For By Grace...
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You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
I once attended a Wayne Watson (a Christian singer) concert and he said this: “I have good news and better news: God is still God; and I am not God.” He smiled as he said it and we all laughed but that phrase stuck with me and 25 years later I still remember it clearly. I am not sure why some things stick so clearly in one’s mind, but for me this was a defining moment. I had come from a church that was legalistic in its beliefs. Everything was done with a slavish attitude toward “what will people think” when they saw us in the “world.” Watson’s little phrase made me realize that I was not responsible for doing the works that would put me in the good graces of God. Only God could (and would) do that. It was there that I really began to realize what the scripture for today means.
Commentator Paul Rock has stated that if there was ever a foundational statement for Protestantism then it would be Ephesians 2.8. There is the ultimate statement of sola fide that we stand upon as a cornerstone. But what about the rest of the section of scripture? What does it have to say about our state before God?
I am afraid to tell you that the first three verses contain very bad news indeed. They begin by telling us that we are dead in our sins and our failures to live the life that God expects. But how can we live the life of God when we walked the path that this world has drawn up for us? We had been enamored by the one who it states rules the air. Now this is a statement that the area that is ruled is the atmospheric areas of the air. This would be what we today know as the sky, not the upper atmosphere that we are familiar with. This rule of the sky is far below the heavens and God and all evil things come from this region. The one who rules this region is not mentioned but it is implied that it is the devil. And those who follow are the ones who are disobedient.
The first two verses are directed to the Gentile Christians of the Church. All fine and good. But verse three takes a new statement be claiming “all of us” or “we” which includes all Christians both Gentile and Jewish. All were like everyone else, dead in sins and following the passions that have made them the children of wrath. It is very bad new indeed. What can be done about it? The writer gives the answer in the next verse.
One thing to mention: verses one through seven are all one sentence in the Greek. So, the conjunction that comes in verse four is a crucial part of the text. It is the word ‘but’. One commentator has noted that the words, “But God” are the most important words in verses 1-10. For it is here that we turn from the bad news of our sins and troubles, our disobedience and death and turn to life.
God is rich in mercy we are told in the text. Mercy that gives what we could never earn or never gain. God is rich in this mercy and is willing to give it to us. Not because of what we have done or because of who we are. But because of the love that God has for us which is great beyond compare.
That mercy given is what makes us alive. We are alive with Christ who is alive because God raised him from the dead. And because God raised Christ, God is willing and able to make us alive though we were dead in our sins. And here is the kicker: it is by grace that we have been saved.
Grace. Unmerited favor. It is the whole hinge of the passage. Here we find that God saved us not by what we have done or what we might do, but because of God’s grace are we saved from the powers of this world, from sin, from ourselves.
Not only have we been made alive with Christ, but we have been raised with him in the heavenly places. This is not to say that we sit at the right had as Jesus does because only, he is given that honor. What is happening in is that the believers are given a glimpse of what awaits those whom God loves and to whom God has given grace.
And why did God give grace to us? That all the riches of God, which are immeasurable, can be shown in the ages to come. Not just in this age, but the ones that come in the future. These are the ages of the eschaton, the end times. When these end times come, the riches of God’s grace will still be shown and they will still be immeasurable. Riches that are given are to show the kindness extended to us in Jesus Christ.
Now we come to what is thought to be the foundation. It is by grace that we have been saved. This can also be stated as “by grace we are saved through faith.” The reason for this is that in the Greek the word used is in what is known as the passive perfect tense. This means that it is something that has already been accomplished and is still being accomplished. We have been saved and we are still being saved. It is through faith that we are saved, not because of faith. To say that it is through is to state that we cannot do anything without the grace of God giving us the faith to believe. And also notice that this is in a passive tense in the English translation. This is because it accurately conveys that that we have not done anything to acquire this grace. It has been given to us. Because it is unmerited favor, faith and grace are the gifts of God. They are given to us without our doing anything to earn it.
In verse nine, the writer continues this theme. This grace is not given to us because of anything that we have done or that we can do. If you remember the Israelites, they were given grace by God setting them free from slavery. They had nothing to offer and would have nothing. In the same way, we who were dead in our sins had nothing to offer as well. And it was God who, in infinite grace, extended to us the good gifts of God’s mercy and kindness. And there is and was nothing that we can do to earn that. We in our society find this difficult to understand. We live in a transactional society where we do things in order to get things. We do a “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” type of mentality that gives us the thought that whatever we do will earn us some points somewhere. We even expect that God will grant us salvation for some of the works that we do, whether that be helping people, working for a charity or something else that makes us look good in the eyes of the world.
But to this God says, “Not a chance!” Salvation is given not because of what we can or will do, but because of grace. When we rely on what we have done then we will surely boast and brag about it. But because salvation only comes from the grace of God, we can only boast about what God did for us. It is this grace that extends to us a covenant from God that allows us to be in communion with God and with each other.
But what about good works? Are we never to do any because of the need to boast? No. Verse 10 tells us that we’re are God’s creation. We have been created in Jesus to do good works. Not the works that we stand on to say that we are so good that God has to save us, but works that define our praise and thanksgiving to God for what was done for us. In fact, the good works are ones that God created for us to do. When we do these works, we walk in the way that God has prepared for us to live.
This scripture is rich in imagery. There is so much here that there could have been several sermons given. I have tried to cover without going into too much detail. But there is an over arching theme here. God’s mercy and grace are what bring us back from death and bring us to new life. And because of that new life that we have been given we are to do good works to give thanks to God. These good works are done with free will as we are no longer imprisoned by desires of this world but are set free by the grace of God.
When we speak of good works, there are many people who come to mind: Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. and many others whose works made such a large difference in our world. We might be tempted to throw up our hands and say that there is no way that we can replicate those deeds. And we would be correct. But that does not mean that we are not to do good deeds. Our deeds can be anything that God calls us to do. It can be helping in the community, working with our neighbors, reaching out to those who are in need, taking a stand against racism, jingoism or any -ism that separates us from God and our fellow human beings.
I have some good news and better news: We have salvation from God and it is not because of anything we did but because of God’s grace. When we do the works that God created for us to do, we show our praise and thanks for the salvation that God gave to us through faith in Jesus. For by grace we have been saved to do the works God has created. Thanks be to God. Amen.