“But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:4–10, LSB)

In yesterday’s post, I contrasted the works-based religions of the world with the biblical gospel that says that Jesus Christ paid the full payment for sins on the cross and that this salvation is offered to sinful mankind by grace alone (sola gratia), and not based upon our merits. And since even our good works are tainted by our sin, we cannot hope to somehow earn salvation through our own righteousness. Paul called this whole predicament “dead in our trespasses and sins.”

Since we are dead in our sins and incapable of doing the good that God demands, God must act. In verses 4-7, Paul wrote that our salvation is given by the grace of God from beginning to end:

1. God is rich in mercy toward us. This is grace because we are sinners who don’t deserve God’s forgiveness!

2. God shows his great love to us by sending Christ to take our punishment for us. This too is grace since we are rebels against God, and we don’t want his love at first.

3. God shows us his great power by making us alive–first spiritually, and then one day he will resurrect us from the dead.

4. Finally, God demonstrates his massive generosity by seating us with Jesus Christ as royal children of the King. What grace! Remember that only a few short verses ago we were described as sons of disobedience, and then in verses 6-7 we are described as being seated with our King.

Verses 8-9 further drive this truth home. They say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, LSB). Faith in Jesus Christ alone is how we are saved. That message and the fact that it is offered to us is all of grace. Humanity did not deserve for God to send his son to earth to save us. We did not deserve Christ as our substitute on the bloody cross. We were not worthy, nor were we lovely and deserving. It was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us. Salvation is God’s gracious gift. It is unearned and undeserved.

It is only after the Apostle Paul has laid out the gracious offer of the gospel that he introduces good works. Grace leads us to respond: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, LSB).

In this verse, even good works are attributed to the Lord. He created them for us that we should walk in them. Even our good works are not truly our own. We must live in gratitude, but never with an attitude that we are gaining the favor of God by our works. We must be sure that our good works are meant to bring glory to our great God and Savior

What are the practical implications for the doctrine of Grace Alone?

1. We must ensure that our gospel witness does not downplay the reality of sin in a person’s life.
2. We must make sure that our gospel witness highlights the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
3. We must make sure that our gospel witness clarifies that good works are the fruit of salvation and not the root of salvation.
4. We must ensure that our own experience of the gospel leads us to worship and praise.