“For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast…..” Ephesians 2: 8-10.
Matthew Henry’s commentary on our text says, “Every converted sinner is a saved sinner. Such are delivered from sin and wrath; they are brought into a state of salvation and have a right given them by grace to eternal happiness. The grace that saves them is the free, underserved, goodness and favour of God; and He saves them, not by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, by means of which they come to partake of the great blessings of the gospel; and both that faith and that salvation on which it has so great an influence are the gift of God.”
Salvation is entirely by Grace. Paul says in Ephesians 2:1, “You has he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins.” We were spiritually dead. We had no spiritual understanding. What did we deserve but a good burial? …If even!
In Ephesians 2:2-3 however, as we read on, we learn the strangest thing, we discover we were dead but walking .. literally we were “walking dead men”. We were zombies-like walking according to the world system, which is against God, and following “the prince of the power of the air,” which is Satan.
There’s a story about a graveyard in an area in Ayrshire, Scotland, where once a stranger was buried. It greatly distressed the people of that particular parish, so much so that they put a notice up on the outside of the graveyard that read, “This graveyard is reserved exclusively for the dead who are living in this parish.”
Funny!
But we were living dead people. We were alive, just like Adam was physically alive after he had sinned, but nevertheless spiritually dead. We were living and were dead, but God made us alive. Grace! Grace! Grace!
Here’s a good way of looking at grace… Notice in Ephesians 1:1 the apostle calls believers saints; however, look at what we once were. Ephesians 2:1-3:
Dead, Walking in the devil's path, Children of disobedience, Children of wrath.
And what made the difference? It was grace. Additionally, 2 Timothy 1:9 tells us we are chosen by grace;
In Ephesians 1:7 we learn that we have redemption by grace; We are adopted by grace - Ephesians 1:5.
By that same grace we are accepted - Ephesians 1:6.
By grace we have the forgiveness of sins - Ephesians 1:7.
By that same grace we have been made alive together with Christ - Ephesians 2:5.
He has glorified us by grace - Ephesians 2:6.
Nowhere in the Bible is credit given to man regarding his salvation. It is all of grace! The making alive, the undeserved favour, the faith, the union with Christ, the good works that follow after salvation are all the gifts of Almighty God!
Is it any wonder then that Paul would write in Galatians 6:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
To “glory” is “to boast”. Paul is saying that we cannot boast in anything except the cross of the Lord Jesus. That’s another way of saying that we are saved by grace. All our prosperity, all our accomplishments, all our doctrinal understanding, and even all the accumulated knowledge over our lifetime is nothing to glory about. We can boast only in the grace of God as seen in the cross, the cross of Christ! Glory to His name!
And that’s the Gospel Truth!
(To be continued next week)