New Life

KEY VERSE: “By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” —Ephesians 2:8

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 2:1-10

GRACE MEANS ‘GOD’S unmerited favor’. In our Key Verse this quality of God is described as “the exceeding riches of his grace.” It has been argued that it is the grace which is the gift of God; and also, that it is our faith which is the gift of God. Studying the verses, it seems that the apostle is discussing salvation: “By grace ye are saved.” We are not saved by our own works. Salvation from Adamic condemnation is “the gift of God.” The grace of God planned our salvation. Our faith laid hold of this salvation. And the ages to come will reveal the exceeding riches of this gift of salvation from God through Christ Jesus!

This agrees with Romans 6:23, which reads, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So, by grace we receive salvation through faith. And that salvation is not of ourselves, and not of works: it is the gift of God. As children are born into a family, we were born children of men under condemnation. We were children of disobedience, children of wrath. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”—John 3:36

Children of Adam’s disobedience are the ‘children of wrath’, because God and sin are always opposed. That being so, how can God permit men to be born in sin? Only the truth concerning the kingdom of God answers this question. Through an understanding of the work of the kingdom we know that this condemnation will be removed, and all men blessed with an opportunity for eternal salvation.

In Ephesians 2:2 we read: “In time past ye walked according to the course of this world.” All through Ephesians we find this word ‘walk’, or ‘walked’. We are told that in time past—before we were children of God—we walked not in the narrow way that leads to life, but as people of the world walk, in the broad way that leads to death. But since consecrating our lives to the doing of God’s will, we are no longer walking in “the course of this world” (vs. 2); that is past. Now we have received the gift of salvation. We are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (vs. 10) So we are now to walk in good works.

The good works are those ordained for God’s New Creation. They are the good works which develop as an outgrowth of our faith. Let us note also that we are here exhorted to walk in the good works prepared for us by God. The people asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” (John 6:28,29) Our Master said, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” This simple formula contains the complete solution to the relationship of faith and works, for true belief leads to the action of faith, to the surrendering to God in consecration.

In summary, good works, within the Scriptural meaning of this term are: (1) Consecrating ourselves to God. (2) Being steadfast and unmovable in our consecration. (3) Doing those works planned for us by God. (4) Increasing in the knowledge of God. (5) Relying on the Word of God as our source of information regarding good works. (6) Being zealous in doing the will of God. These are good works.

We are a people “zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14), and I Peter 2:12 tells us that by our “good works” which the world shall “behold,” they will “glorify God in the day of visitation.” O, may we show forth his truth; may we let our light shine! These too, are good works. We are not saved by good works, but are created unto good works.

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