{"id":593,"date":"2014-10-31T17:46:44","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T21:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/?p=593"},"modified":"2015-05-06T16:32:13","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T21:32:13","slug":"saved-by-grace-through-faith-4-his-work-for-our-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/?p=593","title":{"rendered":"Saved by Grace through Faith (4): Responding to His Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Plant1\"<\/a>Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10<\/p>\n

“Saved by grace through faith” is a phrase that all Christian have heard. While it is important to study the meaning in details, here we are going to simply look at the context as it gives sufficient details on what is being taught.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

We were not saved by our works (ergon, \u1f14\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd).2<\/a><\/sup><\/h3>\n

The meaning here is that salvation cannot be attained by human efforts.3<\/a><\/sup> The election was done before the creation of the world (1:4). Christ’s death happened before we were even born. All that is needed for salvation has been accomplished before we even exist, so how could it possibly be our works\/efforts?<\/p>\n

We are his handiwork (poiema, \u03c0\u03bf\u1f77\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1).<\/h3>\n

A lot have been said about this word, usually emphasizing on God’s workmanship and masterpiece, but the word that is translated “handiwork”4<\/a><\/sup> here is really not that much different from the word “work” before it. The comparison here is not<\/span> between the smallness\u00a0of\u00a0our work (ergon) and the greatness of\u00a0God’s handiwork (poiema).5<\/a><\/sup> The real contrast here is between ours<\/span>\u00a0and God’s<\/span>. That is also why\u00a0we have “this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (v. 8).<\/p>\n

In other words, when we\u00a0look at a saved person or a saved community, we\u00a0do not see how good they must have done to attain their salvation, but we\u00a0see how great God’s work is in giving them\/us the salvation. That is the reason why we have the long praise to God for our spiritual blessings (Eph 1:3-14), followed by the long prayer that we may truly see God’s works (Eph 1:15-23), and then the description of God’s work in raising us while we were dead, including the description that we are to be shown for generations to come as the riches of God’s grace.<\/p>\n

We are to do good works (deeds).<\/h3>\n

Verse 10 says that we are God’s handiwork, created to do good works, followed by an interesting description, “which God prepared in advance for us to do.” In the eternal past God had planned our salvation and had the purpose of our life prepared: we are to do good works\/deeds in response to his great work of saving us.<\/p>\n

So let us give praises to God who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (1:3), and let us live a life worthy of the calling we have received (4:1)!<\/p>\n

\n

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, \u00a0in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. \u00a0All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. \u00a0But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, \u00a0made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. \u00a0And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, \u00a0in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. \u00a0For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– \u00a0not by works, so that no one can boast. \u00a0For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.<\/span>” (Ephesians 2:1-10 TNIV)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10 “Saved by grace through faith” is a phrase that all Christian have heard. While it is important to study the meaning in details, here we are going to simply look at the context as it gives sufficient details on what is being taught.1<\/p>\n Continue reading →<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24,20,4,5,12,21,18,22],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ephesians","tag-bible-study","tag-by-grace-through-faith","tag-ephesians-2","tag-epistle","tag-faith","tag-grace","tag-salvation","tag-works"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1195,"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions\/1195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dsoemarko.us\/christian\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}