How We Are Saved
Ephesians 2:8-9
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Sermon Summary We are saved from sin by the grace of God with no contribution of our own. Yes, we must have faith in Christ, but even our faith is a gift from God and a part of His grace. Behold just how amazing God's grace to us really is. |
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Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
In his book Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace, James Boice recounts how John Newton became a Christian:
“Newton was raised in a Christian home, but his mother died when he was only six years old. He was sent to live with a relative who hated the Bible and mocked Christianity. He ran away to sea. He was wild in those years. So wild that he was known for being able to swear for two hours without repeating himself. He was forced to enlist in the British navy, but he deserted, was captured, and was beaten publicly as a punishment. But again he escaped and fled to Africa, where, as he said, he might sin his fill.
“Newton fell in with a Portuguese slave trader, in whose home he was cruelly treated. He was forced to eat his food on the ground like a dog, but beaten mercilessly if he touched it. In time, Newton escaped again and was picked up by a British ship making its way to England. He continued his streak. One day he broke into the ship’s supply of rum and got the whole crew drunk. He was so drunk himself that, when the captain returned, he struck him, and Newton fell overboard. He would have drowned had not the crew hauled him back in.
“Near the end of one voyage, the ship ran into bad weather. Water poured in, and the ship began to sink. He was sent to the bottom of the ship to pump water. The storm lasted for days and he was terrified. He was sure he was going to drown. But while he desperately pumped that water the Lord began to call to his mind the Bible verses he had been taught as a small child. And in the hold of that ship, he was born again.
“He went on to study theology and become one of England’s finest preachers. He would also write the words to the most familiar tunes: Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”
Whenever we hear someone’s testimony there is something moving about it. Even if we have not lived a life like Newton, there is something beautiful about our story. That’s because it is always a testimony to what our God does to save a sinner. God is magnified in each and every believer because their salvation is an expression of his divine intervention.
We’ve had the opportunity to witness how beautiful this is over the last several weeks. Two weeks ago, we looked at verses 1-3 and saw our need for God’s intervention. We saw how desperate our condition as sinners really is. Then, last week, we looked at the fact that the Lord does intervene in the lives of his people.
In examining those passages we’ve noted that God alone authors our salvation. As we come to our passage today, we find that this truth is reiterated once again. This time, though, the focus is on how it is we come to be saved from sin. In these two verses, the Apostle Paul shows us the basic components of what it takes to be a Christian. And, in showing us the nature of our salvation, he points to the indisputable reality that God alone is worthy of our praise.
The two verses before us this morning can easily be divided into two parts. On the one hand, you have a positive statement regarding how it is we are saved. And then it is followed by two negative statements which seek to further clarify it. In sum, Paul tells us what comprises our salvation and what does not. In each case, we see that Paul is emphasizing how our salvation is owed solely to the Lord.
We can begin by asking, “How is it that we escape God’s wrath and curse and gain eternal life?” And we see it set forth first by means of a positive statement.
I. Positively
The text says that we are saved “by grace” and “through faith.”
A. Salvation is by grace
I actually appreciate the way our English versions lay this sentence out. In the Greek language, the word order is much more fluid. In English, we often stress the subject-verb word order. We are much more rigid in our sentence structure. Not so in Greek. In Greek, you can toss words in almost anywhere and still make sense of the language.
And often what they do is add emphasis by placing the most important words in the front and the lesser words towards the end. Our English translations reflect the original language when they says, “by grace you have been saved.”
What is the most important part of our salvation? It is God’s grace. It is his will to pardon. It is the favor he chooses to show. It is his willingness to overlook the wrongs we have committed and not hold them against us.
God’s grace is the ground of our salvation. It is the thing upon which our salvation is based. There is no other cause or reason for our salvation. Our deliverance is wholly dependent upon God’s grace.
And you understand what this means. It means that God did not treat us as we deserve. He gave us what we did not deserve.
Let’s say that when you walk out into the parking lot today, you find a very large scratch down the side of your car. The thick white streak stands out like a highlighter on a page of a book against the dark color of your vehicle. And there at the other end of the car, you see me. I’m standing there with a sharp piece of metal in my hand and I’m looking at you with a face that says, “Guilty.”
At that moment, you have the right to be ferociously angry with me. I have just vandalized your car. I did not treat you or your car with the respect and care that I am required to give. You have every reason to be miffed because I have just defaced your property. And now, you have the right to throw the book at me, as they say. I deserve to be cited by the police. I am liable for whatever penalty they would impose on me. I at least should be fined and made to repay what I damaged. And, if you would have to get a rental car in the meantime while this scratch is being fixed, then I should have to pay for that too.
