#20 Ephesians
Eph 2:8-9 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.
The well is deep here! As ambassadors of God’s grace, we cannot exhaust the principals we find in these verses. This is where the Gospel of the Grace of God lives!
The gift is how God can save any sinner at any time in history, no matter what dispensation they lived in. It’s BY grace THROUGH faith. It’s not of works!. The work was done for us by Christ so that God, by his grace, can now offer this free gift that is simply received by the sinner.
Our salvation is unearned and undeserved. We can do nothing, but God did everything. The means for which salvation is given is BY HIS GRACE. We access this salvation by the channel of faith. What is your faith in? This might be where some people get tripped up. It’s not in man-made laws, church constitutions, regulatory ordinances, or sacraments. The object of belief is the work that Christ did on the cross for us. You cannot add anything to this.
It’s not of ourselves. No one is entitled to it. We do not deserve it. God didn’t look at us and say, “He’s so special, I’m going to save him.” No! God is so full of love that he can look at us, through his son, who paid the ultimate price for our sins, and through faith, we are justified by his grace.
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
What is the gift? The power of salvation through the Gospel of Christ is the gift.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Rom 1:16
In times past, God only dealt with Israel. Gentiles didn’t have access or a pathway to God except through Israel. In order to receive even a blessing and especially salvation, you had to become a proselyte. But the gospel of Christ is the power of God to all who believe because God did the work of salvation through Christ.
Rom 3:22-24 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The free gift of God (that cost him everything and us nothing!) is the salvation that you find through Christ’s finished work on the cross. Since it’s God doing the work, it’s not a matter of who you are, it’s a matter of who he is and what he’s done! There is no boasting on our part! The only thing we can and should boast in is the cross, (Gal 6:14).
Rom 3:27-28 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Rom 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Faith is not a work. Faith is acknowledging what you hear to be true. Hearing is not a work, either. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, (Rom 10:17). God gave you ears to hear. You listened and agreed that what you heard is true. Once you believed, you were baptized into Christ’s death, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and declared righteous because of Christ’s finished work on your behalf. Share that!!