Greek. dia. App-104. Eph 2:1.
faith. App-150. We are saved by grace, not by faith, which is the channel through (dia) which flows to us the Divine stream of saving grace. Both alike God’s gifts.
not. App-105.
of. Greek. ek. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] For by grace (the article shews us the import of the sentence-to take up and expand the parenthetic clause above: but not barely so: that clause itself was inserted on account of the matter in hand being a notable example of the fact, and this takes up also that matter in hand-the ..) ye are (perf.) saved, through [your] (or [the], but the possessive article is preferable, see below: the would make both objective. The abstract, through faith, must be the rendering if the article be omitted) faith (the dative above expressed the objective instrumental condition of your salvation,-this the subjective medial condition: it has been effected by grace and apprehended by faith): and this (not your faith, as Chrys. , , : so Thdrt., al., Corn.-a-Iap., Beza, Est., Grot., Beng., all.;-this is precluded (not by the gender of , but) by the manifestly parallel clauses and , of which the latter would be irrelevant as asserted of , and the reference of Eph 2:9 must therefore be changed:-but, as Calv., Calov., Rck., Harl., Olsh., Mey., De W., Stier, al., your salvation; , as Ellic.) not of yourselves, GODS (emphatic) is the gift (not, as E. V. it is the gift of God ( ),- , viz. of your salvation: so that the expression is pregnant-q. d., but it is a gift, and that gift is Gods. There is no occasion, as Lachm., Harl., and De W., to parenthesize these words: they form a contrast to ., and a quasi-parallel clause to . below): not of works (for , see on Rom 3:4, and Gal 2:16), that no man should boast (on the proposition implied, see on Rom 4:2. , has in matter of fact its strictest telic sense. With God, results are all purposed; it need not be understood, when we predicate of Him a purpose in this manner, that it was His main or leading aim;-but it was one of those things included in His scheme, which ranked among His purposes).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Eph 2:8. -) has a relative meaning, in reference to Eph 2:5, .-, for) He does not say, therefore, but for, because he concludes [infers] from the effect to the cause.- , by faith) which arises from the resurrection of Christ, chap. Eph 1:19,[23] [whence it is not at all mentioned in Eph 2:5, but for the first time in Eph 2:8. See Col 2:12.-V. g.] The antithesis is, not of works; an antithesis of the same kind as that between grace and boasting [lest any man should boast].- ) and this, namely, believing, or faith, is not of yourselves. The antithesis is: this is the gift of God alone.
[23] Which passage implies, not merely that faith believes in Christs resurrection, but that also it is the same Spirit, which raised Jesus, which raises the spiritually dead and creates in them faith. Comp. the power of the resurrection, Php 3:10.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Eph 2:8
Eph 2:8
for by grace have ye been saved through faith;-The Gentiles as well as the Jews are saved by grace, the favor and mercy of God. God puts no difference between Jew and Gentile, saving both by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is the medium through which all accept his salvation. On the part of God salvation is by grace; on the part of man it is through faith. God gives man the capacity to believe, reveals to him the things to believe, and ample testimony to produce the faith required. (Joh 20:30-31; Mar 16:15-16; Rom 1:16; Act 11:14; Act 16:14-15; Act 16:30-33; Act 18:8).
and that not of yourselves,-The salvation is not of man, neither was it prepared or earned by man.
it is the gift of God;-It was prepared and bestowed on man by God. It is obtained by entering into Christ according to the appointed directions.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Gods Workmanship (Eph 2:8-10)
As I was meditating on Eph 2:8 I thought, What can I write about it that has not been written a hundred times already! But it cannot be otherwise, for in trying to present the salvation of God one must be reminded of a passage like this over and over again, for that is the very heart of the matter.
Our God jealously guards against the indifferent treatment of the Person and work of His beloved Son. God loves poor sinners so much that He sent His Son into the world to be the atonement for our sins. But He loves His Son so much that He will not permit anyone to enter Heaven who ignores the work that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. It is only through His finished work that any of us have a right to a place in Heaven, and so our salvation is entirely by grace. And grace utterly precludes the thought of human merit. Were there any question of merit on our part, it would not be grace. To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt (Rom 4:4). If you work, you put the one by whom you are employed into your debt, and he does not get out of your debt until he has paid for your labor. Therefore, if by our works or efforts we could earn Gods salvation, we would put God in our debt, and He could not get out of it until He had taken us home to Heaven as a reward or payment for what we had done. But no works of ours, no efforts of ours, no labor that we could perform, could ever take away the guilt of one sin; we are confined to grace, to unmerited favor. It is not only unmerited favor, but it is favor against merit, for we have merited the very opposite.
By grace are ye saved. Notice the apostle does not say, By grace are ye being saved, or, by grace will ye be saved eventually, but he is declaring something already true of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ: the work of redemption is already consummated. Therefore, our salvation is looked at by God as something that is finished and complete. If there were any possibility that somehow along the way to Heaven I might lose the salvation of God, it could not be said that I am already saved, but rather that I am being saved. But thank God, not only is the work that saves finished, but my salvation is seen as an accomplished fact. Verse 8 might be translated, By grace have ye been saved.
Through faith, this is the agent. Faith is simply the hand that lays hold of the gift that God presents to me. Believing the gospel, I am saved. Some people are in danger of making a savior of their faith, for they say, Well, if I could only believe firmly enough, if I could believe in the right way, I think I would be saved. It is not a question of how you believe; it is a question of whom you believe. Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (2Ti 1:12). Do not make a savior of your faith. The Savior is Christ, and faith lays hold of Him. Then, lest the redeemed one thinks that he deserves credit for coming to Christ and believing this message, the apostle immediately adds, And that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
Take the message as a whole again, By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Theologians have questioned as to whether not of yourselves means the salvation or the faith. We may apply it to the whole subject in question. The grace, the salvation, is not of yourselves. The faith is not of yourselves; it is all the gift of God. But somebody says, If faith is the gift of God and God is not pleased to give me that gift, how can I believe? Scripture says, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. God gives the gift of faith to all who heed the message of the gospel. After the Spirit of God brings that message home to the heart, it is thoroughly possible to resist the Holy Ghost. It is possible on the other hand to obey the ministry of the Spirit, and thus be led on to personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is a gift, and apart from it you can never be saved, but in order that we may have faith, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Refuse the Word, and there will never be faith; give heed to the Word, and faith cometh by hearing. And so we may say that all aspects of our salvation are not of works, lest any man should boast.
John Nelson, one of Wesleys preachers, was a poor, godless, blaspheming blacksmith until God saved him. After that he became one of the early Methodist preachers, proclaiming in power the gospel of the grace of God and winning many to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. One day he was talking to a very self-righteous man who said, I dont need your Savior; my life is all I need. I can present my own life to God, and I am satisfied He wont be hard on me. If anybody gets into Heaven I will because of the good I have done and the way I have lived. Look here, said John Nelson, if you got into Heaven, you would bring discord there. All in Heaven will be saved sinners, and we are going to sing, Glory to the Lamb that was slain and hath washed us from our sins in His own blood. You couldnt sing that, and so you would bring discord. You would be singing, Glory to me because by my own good life and consistent living, my charity and good behavior, I fitted myself for Heaven. If the angels caught you doing that, they would take you by the nape of your neck and throw you over the wall. That is a rather crude way of putting it, but he knew the truth of salvation by grace. David said, My soul shall make her boast in the Lord (Psa 34:2). I have no goodness of my own, no faithfulness, no merit, but I will boast in Him.
In Eph 2:10 we read, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. The word translated workmanship is used only twice in the New Testament. As well as here in Ephesians it is also found in Romans chapter 1 where Paul was speaking of the testimony of creation. He wrote in verse Eph 2:20, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. In this verse the phrase, the things that are made, is the translation of one Greek word, poiema. From it we get our English word poem. Creation is Gods poem, witnessing to His eternal power and glory. The very stars in the heaven are, Forever singing as they shine, / The hand that made us is divine.
