Ephesians 2:8–9

"By grace you have been saved." By this he means that we have been saved and are saved. We enjoy now what is already past and complete before God. It is a finished fact, because it is in Christ, and everything here is in Christ… The Saviour is seated on high, and salvation is so fully in Him that we are not in the process of being saved. We are saved, and we need nothing more on this point.

Salvation is looked on in Ephesians as an accomplished and present thing. In Philippians 2:12-13 and Romans 8:22-25 the believer is a traveller here below, as in 1 Peter too. He is surrounded by difficulties and dangers. He looks ahead to salvation at the coming of the Lord Jesus. But that would not suit Ephesians, where we are viewed as blessed in the heavenly places. We have been and are saved.

Anyone who knows how sick his own heart is will be glad to hear this. A principle like grace gives hope to the most unworthy. It opens the door for all of us. But grace must have righteousness as its foundation. Otherwise God's grace would be treating sin as a light thing, and that is impossible. God's throne must keep its majesty, whatever the cost… Here the cross of Christ comes in, which is both the full answer to everything God requires and the full expression of the grace in God's heart toward people who have gone wrong.

"Through faith" is the way we receive such grace. Faith is not a thing of merit in itself. It recognises that all the merit is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it puts its confidence in Him alone.

Those who oppose this truth say that "this" cannot go with "faith," because in Greek the word faith is feminine. But by that rule it cannot go with "grace" either, because grace is feminine too. Then they say it goes with the whole thing, salvation. That makes no sense. Read it that way: "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this (this salvation) is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." Of course salvation by grace is not our own doing. If it were, it would not be grace. Nobody imagines that grace comes from himself, so on that reading "and this" says nothing. But people do imagine that faith comes from themselves. So after saying it is by faith, he adds, "and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God."

The grace is God's: the faith is ours. Yet even our faith is not of ourselves. Faith is not something the human heart grows on its own… Faith is no weed. It is a rare flower. Once the heavenly Father plants it, nothing can pull it up. It is the gift of God.

It is clear that boasting is excluded where salvation is of grace. Believers are not boasters but worshippers. With a wise and understanding heart they adore the God they have learned to know and love, because He has shown His own rich grace in Jesus.

Now this necessarily excludes works; that is, works done to gain life and blessing. The only works we were capable of were those described in verses 2 and 3, and in those works we were spiritually dead. God Himself is the Worker and we are His workmanship; a very different thing. Further, the work needed was nothing short of creation. How obvious, then, that human works have no place here.

"Saved… not of works"! Not on the principle of works. And why? Because if my works could save me, then I really might boast. There would be no sin in my pride. I could claim heaven on the ground of my own worth. I could also keep in myself for ever, and rightly, any amount of the very thing God detests most of all. It lies at the root of all sin: pride, or self-sufficiency. But this is impossible. I can no more give myself new birth than bring myself into the world.

God, who is seeking the glory of His Christ, will silence all human boasting. He does so now with His chosen ones by the power of His saving grace. He will do so in the coming day of judgment, when the pride of man will bow before the awesome presence of His holiness. Clearly boasting is excluded where salvation is of grace. Believers are not boasters but worshippers.

If our works had any part in this new creation, it would carry the seeds of failure. That is why it is "not of works." It is only and wholly of grace, and that makes it absolutely certain and stable. Much of the doubt people have about salvation comes from one thing: they bring "works" into the plan, more or less.

Notice, it is "not of works" as the principle, but it is "for good works" as the object. Good works accompany salvation, but they never go before it.

Verse 9 firmly guards against the natural human thought of adding works to grace and faith… It takes away every chance for people to exalt themselves. This puts us in our true place and exalts God… Yet His work in us is "for good works" (v.10). Good works are the proper result after God's work has brought salvation. God has even prepared these good works beforehand for us to walk in. So if we believers do good works, we have nothing to boast about, and no excuse for not doing them.

It isn't meant for him. It is only for those who are already Christians. Nowhere in the Scriptures will you find one line that tells a sinner to work out his own salvation. They do say, "to the one who does not work but believes." And they say, "not a result of works, so that no one may boast." And again, "not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy He saved us." The Scriptures are very plain and clear on this point.