Salvation THEN Works

Ephesians 2:1-10
How is one actually saved by God through Jesus Christ? According to the writer of Ephesians, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:8-10). This may seem like a fine distinction but the fact is that the good things that Christians are called to do—justice, righteousness, compassion, hospitality, worship, and praise to name just a few––are not how we earn God’s love, they are how we respond to it. A life lived in faithful obedience is the thank-you note we write to God for the gift of grace that we receive.

But we are to have faith in Jesus Christ, right? That must mean we have to make some sort of decision or commitment to God’s will in order to be in relationship with God. Well, yes and no. As we have just read, faith “is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…,” so yes, we must believe in God through Jesus Christ, but the only way that happens is when God makes it possible.

Does that mean that God is actively keeping some folks from believing? If that is true, it would not be as alien to scripture as one might think. The gospels of John (12:39-40) and Matthew (13:14-15) and the book of Acts (28:25-28) all quote the book of Isaiah which says, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend, keep looking, but do not understand.’ Make the mind of this people dull and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed” (6:9-10). Ultimately, though, salvation is God’s decision and God’s alone, and not something we can readily determine about others. Those who do believe, who have received faith as a gift, must assume that a part of the Christian calling is to live and share the good news of Jesus Christ with the hope that others may come to recognize God’s activity in their own lives. But we are not entitled to make assumptions about who God is willing or unwilling to call to faith.

The writer of Ephesians looked at the world, the people who accepted the good news of Jesus Christ and those who did not, looked at Gentiles who believed Jesus to be the Son of God and at Jews who did not, and came to the Spirit-let realization that faith is a far more complex issue that some would suggest. Yet it is never something that can be won or earned or secured through our own works; it is, first and foremost, a grace-filled gift from God, one by which we may be amazed, but one for which we are led to say thank you by doing the will of God.

Prayer: Lord, in you alone rests our hope and salvation and from you alone comes the gift of grace. May all people come to know your love and to respond to your gracious work in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.