And that’s only the legal side of things. There are other ramifications that very well could be meted out. You may choose to shun me for the rest of your life. You could choose to never talk to me again.
Some of you might think that is a little harsh, but that’s perfectly just. You have the right to do that. Because of that violation, you have the right to be angry and remain angry. The only reason why it may seem wrong is that the Bible teaches us to forgive and show some clemency. But that’s just how ingrained grace is in us. If we are speaking in terms of real and pure justice, becoming alienated from one another is perfectly legit.
Now, let’s say that after you spot me, I come over to you and I start apologizing profusely. I explain that I didn’t mean to do it and that it was an accident. I tell you I will fix it and start making plans to take care of it.
Interestingly, that doesn’t necessarily change a thing. You really do not have to respond to my expressions of sorrow and regret. You would be perfectly within your rights to ignore my pleas. My tears and words are not enough to rectify the relationship.
The only way that things could be changed is if you saw fit to show grace to me and pardon my wrong. Our friendship is solely based upon your ability to give me what I do not deserve.
Hopefully, you are seeing the connection to the spiritual realities. Our sin against God is no small matter. The God of heaven has the right to do all that and more to each and every one of us. As sinners who have trespassed his law, we deserve that alienation. We deserve to pay the fine of eternal punishment.
This is what salvation is all about. It is God delivering us from the just penalty of our sins. And hopefully, you now recognize how our salvation depends only on God’s grace. It is grounded in his having treated us in a way that we do not deserve.
It is not because we were sorry enough. It is not because we asked for forgiveness. It is not because we cried or lamented what we did that we gained this salvation. We should be sorry. We should lament all the ways we have offended him. No doubt, we should do all those things. But God didn’t save us because we did those things. It’s not because we raised our hand or went forward at some meeting. That might have happened on the night when we were delivered from our sins, but that didn’t bring about our salvation. The only reason why we stand forgiven and have bypassed hell forever is that God has been gracious to us.
Though we had forfeited any right to blessing and only brought condemnation upon ourselves, we, by God’s grace, are (and can be) saved.
This is not to say that your role is completely excluded, though. There is a human component. It would be wrong to say that we are completely passive when it comes to God’s gift of salvation. For you see that the verse goes on to say that we are saved “through faith.”
B. Salvation is through faith
This is our side of it. God’s grace requires a human response. If there is no response - if there is no faith - then there is no salvation. We are saved through faith.
But if you understand this correctly, you will understand that faith is just that: it is a response. Faith is not the impetus to our salvation. Faith is not a work that merits our salvation, but rather it is the means by which we receive it. We are saved by grace through faith. Grace is the cause and faith is the instrument or the avenue by which we are saved.
Al Martin gives several good examples to illustrate what we mean by saying that we are saved through faith or that faith is the instrumental means of our salvation. He says we must imagine a child who has been playing around on an icy pond. As he is fiddling around, the ice breaks beneath him and he plunges down under the water. Immediately the frigid temperatures start to grip him. He’s able, though, to get his head above the water and cry out. Not far from the pond is a shop owner and he hears the garbled screams. And because he’s a compassionate man, he comes to the boy’s rescue. He, of course, is not going to step out onto the ice. If he does, he will bust through and be in the very same predicament. So what does he do? He will grab a branch or large stick and hold it out to the boy. The boy can then grab hold of the stick and be pulled to safety.
Thinking about that story, Martin asks, Who is the author of the salvation? It is the shopkeeper. What is the cause of the boy’s being brought to safety? It is the man’s compassion. His kindness moved him to help that boy. Then, what would be the means of his salvation? It is the pole or branch that the man used to pull him to safety.
We can say that the boy was saved by the shopkeeper. We may say that his life was preserved because of the man’s kindness. We may also say he was saved by means of the branch and his grabbing hold of the pole.
Similarly, if you are a beggar on the brink of starvation, someone might offer you bread. You may lay hold of that bread and eat it. That, we may say, is the means of your deliverance. If you do not receive the bread and put it in your mouth, you are doomed to die.
So we can say that we were delivered from starvation by the man who gave us the bread. His kindness and generosity were the cause of our salvation. We may also say we were saved by means of the bread and our taking and eating the bread.
Now, you recognize, in both cases, the one who is saved does not glory by the means. He praises the shopkeeper or the rich man who offered him bread. He may say that he is thankful for that person’s compassion and generosity, but he does not say, “Praise be to the pole and my ability to grab the pole.” He does not build a monument to his ability to chew the bread.
