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The Daily Word of Righteousness
An Examination of Current Teaching, #49
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God Not by works, so no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Ephesians 2:8,9 means we are saved by forgiveness, and works of righteousness are not included in the plan of salvation.
Ephesians 2:8,9 is a favorite verse of Christian people. The verse is used to prove there is absolutely nothing we are to do about our salvation. It is God's gift to whoever will receive it.
There are two problem with this point of view.
First, the following verse, verse 10, says we have been created in Christ Jesus to do good works. From the beginning of the world, God prepared good works which we are to do as an integral part of our salvation.
The second problem needs the serious attention of God's preachers and teachers. Paul, when he wrote that we are saved by grace and not by works, was referring to the works of the Law of Moses, not godly behavior. If Paul were referring to godly behavior he would be making faith an alternative to righteous living. This never can be.
Much of Paul's preaching and teaching was addressed to Jews. The Jews believed that it was impossible to obtain righteousness apart from a strict observance of every law and statute of the Law of Moses.
Paul stressed that it indeed was possible to look up from the Law of Moses and still be counted as righteous, by placing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we as Gentiles come to Christ we are not thinking of the Law of Moses. So we interpret Paul to mean we can be counted as righteous even though we are living in all the foulness of the sinful nature. We should know better than to believe we can have fellowship with a Holy God when we are living in moral filth; but religion has a way of destroying common sense!
There are several verses that show what was in Paul's mind when he was saying we are saved by faith and not by works.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (Romans 3:27,28)
We who are Jews by birth and not "Gentile sinners" know a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15,16)
And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Philippians 3:9)
To be continued.