Poiema is used again only in this second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, and here it is translated workmanship, which means something that someone has made. So we read that, We are his workmanship [His poem], created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
What a wonderful piece of literature a poem is! How different from any prose! It takes a gifted man or woman to produce a worthwhile poem. It is an artistic creation, and all the hard work in the world would not enable you to produce one unless you have the poetic instinct. It is a very artistic thing to play an organ, and I might take lessons and practice for years but I would never get great music out of it because I have no music in me. If God were other than He is, He never could have brought this universe into existence nor saved one poor sinner. Creation is Gods first poem, but redemption is His second poem, and you and I who are saved constitute the syllables in Gods great poem of redemption. Everyone is set in the right place by God Himself, We are his workmanship, and therefore He is given all the credit, for He has done it all through His Son.
We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Notice the order. He has already told us that we are not saved by good works, but now says that we must not ignore good works, for one of the purposes for which He has saved us is that we might do good works. In the general Epistles there are two great sayings: In 1Ti 1:15 we read This is a faithful saying, and wormy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But in Tit 3:8 we read, This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. You see the place good works have, they are not to be ignored, but they are not meritorious. We are not saved by them, but we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. In other words, springing from the fact that we have been saved and have become Gods workmanship, Gods great redemptive poem, our lives should now be musical-rhythmical and lyrical. Every one of us should fit into the place where He has set us in this great epic of redemption.
We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Do you believe in foreordination? If you are a Christian, you are foreordained to do good works, to live a life well-pleasing unto God. That is what He has marked out for you. The Christians pathway is a life lived in obedience to Him.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
grace Grace (in salvation). Ep 5,7,8 Col 1:6; Rom 3:24; Joh 1:17 (See Scofield “Joh 1:17”)
saved
See note, (See Scofield “Rom 1:16”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Salvation the Gift of God
By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.Eph 2:8.
These are pregnant words to be written by a prisoner at Rome. St. Paul was always most free in spirit when he was most fettered in body. The longer he lived in drear captivity the riper grew his spirit. This, the last of his great Epistles, is like the swan-song sung in view of inexorable death. For him eternity is filled with God. The Father folds in His bosom the blessed Son, and the Son helps to create the beatitude of the Father. There he reads the mystery, hidden from the ages, but now revealed, that all men might be one in Christ. Then he looks down on man, dead in trespasses and sins, but redeemed in Christ, according to the eternal purpose of God. Then he looks up and sees principalities and powers in heavenly places, learning through Christ the manifold wisdom of God. Then, glancing out, he sees renewed humanity, the Church of Christ, with all its graces and with all its glory. He traces all this to Divine grace working through human faith, all of God, all through man, and the more God passes into man, the more grandly man becomes the image of the living God.
I
The Nature of Salvation
1. It is a salvation from spiritual death.In the Bible the word salvation is not a technical theological term. It means deliverance generally. Any special import in a particular passage must depend on the context. In the present instance the context clearly shows what kind of salvation St. Paul is thinking of. This is neither rescue from earthly poverty and painthe lower old Jewish salvation, nor escape from future tormentthe lower Christian salvation. It is deliverance from a present spiritual death. The soul is saved from itself.
Salvation is not only the rescue and deliverance of a man from evils conceived to lie round about him, and to threaten his being from without, it is also his healing from evils which have so wrought themselves into his very being, and infected his whole nature, that the emblem for them is a sickness unto death, of which this mighty Physician comes for the healing. But salvation is more than a shelter, more than an escape. It not only trammels up evil possibilities, and prevents them from falling upon mens heads, but it introduces all good. It not only strips off the poisoned robe, it also invests with a royal garb. It is not only negatively the withdrawal from the power, and the setting above the reach, of all evil, in the widest sense of that word, physical and moral, but also the endowment with every good, in the widest sense of that word, physical and moral, which man is capable of receiving, or God has wealth to bestow.
2. It is an accomplished salvation.Salvation is a Divine act completed, but regarded as continuous and permanent in its issues. The Revised Version slightly modifies the translation of the Authorized Version and reads, ye have been saved (A.V. are saved). The saving was a fact, finished, rounded, completed, realized once for all. In an earlier Epistle St. Paul said, We are saved by hope. Despair means death. But here the saving is a fact and a process. It is done and it continues until man obtains the beatitude of God. Out there swims the lifeboat. The man may be lifted into it from the devouring waves, and you say he is saved. But leaving him there in the open boat, tempest-tossed, wind-driven, you expose him to death as certain, though more slow-footed. And so the saving of man, though the work of God, is a process that goes on till the boat reaches the eternal shore, and we step on to the firm land to realize the larger freedom and the diviner end.
3. It is the gift of God.Salvation is entirely Gods gift to us; and it must be so. For we cannot make it or get it for ourselves; we have no power of our own to make it for ourselves, nothing of our own to offer in exchange for it. If our salvation does not come to us as Gods free gift, it can never come to us at all. This is what St. Paul keeps insisting upon over and over again in his statements of the doctrine of justification; it is the foundation upon which the whole doctrine has to be reared. And so the very first step in the way of our salvation must be taken by God Himself; we can have nothing at all to do with it.
Not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. This word has often been misunderstood, as if it referred to the faith which is mentioned just before. But that is a plain misconception of the Apostles meaning. It is not faith that is the gift of God; it is salvation by grace. That is plain from the next verse: not of works, lest any man should boast. What is it that is not of works? Faith? Certainly not. Nobody would ever have thought it worth while to say, Faith is not of works, because nobody would have said it was. The two clauses necessarily refer to the same thing; and if the latter of them must refer to salvation by grace, so must the former.1 [Note: A. Maclaren, Creed and Conduct, 37.]
Alas! many dont understand the nature of Christianity, which is one great giving from beginning to end. Christ, Gods Son, was a gift. The salvation He has procured us is a gift. The sacrifice which got that salvation is a gift. Heaven, with all its eternal felicities, is a gifta free, a full, a perfect gift. And yet for Christs cause there are men who can, and who will, do nothing! It is astonishing the forms, the methods, the excuses which people will sometimes adoptpeople with wealthto get off from giving to God a little of what God has given so lavishly to them.2 [Note: Dr. MacGregor of St. Cuthberts, in Life by Frances Balfour, 44.]
II
The Source of Salvation
By grace.
1. The fountain of all our deliverance from sin lies in the deep heart of God, from which it wells up undrawn, unmotived, uncaused by anything except His own infinite loving-kindness. People have often presented the New Testament teaching about salvation as if it implied that Gods love was brought to man because Jesus Christ died, and turned the Divine affections. That is not New Testament teaching. Christs death is not the cause of Gods love, but Gods love is the cause of Christs death. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. When He loves, He loves freely and unmodified except by the constraint of His own Being. Just as the light, because it is light and must radiate, falls upon dung-hills and diamonds, upon black rocks and white snow, upon ice-peaks and fertile fields, so the great fountain of the Divine grace pours out upon men only by reason of its own continual tendency to communicate its own fullness and blessedness.
Grace is a word our fathers understood and loved better than we. It was defined as favour. And favours even of God are not agreeable to the proud spirit of man. But no common term can ever exhaust, or express, this great and rich idea. Grace expresses and denotes at once the feeling that prompts the favour and the gratitude the favour begets. It denotes both the beneficence that comes of a joy that cannot be uttered, and yet must be expressed, and the joy that cannot bear the sight of pain and misery, and guilt and death, confronting it on this wide earth.1 [Note: A. M. Fairbairn, in The Preachers Magazine, January 1909, p. 8.]
Do you know what it is to be impressed by a word? Lately, the word grace, especially as used in Galatians, has come to me morning, noon, and night, with a fullness of meaning it never had before. What an infinite mercy it is that salvation from beginning to end is by grace! How useless and how needless to look anywhere for merit, and how simple just to take! This has a commonplace look now it is written, and yet it has meant so much to me.2 [Note: John Brash, in Memorials and Correspondence, 9.]
