Introduction
I don’t know how many dozens (or hundreds?) of times I have preached or taught from this passage in the last 20+ years, but it is a text that never gets old. Christians rightly cherish it, commit it to memory, and return to it again and again for consolation and gospel clarity. The first ten verses of Ephesians 2 divide neatly into four sections: The Need for Salvation (vv.1-3), The Basis of Salvation (vv.4-7), The Means of Salvation (vv.8-9), and The Consequence of Salvation (v.10). Sin, grace, faith, and good works are the key ideas in each of these sections, just as they are central to a right understanding of the gospel. We must know our condition, that we are lost and undone and without hope apart from Christ. We must know the ground of our salvation, that it is the love and grace of God that gives us hope and not anything that was or ever would be true of us. We must know the means by which God bestows his grace, that it is through faith in Christ that is itself part of the gift of God, and not through works of obedience which we may perform. And we must know the fruit of God’s mercy and work upon us, that though we are not saved by good works or through good works, we are saved unto good works in order that we might be transformed and become obedient to God.
Today I want to begin a brief series reflecting on the grace of God. Rather than unpack this or any of the other texts we will survey in a detailed way, I want to draw back and think broadly and thematically about the way God’s grace works in salvation. We will look at the potency of grace, the specificity of grace, and the sufficiency of grace, but we will begin today by considering the necessity of grace. I expect most of these ideas will be very familiar to you. Many of you may not learn anything new in these lessons. But it is important for us to remember, clarify, and rejoice in these foundational truths. If these sermons serve no other purpose than prompting you to praise and thank God for the grace you know so well, our studies will not have been in vain.
The Problem of Human Sin
We’ve said many times before that understanding the problem of sin is the key to getting the gospel right. That may not be true in an absolute sense, but if not, it’s pretty close. Almost all errors in understanding the gospel are the result of a diminished or distorted doctrine of human sinfulness. Pelagianism, for example, affirms that human beings are neither guilty nor polluted by Adam’s transgression but are only sinful insofar as they imitate it. Consequently, children are born into this world completely pure and innocent, man remains entirely capable of choosing good or evil at any time and in any circumstance, and justification before God is a result of man’s decision and work in cooperation with the opportunity provided by God’s grace. This is the Pelagian view-- and I ought to know because it is the view I was raised with and taught for many years!--but as we will see (again) in this series, this is not at all how grace operates in our salvation. But where does the Pelagian view go wrong? It goes wrong first in its doctrine of man’s sinfulness.
Arminianism has been called a type of semi-Pelagianism, though most Arminians would not appreciate that label. The best Arminian theology will affirm everything the Bible says about man’s condition apart from Christ, i.e. that we are dead in sin and unable to save ourselves, but from there they posit a doctrine of prevenient grace. Prevenient is a fancy way of saying preceding; in other words, prevenient grace is a grace that goes before our salvation. Now the Bible teaches that grace is prevenient, and you can read a lot about it in Augustine’s writings. But what we mean by prevenient grace, and what Augustine meant, is very different than what classical or evangelical Arminians teach. Arminians will say that prevenient grace does not save, does not cause the new birth, does not justify anyone, but it enables a sinner outside of Christ to respond to God’s offer of salvation. It restores man’s ability to choose, to make a decision. Those who choose to respond to Christ in faith will then be born again. Those who refuse God’s offer of salvation will remain lost.
Now look with me at Ephesians 2:1-3, and let’s see if that is a fair representation of what is said there. You were dead in your sins, led by the prince of the power of the air (that’s Satan), and children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Now peek ahead at v.4. But God. God acted. And what did God do when he acted? He made us alive. You may say, “That’s exactly what Arminianism teaches--God makes us alive so that we can respond to the gospel.” No, look again. God made us alive with Christ. He raised us to eternal life, seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. In other words, we are enthroned with King Jesus and share in his kingdom and glory! That is not a partial awakening that allows us to make a choice. That is the new birth! That is justification! And what always accompanies justification? “Moreover whom he predestined, these he also called; whom he called, these he also justified; and whom he justified, these he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30). All of those whom God calls to new life, he justifies, and all of those he justifies, are glorified.
The Bible is actually very clear about our condition apart from Christ and before the grace of God comes to us. We are not just influenced or infected by Adam’s sin. We are spiritually dead.
Rom. 3:10-12, 19: As it is written, “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” … Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Rom. 5:12, 18-19: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
What can dead men do? Not call out to God. Not make a decision to believe. Not ask for baptism or perform any good works. The only thing dead men can do is rot and stink. Do you remember when Lazarus got up inside the tomb and knocked on the door asking Jesus to open it? I don’t. I remember Jesus commanding the stone to be removed and then calling Lazarus to come forth!
The Inadequacy of Human Works
You may be thinking, “But this can’t be right because I made a decision to ask Jesus into my heart. God can’t just unilaterally save us. That would be unfair.” But keep reading Scripture. The question is not what makes sense to me, but what does God’s Word say? You may have made a decision to trust in Christ. Praise God! But what enabled you to make that decision? If you were dead and unable to respond to God, how could you make that choice? The Bible says that grace is what enables us to believe. It doesn’t just give sinners an opportunity. It actually saves those to whom it comes!
