It’s your birthday, or perhaps an anniversary of some sort, and several people have given you some very nice gifts. So what do you do? Will you pull out your wallet and ask them how much you owe them for these nice presents they have given you? No! Of course not! I have never paid anyone for a gift they gave me for my birthday, or any other occasion, and I’m sure you haven’t, either. Neither do we ask the person who gave the gift how many hours of work do they want us to do, perhaps cleaning up their house, or working in their garden. A gift is just that, a gift, freely given by one person to the other. No strings attached. In our Scripture reading today from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, we read of a gift that God has given to us, and as it is a gift, we do not need to work for it.
Paul begins this passage teaching us that before we are saved we are dead in our spirit to God (vs. 4-5). We were eternally separated from Him because of our sin nature. We are guilty before the Lord God, deserving of eternal death. We cannot change this by our own works. The only thing that can change this condition is a new life and a new spirit, which God gives us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. The penalty of sin and its power over us were destroyed by Christ on the Cross. Through faith in Him, we can now stand acquitted, not guilty, before God.
Before we accept Jesus as Savior, we are spiritually dead in our sins, as dead as anyone lying in a coffin. The dead cannot rescue themselves. We cannot earn our salvation. However, because of the love that Jesus has for us, He brings to life what was dead. God loved us when we were dead in our sins (Romans 5:8-10). He paid the penalty for our sins, and raised us with Christ. It is Jesus’ Blood that paid the penalty, not anything that we can do, as we are spiritually dead.
Salvation is a gift. We don’t pay for a gift, or work for it. If we did, it would be an earned salary, what we are owed. However, it is a gift, freely given to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. It is given to us freely, not in exchange for anything we do (vs. 8-9). It comes from the love and the grace of God alone, not because of our merit, but because of His goodness. He always operates on the basis of His grace rather than our works. God knows who and what we are. He offers only one way to be saved for all eternity, and that is by accepting Jesus Christ as Savior. There is no other way.
We can’t earn our salvation, which is based on God’s mercy, grace, and love. However, it does matter to God what we do. As Paul says later in this Epistle, we are to walk as children of the light (Ephesians 5:8-10). Our behavior can grieve the Lord (Ephesians 4:30), and if we love God, it should matter to us, as well. Just because we are saved by grace, and not by our works, doesn’t give us a license to sin.
As Paul continues on in verse 10, we learn that we are saved, and then are able to do good works for the Lord. There can be no good works prior to conversion that would merit salvation. Good works follow, they do not precede salvation. Out of love to God for His gift, we serve Him in love and gratitude.
God’s handiwork, His workmanship in creating us and saving us, should then result in us doing good works, showing our restored relationship with Him, for His glory. We aren’t saved by good works as we are so clearly taught in this Scripture passage, but those good works should, after our salvation, flow forth from us, bringing others to the Lord Jesus. If we do the good works that God has prepared for us to do, with godly motives and for God’s glory, He has then promised to reward us.
Have you been saved by God’s grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son? Or are you still trying to earn your way to heaven by your good works and religious rituals? God’s Word has told us that we cannot earn our salvation. Only the Blood of Jesus, shed upon the Cross, can pay the debt of our sin. No amount of good works and religious rituals can pay that debt. God’s gift of salvation was paid by Jesus’ Blood, and given freely to us, if only we accept and claim it. Call upon Jesus today!
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