There is another term that stands near gracethe term love. But the two terms are worlds apart. All grace is love, but not all love is grace. Grace loves to do good in an equal measure to all; but love can never dispense with a fit object. Grace is a thing of nature so infinite that no man who has it dare resist or disobey its command. The beautiful spirit incarnated in beautiful speech is gracious. The gracefulness which is the delight of gods and men comes from the loveliness of perfect deeds. There is a grace which corresponds to the word of the old philosopher, The best and the last part of beauty is grace. Grace has been called beauty in motion, beauty in action. God is gracious by the nature He bears as Deity. But man is gracious by gift. The beneficence of God creates grace in man. But a heathen man could have spoken of grace in some such terms as we have used. St. Paul, however, took the term, made it Christian, baptized it, and lifted it into a new and splendid sense. It meant to him absolute freedom in all that God gave. God is no infinite creditor, and we are no infinite debtors. Grace cannot be bought, not even by blood; for He who is gracious gave to the death the Son of His love. See, then, grace is free, sending the Son to make that glorious sacrifice whereby we are all redeemed. Because grace is free it is given without fee, merit, or reward. Only the mercy of God, only the grace of heaven, only the free unfettered love of the Father, can save men.1 [Note: A. M. Fairbairn.]
2. Through universal grace, all walls of partition fall down, and men stand alike and equal before God. Before St. Pauls day men appended God to a race, a priesthood, a sacrifice. They read God through what they did, and through themselves alone. But St. Paul read man through God. He read history through heaven. St. Paul brought the great and splendid conception of grace to vivify all that man signified, and all that he could achieve. Can you think what was done when, instead of coming to God with all the terror of soul that seeks to buy His grace, and to pay Him in blood, and by pain and suffering have merit before Him, men came to Him simply because of His infinite mercy? Did you ever think that what happened then was that men, instead of coming to God as an infinite power whose pity they must buy, looked at mankind through Gods own eyes? The eyes of grace brought to the interpretation of man the great and glorious dream of an Eternal and Universal Father who could not will but save. He is a grand King who is the Father of His people, and the grandest of all discoveries was made by the Apostle when he said, Not by might, not by any merit of our own, not by any works, but altogether of grace is Gods great action. When he said this, down fell the wall of partition, down came every act which divided and distinguished men. Where God is gracious, men who through His grace are saved become one mankind.
Grace is given for the merits of Christ all over the earth; there is no corner, even of Paganism, where it is not present, present in each heart of man in real sufficiency for his ultimate salvation. Not that the grace presented to each is such as at once to bring him to heaven; but it is sufficient for a beginning. It is sufficient to enable him to plead for other grace; and that second grace is such as to impetrate a third grace; and thus the soul may be led from grace to grace, and from strength to strength, till at length it is, so to say, in very sight of heaven, if the gift of perseverance does but complete the work.1 [Note: Newman, Difficulties felt by Anglicans, 70.]
The play of chances which brings up a ternion or a quaternion is nothing compared to what has been required to prevent the combination of which I am reaping the fruits from being disturbed. If my origin had been less lowly in the eyes of the world, I should not have entered or persevered upon that royal road of the intellectual life to which my early training for the priesthood attached me. The displacement of a single atom would have broken the chain of fortuitous facts which, in the remote district of Brittany, was preparing me for a privileged life; which brought me from Brittany to Paris; which, when I was in Paris, took me to the establishment of all others where the best and most solid education was to be had; which, when I left the seminary, saved me from two or three mistakes which would have been the ruin of me; which, when I was on my travels, extricated me from certain dangers that, according to the doctrine of chances, would have been fatal to me; which, to cite one special instance, brought Dr. Suquet over from America to rescue me from the jaws of death which were yawning to swallow me up. The only conclusion I would fain draw from all this is that the unconscious effort towards what is good and true in the universe has its throw of the dice through the intermediary of each one of us. There is no combination but what comes up, quaternions like any other. We may disarrange the designs of Providence in respect to ourselves; but we have next to no influence upon their accomplishment. Quid habes quod non accepisti? The dogma of grace is the truest of all the Christian dogmas.2 [Note: E. Renan, Recollections of My Youth, 326.]
III
The Channel of Salvation
Through faith.
1. Faith is the condition of salvation on mans side. The Christian requirement of the condition of salvation is expressed in the word faith. Ye have been saved by gracethere is the source; ye have been saved by grace, through faiththere is the condition, the medium, the instrument, the channel. It is a thousand pities, one sometimes thinks, that the word was not translated trust instead of faith, and then we should have understood that it is not a theological virtue at all, but just the common thing that we all know so well, which is the cement of human society and the blessedness of human affection, and which only needs to be lifted, as a plant that had been running along the ground, and had its tendrils bruised and its fruit marred, might be lifted and twined round the pillar of Gods throne, in order to grow up and bear fruit that shall be found after many days unto praise, and honour and glory.
There is something on our side, by means of which we are to accept the salvation, and if that something be not exercised salvation may be brought to our doors but it will not do us any good. You may bring the biggest nugget of gold in the world to my door; there it may be outside on a wheelbarrow, and I may be inside dying of starvation; the nugget will do me no good if I do not take it in. If I do not turn it into money, and apply it to the satisfaction of my wants, I shall be as badly off as if the nugget had never been presented to me at all. The glorious gift of salvation is brought to our doors, and the question is, Have we taken it into our hearts?1 [Note: W. H. M. H. Aitken, Mission Sermons, 119.]
Faith is as distinctive of man as grace is distinctive of God, for this reasonwhile grace describes Gods attitude to man, faith describes mans attitude to God. While grace speaks of the relation of the ideal to man, faith speaks of the relation of man to the ideal. Hence all faith speaks of man in relation to God. Where His grace works our good, our faith responds to His grace. The one is the answer to the otherthe response of earth to the voice that speaks from heaven.2 [Note: A. M. Fairbairn.]
We got, I forget how, to the subject of the Divine permission of Evil, which Wordsworth said he had always felt the hardest problem of mans being. When four years old, he had quaked on his bed in sharp conflict of spirit on this subject. Nothing, he said, but Faith can keep you quiet and at peace with such awful problems pressing on youFaith that what you know not now, you will know in Gods good time. It is curious, in that verse of St. Pauls about Faith, Hope, and Charity or Love, that Charity should be placed the highest of the three; it must be because it is so universal and limitless in its operations: but Faith is the highest individual experience, because it conquers the pride of the understandingmans greatest foe.1 [Note: H. N. Pym, Caroline Fox, Her Journals and Letters, i. 305.]
2. Why is faith selected as the channel of salvation?
(1) Faith has been selected as the channel of grace because there is a natural adaptation in faith to be used as the receiver. Suppose that I am about to give a poor man an alms; I put it into his handwhy? Well, it would hardly be fitting to put it into his ear, or to lay it upon his foot; the hand seems made on purpose to receive. So faith in the mental frame is created on purpose to be a receiver; it is the hand of the man, and there is a fitness in bestowing grace by its means. Faith which receives Christ is as simple an act as when your child receives an apple from you, because you hold it out, and promise to give him the apple if he comes for it. The belief and the receiving relate only to an apple; but they make up precisely the same act as the faith which deals with eternal salvation; and what the childs hand is to the apple, that your faith is to the perfect salvation of Christ. The childs hand does not make the apple, or alter the apple, it only takes it; and faith is chosen by God to be the receiver of salvation, because it does not pretend to make salvation or to help in it, but it receives it.
(2) It gives all the glory to God.The hand which receives charity does not say, I am to be thanked for accepting the gift; that would be absurd. When the hand conveys bread to the mouth, it does not say to the body, Thank me, for I feed you. It is a very simple thing that the hand does, though a very necessary thing; and it never arrogates glory to itself for what it does. So God has selected faith to receive the unspeakable gift of His grace, because it cannot take to itself any credit, but must adore the gracious God who is the giver of all good.