This is important because we cannot be justified in God’s sight by our works. That’s something we all agree on. But think more carefully about this for a minute. If grace only restores my ability to respond to God and then leaves me to make that decision for myself, whose choice is it that actually saves me? I couldn’t be saved without God’s grace, but did his grace actually save me? It certainly was not by grace alone, because in the Arminian system grace couldn’t save me at all unless and until I did my part and decided to trust in Christ. What is that decision? Is it grace or is it a work? It is aided by grace, but it isn’t grace. The decision is something I have to make. It’s what I do, not what God does. My decision couldn’t do anything without God’s grace, but God’s grace couldn’t do anything without my decision! In fact, my decision is the catalyst, the final part of the formula that results in my salvation!
Is that what we read in Ephesians 2 or anywhere else in the Bible? Am I saved by God’s grace and my work? Is grace powerless unless and until I make a decision? What do vv.4-7 say? Do you see there is nothing here about my decision or action at all? It is all about God: his love and mercy and grace which saves me. You may say, “But we can’t be saved unless we believe!” True. But where does that faith appear? Not in vv.4-7, but in v.8, after I have been made alive in Christ.
Some people believe we are saved “by grace, through faith, when we choose to believe and are baptized.” That is what I used to believe and what I taught for many years. But that means we are justified by faith and works of obedience. Even if our work doesn’t earn or merit anything, it is clearly my work that makes the decisive difference in whether I am saved or not. Now almost all Arminians recognize this is not correct; it’s not what the Bible teaches! But let’s change the formula just slightly. Some believe we are saved “by grace, through faith, when we choose to believe and ask Jesus into our heart.” Do you see that the pattern is the same? Now many evangelicals think this is how salvation works, but do you see the problem? We have made our decision, our action, the decisive work which causes a person either to be saved or not. But the Bible is very clear that our works cannot justify us, not by themselves, and not in cooperation with the grace of Christ.
Rom. 3:27-28: Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Rom. 4:4-5: Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness
When you stand before the Lord, why will you be saved and your neighbor will be lost? Will it be because you were more honest, more moral, more religious, more obedient? Will it be because you did something that he did not do? And if so, won’t you have some reason to boast? If we understand the gospel properly, Paul says we won’t be able to boast, not just because it’s wrong to boast. The gospel, rightly understood, actually excludes boasting. We can’t boast because our salvation is not the result of anything we did. We were as deserving of Hell as anyone. God did not save us because we were honest or moral or obedient. He saved us because of his love and by his grace. That is good news, glorious news! But it isn’t anything we can boast in. Our only boast is in the work of Christ. We can sing his praises. We can point to his righteous accomplishments. But we can’t brag of any of our own. I won’t be saved because I am better or did anything better than anyone else. I will be saved, if I am saved at all, by God’s sovereign and undeserved grace!
The Need for Divine Mercy
If what we have read and reasoned from Scripture thus far is true, no one can be saved but by divine mercy. If the Lord treated us according to what we deserve, we all would be lost. But there is forgiveness with God, that he may be feared (Psa. 130:4). We stand in desperate need, but apart from God’s grace we cannot even cry out in our need. We remain under bondage to sin, not only guilty of it but under its power and in the grip of its tyranny (Rom. 3:9). The Bible not only describes us as dead to God in our sins and trespasses but also as slaves to sin.
Thus our condition is very different and much worse than many Christians are taught and have believed. We were taught that sin was simply a matter of what we do, but Scripture describes our sin problem as rooted in who we are. We assume that sin is like a bad habit. I have them, and I shouldn’t, but if I put my mind to it, I can stop those bad behaviors and change my life. But God’s Word says otherwise. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil” (Jer. 13:23). In a society that is rapidly embracing the idea that personal identity is simply a matter of identification--that if I identify as a woman then I am now a woman and all must accept me as such--the Scriptures present a very different view of reality, one that is true, even if politically incorrect. You cannot simply set your mind and overcome sin or deliver yourself from its power. You cannot choose to identify as a holy person and therefore become one. You are who and what you are in Adam as a result of his transgression. You cannot change that. Only God’s mercy and grace in Christ Jesus can.
If we believe we are good, moral people, then we will remain confused about the gospel and fail to appreciate how great and glorious God’s grace really is. The notion of basic human goodness minimizes the need for and impact of grace. Yes, I need grace, but it is only to help me get over that last little stretch that I can’t quite reach on my own. Or considered a different way, grace is needed to provide the way and to get me started. I have the opportunity to be saved by grace, but it is up to me to take that opportunity and do something with it. In this view, the gospel is largely reduced to a self-improvement program. It gives you the knowledge and tools, but you do the real work to bring about change in your life and eternity.
