Day 1 Introduction to the Text Ephesians 2:8-10 This short paragraph is sometimes referred to as the heart of Paul s gospel. Why? Because it succinctly captures and summarizes what he emphasizes regarding salvation in Romans and Galatians. For instance, in discussing God s crediting of Abraham s faith, Paul writes, For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (Rom. 4:16). In other words, the source of our salvation is the grace of God and the means of our salvation is faith in Jesus Christ. But the fact that God offers salvation as a free gift by grace through faith bothers people. In our sinful nature, we are bent toward self-sufficiency and independence rather than relying and depending on God. We are lured into believing that we can do everything ourselves, including, saving ourselves by piling up good things we ve done and then handing them to God with the expectation of receiving a reward. Indeed, this is the way the other monotheistic religions outside of Christianity pursue salvation. They promise salvation and paradise if you strictly follow the rules established by God. In Paul s day, some Jews emphasized works as a means of salvation, believing that all of their works would be totaled up and weighed on the Judgment Day by God. God would then determine if they had earned enough credit to be saved. According to Clinton Arnold, This belief is illustrated in one Jewish document that depicts two angels as holding the scales of judgment and recording sins as well as righteous deeds. At the end of time, the aggregate of each person s deeds is tested by fire. The person whose remaining good works outweigh his evil deeds is justified and the angel of righteousness takes him and carries him up to be saved in the lot of the righteous (Arnold, 315). In this brief passage then, Paul strongly makes the case that salvation is not based on anything we have done or can do. Salvation is based totally on Christ s work on the cross and therefore, we are to put our faith in him alone. Scripture Memory: Ephesians 2:8-10 1
Day 2 What Does the Text Say? Read Ephesians 2:8-10 1. What is the means by which God saves us (v8)? 2. Where does salvation come from (v8)? 3. Why can no one boast in their own salvation (vv8-9)? 4. What has God done to us in Christ Jesus (v10)? 5. What did God prepare beforehand (v10)? 6. What is different about our walk in verse 10 from our walk in verse 2? 2
Read Ephesians 2:8-10 again Day 3 What Does the Text Mean? Verse 8: by grace...through faith... For Paul in this letter, as elsewhere, faith and believing cover a broad field of meaning. For his use in v. 8 he focuses attention clearly on the point at which one enters into the saved condition.... We are saved not on account of faith but through it. Of through faith, Best, 226, says, It is their response to what God has done; it represents their openness to his activity; it is not something which combined with that activity produces salvation. God s grace moved him to save. To obtain salvation a person must respond to God, that is, exercise faith which in essence means to trust him, or to exhibit a firm commitment to him (BDAG, 819). Faith is the means by which humans appropriate salvation. To believe God implies abandoning all attempts to save oneself and accepting what God has done in Christ (Klein, 69-70). it is the gift of God... Some (wrongly, I think) find Paul here teaching that faith is the gift rather than salvation, though seeing faith as the gift emerges in Christian interpretation in the fourth to fifth centuries (e.g., Chrysostom, Jerome, Fulgentius; cf. Edwards, 134 35). Grammar makes this unlikely, though not impossible. Furthermore, taking faith as the gift makes the words not from yourselves merely parenthetical, whereas in fact they form part of Paul s main point: the antithesis of grace versus human performance (cf. Best, 226). Beyond these would be the massive theological issue which Ephesians never addresses of to whom God gives faith and from whom he withholds it. Very likely, then, this entire process of salvation salvation by grace through faith is not of human origin but comes as a gracious gift from God. The great majority of modern commentators correctly support this option. God s provision of salvation is his gracious gift. What the spiritually dead could never do, God did for them when they placed their trust in him (Klein, 70). 3
Verse 9:...of works... works here and elsewhere may refer to any human activities (including Jewish practices) or efforts that people perform to gain favor with God (or the gods) and secure salvation. Paul argued that such works play no role in people s acquisition of salvation (Ro 4:2 6; 9:32). In fact, grace and works are antithetical to each other (Ro 11:6). So the way of faith excludes human boasting (Ro 3:27; 4:2). Any boasting must be a boast in God, in which his people exult in his great grace and ascribe glory to him (1 Co 1:29 31) (Klein, 70)....may boast... Boasting is a characteristically Pauline theme, which frequently occurs in polemical contexts. The apostles references to it need to be understood against the contemporary backgrounds of the professional practices of the sophists, among others, and of the Jews, whose basic attitude was one of selfconfidence before God, convinced that their membership in the covenant people and keeping of the law would bring honor to themselves. As Paul attacks the doctrine of justification by works, so he opposes all boasting based on self-trust (O Brien, 177). Verse 10:...His workmanship... The work of grace which has transformed those who were spiritually and morally dead into new men and women, alive with the resurrection life of Christ, is God s work from first to last: we are his workmanship. The word so translated is used in one other place in the Pauline writings in Rom. 1:20, where it refers (in the plural) to God s created works. Here, however, it refers to the new creation of which Paul speaks more than once. This new creation (as is emphasized below in v. 15) transcends natural distinctions of the old order: in it neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation (Gal. 6:15); if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). The new heaven and earth of which an OT prophet spoke (Isa. 65:17; 66:22) have come into existence already in this new order, created in Christ Jesus (Bruce, 290-291)....good works... In Ephesians 2:10 good works is a general and comprehensive expression for godly behavior. It is not further defined, but its implications will be taken up and amplified in the exhortatory sections of the letter (in 4:17 6:20). Put simply, it is God s will that those who belong to the new creation should be characterized by a lifestyle which ultimately reflects his own character and action (O Brien, 180). 4
Day 4 What Difference Does the Text Make? Read Ephesians 2:8-10 again 1. What is the best gift you have ever received? 2. How would you describe God s grace to you? 3. Why don t we deserve God s grace, mercy, or riches? 4. How do you see God s creative workmanship operating in your life? 5
Day 5 What Must I Change? Review and reflect on your study of the passage 1. How does knowing that salvation is by grace free you to serve God? 2. What do you sense God calling you to do in your life? 3. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, what good work for the kingdom of God can you do this week? 6
Bibliography Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update. Arnold, Clinton E. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Romans to Philemon. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002. Bruce, F. F. The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984. Klein, William W. Ephesians. In The Expositor s Bible Commentary: Ephesians Philemon (Revised Edition), edited by Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, Vol. 12. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006. O Brien, Peter Thomas. The Letter to the Ephesians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999. 7
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