(3) It unites man to God.When man confides in God, there is a point of union between them, and that union guarantees blessing. Faith saves us because it makes us cling to God, and so brings us into connexion with Him. Years ago, above certain great falls, a boat was upset, and two men were being carried down the current, when persons on the shore managed to float a rope out to them, which rope was seized by them both. One of them held fast to it, and was safely drawn to the bank; but the other, seeing a great log come floating by, unwisely let go the rope, and clung to the log, for it was the bigger thing of the two, and apparently better to cling to. Alas! the log, with the man on it, went right over the vast abyss, because there was no union between the log and the shore. The size of the log was no benefit to him who grasped it; it needed a connexion with the shore to produce safety. So, when a man trusts to his works, or to sacraments, or to anything of that sort, he will not be saved, because there is no junction between him and Christ; but faith, though it may seem to be like a slender cord, is in the hand of the great God on the shore side; infinite power pulls in the connecting line, and thus draws the man from destruction.
(4) Faith touches the springs of action.If I walk across a room, it is because I believe my legs will carry me. A man eats because he believes in the necessity of food. Columbus discovered America because he believed that there was another continent beyond the ocean. Many another grand deed has also been born of faith, for faith works wonders. Commoner things are done on the same principle; faith in its natural form is an all-prevailing force. God gives salvation to our faith, because He has thus touched the secret spring of all our emotions and actions. He has, so to speak, taken possession of the battery, and now He can send the sacred current to every part of our nature. When we believe in Christ, and the heart has come into the possession of God, then are we saved from sin, and are moved towards repentance, holiness, zeal, prayer, consecration, and every other gracious thing.
The next day I again went to Farringford. I found Tennyson walking up and down the ballroom. I walked up and down with him for three-quarters of an hour. After talking of various matters, he came back to the subject of immortality. It is hard, he said, to believe in God, but it is harder not to believe in Him. I dont believe in His goodness from what I see in nature. In nature I see the mechanism. I believe in His goodness from what I find in my own breast. Then he said, I wonder what the earliest Christians thought of it all. I said that I thought that they were content with seeing in Christ a revelation of God and an assurance of Gods love; later came the controversies and the need for definition. He said that, of course, we must have doctrine. I assented, remarking that the form must be more or less human. After all, he said, after all, the greatest thing is faith. Having said this, he paused, and then recited, giving earnest emphasis to the long rolling lines which sang of a faith victorious, a faith which can wait till the opening doors of Heaven disclose what faith waits for:
Doubt no longer that the Highest is the wisest and the best,
Let not all that saddens Nature blight thy hope or break thy rest,
Quail not at the fiery mountain, at the shipwreck, or the rolling
Thunder, or the rending earthquake, or the famine, or the pest
Neither mourn if human creeds be lower than the hearts desire!
Thro the gates that bar the distance comes a gleam of what is higher.
Wait till Death has flung them open, when the man will make the Maker
Dark no more with human hatreds in the glare of deathless fire!1 [Note: Bishop W. Boyd Carpenter, Some Pages of My Life, 269.]
3. The entire system of salvation revealed in the Gospel is based upon this foundation doctrine, that the faith which saves the soul is a faith which looks immediately to, and which terminates definitively in, the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ as the almighty and atoning Redeemer. Now, it is of exceeding importance to have a clear and distinct understanding of this cardinal doctrine, that, in order to salvation, there must be a personal faith in a Personal Saviour. Wrong views here are ruinous. Any mistake as to the object of faith is fatal error. Yet there may be and there is a belief of the truth of Scripture which is not faith in the New Testament and saving sense of the term. There may be a belief of all that God has revealed in His Word, and even an intellectual apprehension of the remedial scheme as set forth in the Gospel, altogether apart from that faith which is connected with the elements of spiritual life and the earnest of salvation. And the explanation of this is to be found in the nature of the case. The object of saving faith is not the truth about Christ, but the Person of Christ; it is not the testimony, but the Testifier. Of course there must of necessity be the believing of the truth about Christ, the crediting of the testimony given in the Word concerning Him. But what is the relation which the truth and the testimony bear to Christ? Why, the truth is but the light under which He is revealed; the testimony is only the platform on which He is exhibited. And what is the relation which faith bears to the truth and the testimony about Christ? Why, faith eyes Christ as He is seen by the light of the truth; it occupies itself with Him as He is set forth in the testimony. But faith is not satisfied with the mere speculative knowledge and the certified evidence of Christs Saviourhood. Faith breaks through all his Scripture surroundings and presses forward to Christ Himself, and finds its proper focus and fruition in the Person of the revealed and realized Saviour.
As Dr. Liddon so moved among his fellow-men, so thought of them and approached them, he seemed as one who was often thinking of the gaze of Christ lighting on him, the Hand of Christ pointing to some act of service, the Voice of Christ prompting some witness to the Faith. There was a memorable tone that came into his words when in preaching or in argument or in conversation he spoke of that which he condemned as slighting or disloyal to Christ. It was, quite simply, like the way in which a man fires up when any one has, even unawares, spoken rudely or contemptuously of his friend; and there are parts of his writings in which, for those at least who knew him, that same tone still sounds. It was but one sign of a real habit of thinking constantly of his Master; of a very attentive listening for His command; of an earnest, anxious desire to go straight forward in His cause, to live and die as His.1 [Note: J. O. Johnston, Life and Letters of H. P. Liddon, 403.]
Salvation the Gift of God
Literature
Aitken (W. H. M. H.), Mission Sermons, iii. 109.
Beeching (H. C.), Inns of Court Sermons, 168.
Campbell (D.), The Roll Call of Faith, 1.
Cunningham (W.), Sermons, 203.
Dale (R. W.), Christian Doctrine, 148.
Davies (D. C.), The Atonement and Intercession of Christ, 108.
Drummond (H.), Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 331.
Grant (W.), Christ our Hope, 215.
Harris (H.), Short Sermons, 182.
Jackson (G.), Memoranda Paulina, 186.
Jeffrey (R. T.), The Salvation of the Gospel, 171.
Kuyper (A.), The Work of the Holy Spirit, 378.
Lynch (T. T.), Three Months Ministry, 49.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Ephesians, 98.
Maclaren (A.), Creed and Conduct, 31.
Murray (W. H.), The Fruits of the Spirit, 168.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, vii. 321.
Pulsford (J.), Christ and His Seed, 65.
Romanes (E.), Thoughts on the Collects for the Trinity Season, 163.
Roose (J. S.), Our Protestant Faith, 89.
Salmon (G.), Gnosticism and Agnosticism, 272, 292.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Messages to the Multitude, 55.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xviii. (1872), No. 1064; xxvii. (1881), No. 1609.
Tholuck (A.), Hours of Devotion, 182.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), New Ser., xxii. No. 1222.
Watts-Ditchfield (J. E.), Here and Hereafter, 11.
Webb-Peploe (H. W.), Calls to Holiness, 97.
Christian World Pulpit, xxv. 371 (Stevenson); xxix. 100 (Sunman); xlvii. 221 (Stalker); lxv. 161 (Fairbairn).
Church of England Magazine, lxii. 272 (Cardale).
National Preacher, xxviii. 91 (Harding).
Preachers Magazine, xx. 7 (Fairbairn).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
by: Eph 2:5, Rom 3:24, 2Th 1:9
through: Mar 16:16, Luk 7:50, Joh 3:14-18, Joh 3:36, Joh 5:24, Joh 6:27-29, Joh 6:35, Joh 6:40, Act 13:39, Act 15:7-9, Act 16:31, Rom 3:22-26, Rom 4:5, Rom 4:16, Rom 10:9, Rom 10:10, Gal 3:14, Gal 3:22, 1Jo 5:10-12
that: Eph 2:10, Eph 1:19, Mat 16:17, Joh 1:12, Joh 1:13, Joh 6:37, Joh 6:44, Joh 6:65, Act 14:27, Act 16:14, Rom 10:14, Rom 10:17, Phi 1:29, Col 2:12, Jam 1:16-18
Reciprocal: Psa 6:4 – for Psa 27:13 – fainted Psa 37:39 – salvation Psa 105:45 – That Hos 14:2 – receive Mat 20:9 – they received Mar 2:5 – saw Mar 9:24 – help Luk 8:15 – in an Joh 4:10 – If Act 13:43 – the grace Act 18:27 – believed Act 26:18 – faith Rom 3:12 – there is none Rom 3:20 – Therefore Rom 3:27 – Where Rom 4:6 – without Rom 5:15 – much Rom 6:15 – shall we 1Co 12:9 – faith 1Co 15:2 – ye are 1Co 15:10 – by 2Co 4:7 – that Phi 2:13 – good 2Th 2:13 – belief 2Ti 1:9 – hath Tit 1:1 – faith Tit 2:11 – the grace Tit 3:5 – by works Heb 6:4 – and have Jam 1:17 – good Jam 2:14 – can 1Pe 1:5 – through Rev 7:10 – Salvation
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
GODS WORKMANSHIP
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.