Notice how Paul describes the response of faith in vv.8-9. We’ll have much more to say about this in the next few weeks, but notice that he distinguishes faith from works. In other words, there is a difference between doing and trusting, between acting and resting. Notice as well that he attributes this faith by which we receive salvation as “the gift of God.” Now maybe someone can read Greek (or has heard an Arminian preacher who can) and says, “But Pastor, in v.8 the word for faith (πίστεως) is feminine and the demonstrative pronoun that (τοῦτο) is neuter, so that can’t refer to our faith can it?” Grammatically it does not refer to the faith by which we receive salvation, but it certainly includes it. The pronoun encompasses everything Paul has been talking about: being made alive in Christ, seated in heavenly places, saved, and brought to faith. All of it is the gift of God. If you doubt that here, consider Php. 1:29 where Paul says: “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” It was granted to them to believe. Granted by who? Who grants us to believe in Jesus? God does. Faith is a gift. Or 2Tim. 2:25 where we are to pray for unbelievers that “God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth.” Repentance is the other side of faith. Repentance lets go of our idols; faith receives and clings to Christ. But both repentance and faith are granted to us by God.
We are entirely dependent on God’s mercy and grace. Without it, we cannot repent, we cannot believe, we cannot be saved. We are not good, moral people. We cannot pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and turn our life around. If God does not turn us, we will not be saved. His grace and mercy are our only hope.
The Provision of Grace in Christ
The picture is pretty grim. Our condition is far more hopeless than most have realized, but we need to know this so that we might understand the real power and beauty of God’s grace and so that we may better appreciate how good the good news of salvation really is. Jesus did not come into this world merely to give us an opportunity or extend an invitation. As we will see even more clearly in a couple of weeks, he came to actually save sinners. The Father sent his Son into this world as a true Man, the Last Adam, the head of a new human race. Whereas Adam sinned and made us all sinners, Christ obeyed the Father and has made God’s children righteous. Whereas Adam brought condemnation upon the world, Christ has brought justification upon the world to come and all its citizens. Whereas Adam fell under the curse and penalty of the Law, Christ took the curse and penalty upon himself so that we might be set free. Whereas Adam brought mankind into bondage, Christ has brought the Church into freedom. Adam’s sin caused death to come on us all, but Christ’s obedience has given us life everlasting.
Rom. 5:20b-21: But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Grace is an actual gift from God, not an offer, but an honor bestowed. It brings new life in and with Christ Jesus, faith to receive the salvation he has won, forgiveness of sin and freedom from its power, and a new heart with holy desires and a new ability to pursue obedience and a life of love and gratitude toward God. When we think of grace, we are not merely to think of a sales advertisement we receive in the mail: Take advantage now! Limited time offer! Grace is what God has done for you, what he is doing in you, and what he will do with you. Grace is not something apart from Jesus and his work. The grace of God is Jesus Christ. It is not merely a legal blessing. It is a Person with whom we have an organic union. We are made alive, forgiven, and saved because we are connected to Jesus and receive all blessings in, from, and with him.
We need to think of grace personally and not only doctrinally or categorically. I do not mean that it is inappropriate to think of grace in these latter ways. There is a doctrine of grace taught in the Bible. There are categories associated with grace which we can identify, describe, and logically examine. But grace is not merely an idea. Grace is a Person, the Person of Christ. If we think of it this way, perhaps we will better understand what it is and means and does for us.
No one can respond to God until he is united to Christ, and no one is united to Christ who is not also--immediately, necessarily, and permanently--justified, sanctified, and glorified. This is why teaching about grace that makes it available to everyone but effective for no one unless and until they cooperate is simply wrong. It cannot be. Grace is union with Jesus, and all the blessings of grace are received through that union with him.
How does God save us? By joining us to his Son. How does the Bible describe that? It is like marriage or a vineyard and its grapevines or an olive tree and its branches. It is a living and personal connection from which we receive life and sustenance. It is a connection through which we are enabled to grow fruit and to maturity. We are not outside of the connection contemplating whether to join it or not. We are tied into Christ, and the grace of God which flows to us from him awakens us, pardons us, delivers us, and forever saves us.
Grace is Jesus Christ. He obeyed the Law to fulfill all righteousness. He died for our sins just as the Scriptures said he would. He was buried in Joseph’s tomb and then rose the third day, just as he and the OT prophets had predicted. He ascended into heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit. The Spirit now comes upon us in order to join us to Christ and open the faucet of blessing in our hearts, blessings of grace that transform our identity, future, and lives. This is the grace of God, and Oh how we need it! We cannot be saved without it. We cannot fail to be saved if we have him.
Conclusion
This is only a cursory introduction, and as we said at the beginning, perhaps it was already familiar to you all. But do we ever grow tired of these truths? May it never be! Fallible preachers may fail to communicate these glorious truths effectively, but the Word of God remains fresh and powerful and unchained. These are the truths that delight the soul of every believer. This is the salvation of which we will forever sing. This is our hope: God’s grace, God’s Son, God’s mercy, our salvation. Amen.
