August 16 - Ephesians 2:8-9

August 16
Ephesians 2:8-9

Dear Christian friends,

We have been examining the 19 blessings that believers in Christ has that are listed in the first three chapters of the Book of Ephesians. Today, we will examine blessing # 12.

Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, itg is the gift of God 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

The Apostle Paul is reminding us that God's gift of grace for eternal salvation is given to the undeserving.  In other words, all men are deserving of eternal punishment because of our sin nature and the sins we continuously commit. Because of Christ Jesus, and what He has done for us, we are saved by grace - God's unmerited  grace through faith in Chlrist Jesus alone.  Faith alone didn't save us, however, but God's grace given freely to us by faith has saved us.  There is no amount of work that we can do to earn our salvation - our eternal salvation.

There is no amount of work that we can do that gives us freedom from our sins and deliverance from hell. There is no amount of work that we can do to make it into heaven. Salvation is God's gift to us through His grace are we saved., being able receive eternal salvation - making it into heaven.

It needs to be noted, however, that we also do not have the ability to believe in Jesus on our own unless God does a prior work in us because we are, by nature of our sin, blinded by Satan. It takes the power of God working in a person's life to believe and it takes the act of the person's heart to believe in Christ.  They are two different things.  Without God's power working in a person's life to believe can one be able to act upon that power to believe. 

2 Cor 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, les the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

 That then brings the question of why would God work His power on certain people and not on others? We must never forget that God is omipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, meaning all knowing, all seeing, and His presence is everywhere - past, present and future.  In other words, God looks down the corridors of time and knows the heart of all men - everyone's past, present, and future.  In other words, God knows who will and who will not accept Him if given the opportunity.  For those He knows will accept Him, God then does the work of power (or grace) in that person's life beforehand to bring about the opportunity for that person to believe. 

It will, however, still take the act of the person's heart to repent and come to belief and acceptance in Jesus.  Everyone has to come to Jesus on their own because we each have a free will to accept or reject Christ.  That is why God tells us that only by His grace can we be saved through our faith in Christ Jesus. Because we have been saved through God's grace by our faith, and it is not of any works we can do, we have nothing to boast because God alone receives the glory.

Blessings,