Eph 2:8-10
Life in Christ enters as an invasion to which you have to surrender absolutely, without reserve. Die to yourself! Let Him have you! You are to become HisHis workmanshipto be recreated in the energy of His Manhood. Yield, yield then. Let your will go. Let the self break. Go under! Give in! Let the power of God have its way with you, as the potter with the clay, as the musician with the ear, as the spirit over the flesh.
I. And then the miracle begins.It is you who become alive. It is you who expand and grow. For what is it that God does in you? He makes you able to become yourself. And how do you know that He is at work? Because you yourself can do so much more than before: because your manhood is stronger; because you, as a man, develop, grow, expand. How do you recognise the stirring of the Spirit? By the purity of the flesh; by the strengthening of all your bodily forces; by the gathering wealth of your human emotions and affections; by the wider reach of your human will; by the gladness that courses through the blood; by the freedom of happy desires; by the quivering thrill in the veins; by the song in the heart; by the joyful lips; by the fuller sympathies that knit you to your kind; by the peace and joy that you find in your home affections, your home tendernesses; by the growing keenness of your love for this dear earth about your feet; and by your passionate longing to share the fate of your fellow-men and to do them some true service before you die.
II. These are your proofs that God through Christ is in you.You are more of a man. Your humanity is discovering itself. Your nature is being released. Your flesh is being set free. Your body is more your own. Your hindering sins are ceasing to maim and stunt your growth. That is what is happening; and that could only be happening if God were at work. It is only possible because you are His workmanshipin the art of being created Christ Jesus unto good works.
III. His workmanship.Is not that our peace? He does it all. Leave everything to Him. Dont ask why. Dont trouble to think what will come of it. He is having His will with you. That is enough. Lie still! lie still! Oh! the strong hands that shape and fashion you. Oh! the firmness of the steadfast pressure which points all one way! Lie still! Let it work! Clay in the Potters hands! Yetno dead clay! For this masterful will does not work from without by whirring wheel and biting tool. This workmanship of the Spirit passes into the material through which it works. The material itself becomes possessed of the craft. The passion of the Worker is ensouled in the work. His Purpose, His Imagination, His Desireall reproduce themselves within it. So youGods workmanshipare yourselves the workers according to the law, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. You do it all. You work out your salvation; just because it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. You put out your force into it. You think, imagine, wish, will whatever is to be done. Nothing can be done without you. Your own faith makes you whole. Your own faith removes the mountains. You can do all that you desire to do through Christ in you That strengtheneth you.
IV. Be up, therefore, and doing.Be busy; occupy till He comes. There is so much to get through, and only twelve hours to do it inbefore the night cometh, when no work can be done. Oh, haste! strain! The world, the Churchthey need all you can give them. Be urgent! Call upon your whole powers. Press on! Gods work is hard work. It takes all our force to fulfil it.
(a) So keen, so occupied, you must be! Yet still at peace, surrendered, leaving all to God. For remember, you have not ceased to be passive under His strong hand because you are so busy in His service. They are but two sides of the same life. It is by lying passive under His Will that you are fired with passion for His service. You live because He lives in and through you.
(b) And, again, since it is He Who alone lives in you, therefore all your busy service can be left to His care. What does it matter what comes of it? It may all be brought to nought. It may show no result. Why should you mind? It is His, not yours. He will get what He wants out of it. He has other servants than you. You are not necessary. Leave it all to Him. Be busy; serve Him hard and long. Then drop it all, and be at peace.
Rev. Canon Scott Holland.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
(Eph 2:8.) -For by grace ye have been saved, through your faith. The particle explains why the apostle has said that the exceeding riches of God’s grace are shown forth in man’s salvation, and glances back to the interjectional clause at the end of Eph 2:5. Salvation must display grace, for it is wholly of grace. The dative , on which from its position the emphasis lies, expresses the source of our salvation, and the genitive with denotes its subjective means or instrument. Salvation is of grace by faith-the one being the efficient, the other the modal cause; the former the origin, the latter the method, of its operation. The grace of God which exists without us, takes its place as an active principle within us, being introduced into the heart and kept there by the connecting or conducting instrumentality of faith.
-favour, is opposed to necessity on the part of God, and to merit on the part of man. God was under no obligation to save man, for His law might have taken its natural course, and the penalty menaced and deserved might have been fully inflicted. Grace springs from His sovereign will, not from His essential nature. It is not an attribute which must always manifest itself, but a prerogative that may either be exercised or held in abeyance. Salvation is an abnormal process, and grace is no more grace if it is of necessary exhibition. Grace is also opposed to merit on man’s part. Had he any title, salvation would be of debt. The two following verses are meant to state and prove that salvation is not and cannot be of human merit. In short, the human race had no plea with God, but God’s justice had a high and holy claim on them. The conditions of the first economy had been violated, and the guilty transgressor had only to anticipate the infliction of the penalty which he had so wantonly incurred. The failure of the first covenant did not either naturally or necessarily lead to a new experiment. While man had no right to expect, God was under no necessity to provide salvation. It is by grace.
But this grace does not operate immediately and universally. Its medium is faith – . The two nouns grace and faith have each the article, as they express ideas which are at once familiar, distinctive, and monadic in their nature; the article before , referring us at the same time to the anarthrous term at the close of the fifth verse, and that before , giving it a subjective reference, is best rendered, as Alford says, by a possessive. Lachmann, after B, D1, F, G, omits the second article, but the majority of MSS. are in its favour. It is the uniform doctrine of the New Testament, that no man is saved against his will; and his desire to be saved is proved by his belief of the Divine testimony. Salvation by grace is not arbitrarily attached to faith by the mere sovereign dictate of the Most High, for man’s willing acceptance of salvation is essential to his possession of it, and the operation of faith is just the sinner’s appreciation of the Divine mercy, and his acquiescence in the goodness and wisdom of the plan of recovery, followed by a cordial appropriation of its needed and adapted blessings, or, as Augustine tersely and quaintly phrases it-Qui creavit te sine te, non salvabit te sine te. Justification by faith alone, is simply pardon enjoyed on the one condition of taking it.
And thus ye have been saved; not-ye will be finally saved; not-ye are brought into a state in which salvation is possible, or put into a condition in which you might work and win for yourselves, but-ye are actually saved. The words denote a present state, and not merely an established process. Green’s Gram. of New Test. 317. Thus Tyndale translates-By grace ye are made safe thorowe faith. The context shows the truth of this interpretation, and that the verb denotes a terminated action. If men have been spiritually dead, and if they now enjoy spiritual life, then surely they are saved. So soon as a man is out of danger, he is safe or saved. Salvation is a present blessing, though it may not be fully realized. The man who has escaped from the wreck, and has been taken into the lifeboat, is from that moment a saved man. Even though he scarce feel his safety or be relieved from his tremor, he is still a saved man; yea, though the angry winds may howl around him, and though hours may elapse ere he set his feet on the firm land. The apostle adds more precisely and fully-
-and that not of yourselves-, as it often does, referring to source or cause. Winer, 47, b. The pronoun does not grammatically agree with , the nearest preceding noun, and this discrepancy has originated various interpretations. The words are rendered and indeed by Wahl, Rckert, and Matthies. This emphatic sense belongs to the word in certain connections. Rom 13:11; 1Co 6:6; Php 1:28. The plural is also similarly used. 1Co 6:8; Heb 11:12; Matthiae, 470, 6. The meaning of the idiom may here be-Ay, and this is not of yourselves. But what is the point of reference?
