For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.
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Ephesians 2:10 — His Workmanship
Following on from the great salvation declaration of verses 8–9 ("by grace are ye saved through faith… not of works"), verse 10 turns the lens onto the believer himself: the Christian is not the worker but the work. The verse reveals that salvation produces a wholly new being whose existence is for good works that God Himself prepared in advance.
We Are Wrought of God — Not Working, but Worked
Verse 10 stands as the answer to all human boasting. Believers do not contribute to salvation — they are themselves its product.
A. Pridham"We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained (or prepared) that we should walk in them." Instead of working, we ourselves are wrought of God. Two words occur in the verse, which it is proper to distinguish. First, the saints collectively are styled "the workmanship" (poiema) of God. The force of this expression is to show the completeness, whether of the Church in its unity, or of the believer as a particular member of the body of Christ. A Christian, when considered as a vessel of saving mercy, is not in process of formation, but completely made.
A New Creation, Not a Repaired Old One
The Spirit deliberately uses the word "created" to rule out any idea that Christianity is a polishing of the old man.
A. PridhamWe are said also to have been "created (ktisthentes) in Christ Jesus." We cannot hesitate as to the intention of the Holy Ghost in his selection of such a word. It is, beyond doubt, that the absolute originality of this work of God might be forcibly impressed on our minds. It is not an adaptation of something that previously existed, but a new creation. A believer carries nothing of himself into Christ; he is another and a new man. The old nature having been set aside judicially in the cross of Christ, we receive in Him, and from Him, another nature, a new and altogether different life.
God Will Never Question His Own Work
Because the believer is the product of God's hand, his standing is as secure as creation itself.
C. H. MackintoshEveryone who simply and heartily believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is God's workmanship. God has created him anew in Christ Jesus. Clearly, therefore, there can be no possible ground for questioning his acceptance with God, since God can never call in question His own work… God is a rock, His work is perfect, and the believer is God's work; and because he is His work He has sealed him with the Holy Ghost.
The Same Power That Raised Christ
The "creation" of verse 10 flows directly from the resurrection power described in chapter 1. Man is viewed as dead in sin, and Christ as having gone down into that death to lift him out.
Magazines"What is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe… which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." (Eph. 1:19-20.) Of "His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." (Eph. 2:4-5.) Thus we are God's "workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." (v. 10.)
Good Works — Prepared Beforehand
Works are not the root of salvation but its fruit, and even the works themselves were drawn up by God in advance.
A. J. PollockThe result of new creation is seen in a life of good works. "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). Good works are works that spring from a heart devoted to Christ with an intelligent sense of what is pleasing to God. Good works according to God would not be the building up of the present course of things in this world. Many a work done by Christians is acclaimed as a good work, when all the time it is only building up that which will be burned up in the day of judgment.
Another writer ties this directly to the believer's walk: those who once moved according to the course of this world, ruled by Satan, "should now in obedience to His will produce good works and thus show the magnitude of His workmanship in every one of us." George Davison
A Display Vessel for the Wisdom of God
The new creation is more than personal blessing — it is the medium in which God puts His wisdom on view to the heavenly hosts.
MagazinesIn Ephesians 2:10 we learn that we are God's workmanship, "created in Christ Jesus;" and this is the vessel in which God is now making known "to the principalities and powers in heavenly places" His manifold wisdom… surpassing all that has ever been seen by men or angels is that which is now being displayed in the church which God has purchased by the blood of His own.
Summary
- Wrought, not working. The believer is the product, not the producer; salvation rules out every basis for boasting.
- New creation. "Created" (ktisthentes) means absolute originality — not the old man patched up but an entirely new man in Christ.
- Eternal security. Because the believer is God's own workmanship, God will never call His own work into question.
- Resurrection power. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is what has quickened and created the believer in Him.
- Prepared works. Good works are not the cause of salvation but the path God laid out beforehand for His new-created people to walk in.