In the same way, faith is necessary for salvation, but it is not the focus of our adoration. The means is never the object of our attention. All the attention and praise will be on the one who did the saving and his generosity. No one would build a monument to their teeth or to their hands. That would be absurd.
But it is absolutely necessary for salvation. We must believe in Christ in order to be saved. We must receive and rest upon Jesus, or we will be utterly lost. The Scripture makes it clear that he who does not believe stands condemned already. So if you fail to put your faith in Christ and trust in him as the Savior, then you will find that your unbelief will leave you in a lost condition.
We must recognize that God’s grace and salvation do require a response. You must receive it. The boy who does not reach up and grab hold of the pole that is offered to him will die by drowning. The man who does not take the bread and eat it will die of starvation. And the one who does not lay hold of the cross whereupon Jesus was crucified and does not put his trust in Christ (who is the bread of life), will find himself dying the death of deaths. There is only one way to be saved from that terrible predicament, and that is through faith.
That then is how we come to be saved. Paul shows us the essential components of how we come to be Christians. But you’ll notice that Paul isn’t finished. He goes on in the next part to state it again. Only this time he says it negatively. He says what it is not.
II. Negatively
There are two things that you should see here. First, when we think of our salvation, we should recognize that we do not initiate our salvation in any way whatsoever.
A. We do not initiate our salvation
Paul wants us to understand that our salvation is all of God, and not dependent in the least on anything we can do. That’s why he says, “This is not of yourselves.”
Now, what exactly is he talking about here? He says that salvation is by grace and through faith, and this is not of yourselves. What exactly does he mean when he says “this.” What does the “this” refer to?
Let me get a little geeky with regard to the Greek language. The word “this” is in the neuter. In the Greek language, there are words that are masculine, feminine, and neuter. For instance, the words “grace” and “faith” are both feminine, and the word “salvation” is masculine. But the word “this” is neuter, meaning that it is neither masculine nor feminine.
Because it is neuter, it has a holistic sense about it. It is comprehensive. So you can say that salvation is not of yourselves, grace is not of yourselves, and furthermore, you should recognize that even your faith is not of yourselves. Your faith may be your response to salvation and grace, but even that must first be given by God.
We know that the Lord is the one who increases our faith. Here we should understand that he initiates the faith too. Indeed, that’s what verses 1-3 tell us. We do not have faith. Our faith is in our flesh. Our faith is in the devil; that’s why we follow him. Our faith is in the world; we believe that the world is right and we follow it. And being dead in our sins, we do not have the ability to put our faith in God. Therefore, our faith must first be given to us.
And so the whole package of salvation should be recognized as a gift that God gives. In the words of Jonathan Edwards, the only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that makes it necessary. Everything else is God’s doing.
So we recognize that salvation is in no way initiated by us. It is initiated by God and God alone. But we may also go on to say that just as we do not initiate our salvation, we do not contribute to it in any way either.
B. We do not contribute to our salvation
Paul ends in verse 9 by saying that it is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” This is the crux of the matter. Paul throws down the gauntlet here and declares that no man can do anything or add anything to his salvation.
If we are going to talk about works, we may talk about the work of Christ or the work of God whereby he grants grace, saves, or creates the faith we show. But we may not in any way say that we have done any works which merit it or contribute to salvation. For once we do, we have a reason to boast. We may say, “Ha! Look at what I did. Look at how I helped God and gained for myself this great gift.”
This is where we as humans need to be aware that it is our tendency to try and add something. In our vanity, we want to have some sort of part to play. Paul here is obviously speaking to the great evil of his day, proposed by the Judaizers. They would say that you need faith in Christ, but you also need to uphold certain aspects of the law of Moses (such as circumcision) in order to be saved.
In the Roman Catholic tradition, they make the same mistake. The RCC will say that you need faith, but you also need to be baptized. You need prayers and penance to go along with it. They will never say that faith isn’t necessary. They will avidly affirm the need for faith, but they will also sneak in there that little bit of obedience that is necessary, too.
When you truly examine any of the cults, what you will find is that they not only err when it comes to the Trinity, but they are also defective because they have added some kind of work to their salvation. They not only believe in a wrong god, but they must also then do something to gain the salvation that that this god supposedly offers.
I would also suggest that the modern evangelical belief that is wrapped up with the Arminian scheme of things also falls into this trap. For instance, Billy Graham is noted to have said in his invitation at the end of his gospel crusade messages that “God can do 99% of the work, but you must still do your part.” The idea is that you cannot be born again until you exercise your faith. You understand that, in this respect, faith is turned into the controlling power of salvation. God cannot do anything until you let him. And once you exercise your faith, then he can come and save you. What happens is that faith is exercised and, as a result, God owes you that salvation.