Many refer it directly to -And this faith is not of yourselves. Such is the interpretation of the fathers Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Jerome. Chrysostom says- , , , . Jerome thus explains-Et haec ipsa fides non est ex vobis, sed ex eo qui vocavit vos. The same view is taken by Erasmus, Beza, Crocius, Cocceius, Grotius, Estius, Bengel, Meier, Baumgarten-Crusius, Bisping, and Hodge. Bloomfield says that all the Calvinistic commentators hold this view, and yet Calvin himself was an exception. There are several objections to this, not as a point of doctrine, but of exegesis. 1. If the apostle meant to refer to faith-, why change the gender? why not write ? To say, with some, that faith is viewed in the abstract as , does not, as we shall see, relieve us of the difficulty. 2. Granting that is an idiomatic expression, and that its gender is not to be strictly taken into account, still the question recurs, What is the precise reference of ? 3. Again, does not seem to be the immediate reference, as the following verse indicates. You may say-And this faith is not of yourselves: it is God’s gift; but you cannot say-And this faith is not of yourselves, but it is God’s gift; not of works, lest any man should boast. You would thus be obliged, without any cause, to change the reference in Eph 2:9, for you may declare that salvation is not of works, but cannot with propriety say that faith is not of works. The phrase must have salvation, and not faith, as its reference. The words from to the end of the verse may be read parenthetically-By grace are ye saved, through faith (and t hat not of yourselves: it is the gift of God), not of works; that is, By grace ye are saved, through faith, not of works. Even with this understanding of the paragraph, the difficulty still remains, and the idea of such a parenthesis cannot be well entertained, for the corresponds to the . Baumgarten-Crusius argues that the allusion is to , because the word proves that the reference must be to something internal-auf Innerliches. But is not salvation as internal as faith? So that we adopt the opinion of Calvin, Zachariae, Rckert, Harless, Matthies, Meyer, Scholz, de Wette, Stier, Alford, and Ellicott, who make refer to -and this state of safety is not of yourselves. This exegesis is presented in a modified form by Theophylact, Zanchius, Holzhausen, Chandler, and Macknight, who refer to the entire clause-this salvation by faith is not of yourselves. Theophylact says- , , . But some of the difficulties of the first method of interpretation attach to this. The refers to the idea contained in the verb, and presents that idea in an abstract form. At the same time, as Ellicott shrewdly remarks, the clause , etc., was suggested by the mention of the subjective medium-, which might be thought to imply some independent action on the part of the subject. This condition of safety is not of yourselves-is not of your own origination or procurement, though it be of your reception. It did not spring from you, nor did you suggest it to God; but-
-God’s is the gift. God’s gift is the gift-the genitive being the emphatic predicate in opposition to . Bernhardy, p. 315. Lachmann and Harless place this clause in a parenthesis. The only objection against the general view of the passage which we have taken is, that it is somewhat tautological. The apostle says-By grace ye are saved, and then-It is the gift of God; the same idea being virtually repeated. True so far, but the insertion of the contrasted suggested the repetition. And there is really no tautology. In chap. Eph 3:7 occur the words- being the thing given, and pointing out its mode of bestowment. Men are saved by grace- ; and that salvation which has its origin in grace is not won from God, nor is it wrung from Him; His is the gift. Look at salvation in its origin-it is by grace. Look at it in its reception-it is through faith. Look at it in its manner of conferment-it is a gift. For faith, though an indispensable instrument, does not merit salvation as a reward; and grace operating only through faith, does not suit itself to congruous worth, nor single it out as its sole recipient. Salvation, in its broadest sense, is God’s gift. While, then, seems to refer to the idea contained in the participle only, it would seem that in there is allusion to the entire clause-God’s is the whole gift. The complex idea of the verse is compressed into this brief ejaculation. The three clauses, as Meyer has remarked, form a species of asyndeton-that is, the connecting particles are omitted, and the style acquires greater liveliness and force. Dissen, Exc. ii. ad Pind. p. 273; Stallbaum, Plato-Crit. p. 144.
Griesbach places in a parenthesis the entire clause from to , connecting the words with , but the words have an immediate connection with the -a connection which cannot be set aside. Matthies again joins to the foregoing clause-and that not of yourselves; the gift of God is not of works. Such an arrangement is artificial and inexact. The apostle now presents the truth in a negative contrast-
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
A God-Planned Life
Eph 2:8-12; Rom 12:1-3
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We read of Epaphras that he prayed for the saints that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
The will of God toward us should ever be the chief quest of our lives. What does God want me to do, and what does He want me to be?-that is the supreme question for each of us.
On one occasion certain ones told Christ that His mother and His brethren sought Him. The Lord said, “Who is My mother? and who are My brethren? * * whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in Heaven.”
Of Himself, Christ said, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God.”
The will of God should be our chief delight.
There are some people who imagine that God’s will is to be dreaded. Shall we imagine that a loving, Heavenly Father would seek the undoing of the obedient and yielded life? God forbid. God said, “Oh that My people had hearkened unto Me, * * I * * should have fed them with the finest of the wheat.”
We need to be like Habakkuk, who said: “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me.” Along with these words from the Prophet we need to link the words of Mary, which she spoke to the servants at Cana of Galilee, concerning the water pots, “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.”
When David Livingstone was found by Henry M. Stanley, he was far from civilization, in the heart of Africa. Stanley pled with him to return to England, where great honor from royalty and from the masses awaited him. Livingstone is refuted to have said, “I would rather be in Africa in the will of God, than to be feasted and feted by royalty in England.”
Let the chief quest of our life, then, be God’s precious will.
The Lord is all my life, and light,
He leads me through the darkest night;
His will is mine throughout each day,
My will, to please Him ev’ry way.
In Him I find my greatest joy,
My riches are without alloy;
I know no pleasure, but His will,
I seek His orders to fulfill.
I am for Him, He is for me,
In Him, my all in all, I see;
I seek the favor of His face,
My highest joy, His smile, His grace.
I. GOD, THE CREATOR OF THE BELIEVER’S LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS (Eph 2:8-10)
1. By grace have ye been saved. As we think of what we were in sin, and of what we are since we are saved, we can say that God by grace hath saved us. There is nothing that we could have done which could have wrought the change. We had never come to God except love had sought us, except the Blood had bought us, and except grace had brought us to the fold.
2. Through faith are ye saved. God’s grace became operative in us only as our faith accepted the Calvary work of Christ in our behalf. There is a passage in Hebrews which reads: “He that cometh to God must believe that He is.”
Salvation is through faith, but even that faith is the gift of God.
3. Not by works are we saved. It is not by anything which we could have done that we found Christ. Before we were saved our works were dead works, unacceptable with God. Even our righteousnesses were but filthy rags in His sight.
“Could our tears forever flow,
Could our deeds no respite know;
All for sin could not atone,
Christ must save, and He alone.”
4. We are His workmanship. Our redemption was purposed by the Father, made possible by the Son, and perfected by the Holy Ghost. The new man is God’s workmanship, because the new man is created by God in Christ Jesus. It is impossible for us to create anything.
We read, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” We are a new creature, because we are a new creation. It is for this cause that we read again, “Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Let us remember first of all that we are God’s workmanship, God’s creation.
II. THE BELIEVER IS CREATED UNTO GOOD WORKS (Eph 2:10)
1. Good works could not save us. We would not tarry here long. This was plainly set forth when it was stated that we were saved, not by works. We would emphasize, however, this needed message.
From many sides do we hear the words, “I am doing the best I know”; or, “I am doing all I can.” Some say that they are trying to be Christians, or, that they are endeavoring to love everybody. They think that if they pay their debts and go to church, and do unto others as they would be done by, that they are saved. All such hopes are vain.
2. We are saved unto good works. We can do nothing to become a Christian. We should do everything that becomes one. Before our salvation our works were dead works, evil works, unacceptable to God. Since our salvation we are called to good works. We are taught that we should walk in them.
The harvest fields are calling for laborers, and we are God’s husbandry.
There is a significant Scripture which we wish to quote. It is short, but vital: “To every man his work.” Let no one think that he has nothing to do. God has called us into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, we are called into partnership. These words may be summed up thus: God has called you into business with His Son. This is the opening thought of the first Epistle to the Corinthians. The words are found in the ninth verse of chapter one.
Let us pass now to the last verse of chapter fifteen, which reads: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Thus, the call of the first chapter of Corinthians is a call into business with Christ; the call of the fifteenth chapter is a plea to give attention to business.
III. THE BELIEVER IS CREATED UNTO A SPECIFIED WORK (Eph 2:10)
1. Our work is a work which God hath afore-ordained. Perhaps you noticed the words which are in the key text,-“Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained.” These words carry us back into the eternal ages past. They suggest God to us as a great Architect, planning out the details of His marvelous and far-reaching creation.
No Christian is created with a hit and miss life before him. The Great Architect planned the work of your life to fit in with the work of every other life. If the service of one life is broken and incomplete, the whole picture must be more or less marred thereby.
The human architect who plans the great skyscraper has in his mind the whole building, even down to the minutest detail, before the first spade of dirt is dug, and the building is begun. He draws his plan, putting his thoughts into concrete form. He shows just how the building will look when completed. He gives to the contractor specifications of where each timber is to be placed, each steel girder is to be erected. He even specifies with marvelous exactness the amount of all material needed.
Did God know less about our life than the architect knows about his building?
2. The work which God fore-ordained is a specified work. God has made a plan which He reveals, telling to each one, step by step, what he is to do, where he is to go. We read, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” Are we not all sent of God?
The Lord said to Jonah, “Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” God said unto Jeremiah, “Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.”
We are all willing to grant that John the Baptist, and Jonah, and Jeremiah, and all preachers have a special call, to a special city, with a special service, but are we willing to grant that every believer has a similar call?
IV. THE BELIEVER’S DEDICATION TO HIS TASK (Eph 2:10)
The last words of this remarkable verse linger with us. They read, “That we should walk in them.” When God first spoke to Jonah, he went down to Joppa, and took ship to Tarshish. We all know the result. Let us make this our first thought:
1. Punishment awaits the life that refuses God’s plan. God sent forth a great storm after Jonah. Then God prepared a great fish, and commanded it to swallow up Jonah. It was only after an experience of deep anguish, when the weeds were wrapped around Jonah’s neck; and, after Jonah had prayed from the belly of the fish, that God finally spake to the fish to vomit up Jonah upon the dry land.
Think you, that you can trample God’s plan for your life under your feet, and prosper?
2. Blessing awaits the life that undertakes God’s task. Abraham, the ancient seer, implicitly obeyed God. Therefore God said to him: “Because thou hast done this * * in blessing I will bless thee.”
A rich merchant was asked, by the queen, to go on a mission for the crown. He demurred, urging that his absence would wreck his business. The queen is said to have replied, “You attend to my business, and I will attend unto yours.” He went, as she requested. She, in turn, sent tremendous orders in to those who sold his goods.
Let us come to God determined to walk in His will and to do His work. Have we not remembered the promise of God, “Go, and I will go before thee”? Are we willing to undertake for God? Are we ready to walk in His fore-ordained work?
Moses demurred, when God called him to go, saying that he was slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. Then God was displeased, and said, “Who hath made man’s mouth? * * have not I the Lord?” “Go,” and “Certainly I will be with thee.” Let us go forward, even as God hath spoken, and God will work for us.
V. THE BELIEVER’S RATIONAL SERVICE (Rom 12:1)
We now turn from our first Scripture, to our second. Our verse suggests three things
1. The mercies of God. The word, therefore, as a rule, demands a backward look. Paul says, “I beseech you, therefore.” Paul, in the Spirit, is turning his face back on the “mercies of God” which have so wonderfully been outlined for us in the preceding chapters of Romans. When, we think of how we were sinners, helpless in our sins, and all undone; when we think of how God sent Christ that we might be justified freely by His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; when we think of how, by faith, we were saved; and of how the grace of God super-abounded unto our eternal life; when we think of how God delivered us from the power and dominion of sin, and gave us victory in our daily walk in the Holy Ghost; then we are constrained to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God.
2. The presentation of our bodies. Why is it that we are asked to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly, acceptable unto God? It is because the body is the implement of our service.
Miss Havergal wrote, “Take my lips,” “take my voice,” “take my hands,” “take my feet,” “take my heart,” and she put these thoughts into beautiful poetical form. She was wise in this, for God needs the members of our body, that with them He may serve the multitudes.
3. The rational service. The Bible speaks of our “sacrifice,” and of our “consecration,” as a reasonable, that is, a rational service. We are not requested to do a rash thing, but a rational thing. How could we do less than to give our bodies unto Him? Did Jesus Christ not give His body, in the anguish of death, for us? He said, “This cup is * * My Blood, which is shed for you,” and, “This is My body, which is broken for you.” Then let us bring our bodies to Him.
VI. THE BELIEVER’S NON-CONFORMITY (Rom 12:2)
1. “Be not conformed to this world.” If we are going to walk in the will and work of God, we dare not follow the voice of men. In the world we shall have tribulation. The Lord has said, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
He also said, “The world hateth you.” We are familiar with the words, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” If, therefore, we would seek to do the work of God, and would yield ourselves wholly unto Him, we dare not be conformed unto the world.
We should not conform ourselves to the world, because the world by wisdom has not known God. Its ways are not our ways. Its thoughts are not our thoughts. Our citizenship is in Heaven, not in the world; our treasures are there, not here. We are tent dwellers down here; we are strangers and pilgrims. We are living, looking for a city whose Builder and Maker is God. Let us therefore be not conformed to this world.
2. “Be ye transformed.” In II Corinthians we read, that as we, with open face, behold the glory of the Lord, we are, “Changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
The word “changed” which we have just quoted, carries with it the same thought, as the word “transformed” in our key verse.
Mark you, if we are conformed to this world, we can never be transformed by the renewing of our mind. If we would be transformed, we must behold as in a glass the glory of our Lord.
When Jesus Christ was on the mount with Peter, James, and John, Moses and Elias appeared with Him in glory. Then we read that Jesus was transfigured. His face became radiant with glory, and His raiment was white and glistening. This is what we want. We want to be transformed, that is, transfigured.
“In the secret of His presence,
How my soul delights to hide;
Oh, how precious are the lessons
Which I learn at Jesus’ side;
Earthly cares can never vex me,
Neither trials lay me low;
For, when Satan comes to vex me
To the secret place I go.”
This poem would not be complete did it not carry another verse which says:
“And whene’er you leave the presence,
Of that hallowed meeting place,
You must mind to bear the image
Of the Saviour in your face.”
3. That ye may know. Now we have come to the place where we can learn God’s good, and acceptable, and perfect will. It is the pathway, on the one hand, of non-conformity to the world; and, on the other hand, of being transformed by the Spirit.
We have sought to cluster our message round the general theme of The God-planned Life. If we would know the plan of that life we must obey the injunction of Rom 12:1-21, and present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God, unconformed to the world, and transformed by the Spirit.
AN ILLUSTRATION
Are we willing to make God Lord in our lives?