So, in the end, in every age and every place, the question becomes, “Is our salvation completely dependent upon God, or is there something we must do? Is there some condition man must fulfill by his own work in order to gain eternal life? Is there something that we must contribute to our salvation to help God along in the process?”
But once we cross that line, we have infringed upon the formula that the apostle Paul has laid out here. And ultimately, the greater crime is that you have stolen from God; you’ve stolen the glory that he alone is due.
Conclusion:
Again, the point of this is not to trumpet the doctrines of Calvinism. The purpose is that God would be rightly acknowledged as the one and only Savior who should be given all praise. When we understand the dynamics of salvation and how it all comes through his gracious gifting of it to us, then we will join with Newton and say,
When we’ve been there 10,000 years
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
In his book Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace, James Boice recounts how John Newton became a Christian:
“Newton was raised in a Christian home, but his mother died when he was only six years old. He was sent to live with a relative who hated the Bible and mocked Christianity. He ran away to sea. He was wild in those years. So wild that he was known for being able to swear for two hours without repeating himself. He was forced to enlist in the British navy, but he deserted, was captured, and was beaten publicly as a punishment. But again he escaped and fled to Africa, where, as he said, he might sin his fill.
“Newton fell in with a Portuguese slave trader, in whose home he was cruelly treated. He was forced to eat his food on the ground like a dog, but beaten mercilessly if he touched it. In time, Newton escaped again and was picked up by a British ship making its way to England. He continued his streak. One day he broke into the ship’s supply of rum and got the whole crew drunk. He was so drunk himself that, when the captain returned, he struck him, and Newton fell overboard. He would have drowned had not the crew hauled him back in.
“Near the end of one voyage, the ship ran into bad weather. Water poured in, and the ship began to sink. He was sent to the bottom of the ship to pump water. The storm lasted for days and he was terrified. He was sure he was going to drown. But while he desperately pumped that water the Lord began to call to his mind the Bible verses he had been taught as a small child. And in the hold of that ship, he was born again.
“He went on to study theology and become one of England’s finest preachers. He would also write the words to the most familiar tunes: Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”
Whenever we hear someone’s testimony there is something moving about it. Even if we have not lived a life like Newton, there is something beautiful about our story. That’s because it is always a testimony to what our God does to save a sinner. God is magnified in each and every believer because their salvation is an expression of his divine intervention.
We’ve had the opportunity to witness how beautiful this is over the last several weeks. Two weeks ago, we looked at verses 1-3 and saw our need for God’s intervention. We saw how desperate our condition as sinners really is. Then, last week, we looked at the fact that the Lord does intervene in the lives of his people.
In examining those passages we’ve noted that God alone authors our salvation. As we come to our passage today, we find that this truth is reiterated once again. This time, though, the focus is on how it is we come to be saved from sin. In these two verses, the Apostle Paul shows us the basic components of what it takes to be a Christian. And, in showing us the nature of our salvation, he points to the indisputable reality that God alone is worthy of our praise.
The two verses before us this morning can easily be divided into two parts. On the one hand, you have a positive statement regarding how it is we are saved. And then it is followed by two negative statements which seek to further clarify it. In sum, Paul tells us what comprises our salvation and what does not. In each case, we see that Paul is emphasizing how our salvation is owed solely to the Lord.
We can begin by asking, “How is it that we escape God’s wrath and curse and gain eternal life?” And we see it set forth first by means of a positive statement.
I. Positively
The text says that we are saved “by grace” and “through faith.”
A. Salvation is by grace
I actually appreciate the way our English versions lay this sentence out. In the Greek language, the word order is much more fluid. In English, we often stress the subject-verb word order. We are much more rigid in our sentence structure. Not so in Greek. In Greek, you can toss words in almost anywhere and still make sense of the language.
And often what they do is add emphasis by placing the most important words in the front and the lesser words towards the end. Our English translations reflect the original language when they says, “by grace you have been saved.”
What is the most important part of our salvation? It is God’s grace. It is his will to pardon. It is the favor he chooses to show. It is his willingness to overlook the wrongs we have committed and not hold them against us.
God’s grace is the ground of our salvation. It is the thing upon which our salvation is based. There is no other cause or reason for our salvation. Our deliverance is wholly dependent upon God’s grace.
And you understand what this means. It means that God did not treat us as we deserve. He gave us what we did not deserve.