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”
“In Act 10:14 we read: ‘Peter said, Not so, Lord.’ Have you ever thought of what a contradiction in terms we have there? You have either to drop the words ‘Not so,’ or you have got to drop the word ‘Lord.’ I spent two hours yesterday with a lady in this tent over these words, and then I wrote them down in the margin of her Bible at the bottom of the page. I handed her the Bible and the pencil and I said, ‘The time has come for you to make the decision. Are you going to score out the words, “Not so,” or the word “Lord”?’ There was a great struggle in her heart, and through tears she scored out the words ‘Not so.’ I said, ‘What have you got left?’ and she said, ‘The Lord.’ Is not the Lord enough?”-W. Graham Scroggie.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Eph 2:8. The matter of being saved involves two parties; the one being saved, and the one doing the saving. God is the latter and is indicated by the word grace; man is the former and is represented by the word faith. Since grace is the unmerited favor of God (see comments at 1Co 1:3), it includes the entire plan of salvation as far as the Lord’s part is concerned. Faith. is on the part of man, and it includes all of the things a man must do to prove his faith. Not of yourselves. Man could not have provided any plan whereby he could be saved. It is the gift of God. The subject under consideration is salvation, therefore it is the gift of God. A father might promise his son an automobile on condition that he work for him long enough to plant a crop. No boy can earn such an article in a few weeks, therefore the car would rightfully be considered a gift. Likewise, a lifetime of service to God could not merit eternal life, and therefore it will truly be the gift from God.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eph 2:8. For by grace, etc. The Apostle now reverts to the means by which deliverance has been wrought, repeating the clause introduced parenthetically in Eph 2:5. Here, however, the article is used with grace, pointing to Gods grace, already defined in Eph 2:7.
Are, or, have been, saved. Ye have been saved, and ye are now in a state of salvation.
Through faith. This is not the emphatic phrase, but adds the subjective means, as so often in Pauls writings. Salvation by grace is not arbitrarily attached to faith by the mere sovereign dictate of the Most High, for mans willing acceptance of salvation is essential to his possession of it (Eadie). Comp. Augustine: He who created thee without thee, will not save thee without thee.
And this not of yourselves; the gift is Gods. This might with correctness refer either to salvation or to faith; but the mass of recent commentators accept the former view, as more grammatical, as preserving better the parallelism of the passage (not of your-selves; not of works). The gender of this in Greek differs from that of the word faith. The last clause is a positive statement added to the negative one: the gift of salvation comes from God, by whose grace we have been and are saved.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In these words our apostle informs the Ephesians, and in them all succeeding Christians, that their complete salvation, from the first to the last, from the lowest to the highest step, depends upon God’s free favour and grace in Christ, and not upon any merit or desert in ourselves; works having no meritorious or casual influence upon our salvation, (for they are not causes, but effects, of that grace by which we are saved,) to the intent that all boasting may be excluded, and that all the saints’ glorying may be in God, and not in themselves.
Note here, 1. That believers are saved already, in some sense; not only because they have salvation begun in their new birth here, but they have already a right and title to, yea, a pledge and an earnest of, complete salvation; believers are saved here.
Note, 2. That the believers’ salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ.
Note 3. That faith, by and through which they are said to be saved, is not of themselves, it is the gift of God; faith is the gift of God as well as Jesus Christ, and the one as necessary as the other; for as the only way to heaven is by Christ, so the only way to Christ is by faith; as sin has put a vanity into the creature, so unbelief puts a vanity in Christ, that he should profit us nothing. Wrestle we then with God in prayer for a believing heart.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Saved By Grace
Notice salvation is not by grace, nor faith alone. There is no way man could earn his salvation, so it is said here to be by the unmerited favor of God. God’s grace is extended to all men who will accept that which is offered ( Tit 2:11 ; 2Pe 3:9 ; Rev 22:17 ). Man’s acceptance comes through faith. Coffman suggests this actually may be “the faith”. Since “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” we conclude that faith is God’s gift to man whether it is the sum of all that is believed or it is the response to what God has said ( Rom 10:17 ).
Therefore, it is not by works of merit that we are saved and we have no reason for a feeling of personal accomplishment in our salvation. Our salvation was procured by the death of God’s Son on Calvary and we must do God’s will to receive it. God outlined the works we are to perform to receive his great gift. Clearly, we do not act so as to save ourselves but to satisfy the Father’s requirements (2:8-9).
It is through God’s working that we become Christians. We are made new creatures in Christ to perform the good works he has designed for us to do. He prepared works for Christians to do even before the first Christian was created in Christ. If we want to be what God intended for us to be, we must do his bidding. ( Ecc 12:13-14 ). A living faith is a faith that works (2:10; Gal 5:6 ; Jas 2:17-18 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Verse 8
And that not of yourselves; even the act of faith through which salvation is bestowed, is not of yourselves. Thus not only the favor, but even the willingness to receive the favor, is the gift of God.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Faith brings grace which saves us. The gift is in dispute by many as to what is the gift, faith, grace or salvation. Salvation is not of works so that we don’t get puffed up in what we have accomplished. This is the teaching of the verse but many add a parenthetical clause onto these two verses. They believe they are saved, they believe they are saved by the grace of God, they believe that they are not saved by any works that they have done, but if you press them on the passage, they add, “but you have to work to keep this salvation.”
Now, to the question of what the gift of God is. Is it the grace, the faith or the salvation? If anything I would add that verse nine is a gift in and of itself. Not having to prove to other humans that I have done the work needed for salvation is a tremendous blessing. To some human beings, you could never prove such a thing to their satisfaction, but now back to the question.
Some suggest that the faith or the grace or both are the gift of God and salvation is the end result of the gift. I would hold that salvation is the gift of God as Rom 6:23 tells us “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” I would also hold that God’s grace is a gift and that faith is that part of us that trusts in what God has told us, however in this passage I believe that the gift mentioned is the salvation rather than the grace.
Some very old translations/texts translate it “you are saved through the faith” indicating that we are saved by holding faith in a particular creed or set of beliefs. Some reform people hold dearly to their Westminster confession. Indeed, you can’t be a part of some of their internet boards unless you subscribe one hundred percent to the entire creed.
Now, I don’t think any one of them think that the creed saves them, but they are coming very close to that line of thought, and I would guess they are endangering some followers that might misinterpret their strong stance on the creed for a way of salvation.
As you minister to new believers and lost people be sure you are setting forth the Word of God as the one and only standard for salvation.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
2:8 For by {h} grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
(h) So then, grace, that is to say, the gift of God, and faith, stand with one another, to which two it is contrary to be saved by ourselves, or by our works. Therefore, what do those mean who would join together things of such contrary natures?
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Eph 2:8-9 explain the surpassing riches of God’s grace (Eph 2:7) and elaborate the parenthetical statement in Eph 2:5.
The basis of our salvation is God’s grace (unmerited favor and divine enablement; cf. Rom 3:22; Rom 3:25; Gal 2:16; 1Pe 1:5). The instrument by which we receive salvation is faith (i.e., trust in Christ). Faith is not an act or work that earns merit with God, which He rewards with salvation. When a person puts out his hand to take a gift that someone else offers, he or she is doing nothing to merit that gift. The giver gets credit for the gift, not the receiver. Likewise faith is not a meritorious work. [Note: See Morris, p. 104; and René A. López, "Is Faith a Gift from God or a Human Exercise?" Bibliotheca Sacra 164:655 (July-September 2007):259-76.]
To what does "that" or "this" refer? Since it is a neuter pronoun it evidently does not refer to "grace" or "faith," both of which are feminine in gender in the Greek text. Probably it refers to the whole preceding clause that describes salvation (cf. Eph 1:15; Eph 3:1). Salvation is the gift of God. [Note: See Roy L. Aldrich, "The Gift of God," Bibliotheca Sacra 122:487 (July-September 1965):248-53; and Gary L. Nebeker, "Is Faith a Gift of God? Eph 2:8 Reconsidered," Grace Evangelical Society News 4:7 (July 1989):1, 4.]
"If we breathe, it is because life has been breathed into us; if we exercise the hearing of faith it is because our ears have been unstopped. We are born from above. Spiritual life is not of the nature of a subsidy supplementing dogged exertion or ruthless self-flagellation, but a largess from the overflowing well-spring of divine compassion, lavished on a set of spiritual incapables." [Note: Simpson, p. 55.]