Let’s say that when you walk out into the parking lot today, you find a very large scratch down the side of your car. The thick white streak stands out like a highlighter on a page of a book against the dark color of your vehicle. And there at the other end of the car, you see me. I’m standing there with a sharp piece of metal in my hand and I’m looking at you with a face that says, “Guilty.”
At that moment, you have the right to be ferociously angry with me. I have just vandalized your car. I did not treat you or your car with the respect and care that I am required to give. You have every reason to be miffed because I have just defaced your property. And now, you have the right to throw the book at me, as they say. I deserve to be cited by the police. I am liable for whatever penalty they would impose on me. I at least should be fined and made to repay what I damaged. And, if you would have to get a rental car in the meantime while this scratch is being fixed, then I should have to pay for that too.
And that’s only the legal side of things. There are other ramifications that very well could be meted out. You may choose to shun me for the rest of your life. You could choose to never talk to me again.
Some of you might think that is a little harsh, but that’s perfectly just. You have the right to do that. Because of that violation, you have the right to be angry and remain angry. The only reason why it may seem wrong is that the Bible teaches us to forgive and show some clemency. But that’s just how ingrained grace is in us. If we are speaking in terms of real and pure justice, becoming alienated from one another is perfectly legit.
Now, let’s say that after you spot me, I come over to you and I start apologizing profusely. I explain that I didn’t mean to do it and that it was an accident. I tell you I will fix it and start making plans to take care of it.
Interestingly, that doesn’t necessarily change a thing. You really do not have to respond to my expressions of sorrow and regret. You would be perfectly within your rights to ignore my pleas. My tears and words are not enough to rectify the relationship.
The only way that things could be changed is if you saw fit to show grace to me and pardon my wrong. Our friendship is solely based upon your ability to give me what I do not deserve.
Hopefully, you are seeing the connection to the spiritual realities. Our sin against God is no small matter. The God of heaven has the right to do all that and more to each and every one of us. As sinners who have trespassed his law, we deserve that alienation. We deserve to pay the fine of eternal punishment.
This is what salvation is all about. It is God delivering us from the just penalty of our sins. And hopefully, you now recognize how our salvation depends only on God’s grace. It is grounded in his having treated us in a way that we do not deserve.
It is not because we were sorry enough. It is not because we asked for forgiveness. It is not because we cried or lamented what we did that we gained this salvation. We should be sorry. We should lament all the ways we have offended him. No doubt, we should do all those things. But God didn’t save us because we did those things. It’s not because we raised our hand or went forward at some meeting. That might have happened on the night when we were delivered from our sins, but that didn’t bring about our salvation. The only reason why we stand forgiven and have bypassed hell forever is that God has been gracious to us.
Though we had forfeited any right to blessing and only brought condemnation upon ourselves, we, by God’s grace, are (and can be) saved.
This is not to say that your role is completely excluded, though. There is a human component. It would be wrong to say that we are completely passive when it comes to God’s gift of salvation. For you see that the verse goes on to say that we are saved “through faith.”
B. Salvation is through faith
This is our side of it. God’s grace requires a human response. If there is no response - if there is no faith - then there is no salvation. We are saved through faith.
But if you understand this correctly, you will understand that faith is just that: it is a response. Faith is not the impetus to our salvation. Faith is not a work that merits our salvation, but rather it is the means by which we receive it. We are saved by grace through faith. Grace is the cause and faith is the instrument or the avenue by which we are saved.
Al Martin gives several good examples to illustrate what we mean by saying that we are saved through faith or that faith is the instrumental means of our salvation. He says we must imagine a child who has been playing around on an icy pond. As he is fiddling around, the ice breaks beneath him and he plunges down under the water. Immediately the frigid temperatures start to grip him. He’s able, though, to get his head above the water and cry out. Not far from the pond is a shop owner and he hears the garbled screams. And because he’s a compassionate man, he comes to the boy’s rescue. He, of course, is not going to step out onto the ice. If he does, he will bust through and be in the very same predicament. So what does he do? He will grab a branch or large stick and hold it out to the boy. The boy can then grab hold of the stick and be pulled to safety.
Thinking about that story, Martin asks, Who is the author of the salvation? It is the shopkeeper. What is the cause of the boy’s being brought to safety? It is the man’s compassion. His kindness moved him to help that boy. Then, what would be the means of his salvation? It is the pole or branch that the man used to pull him to safety.
We can say that the boy was saved by the shopkeeper. We may say that his life was preserved because of the man’s kindness. We may also say he was saved by means of the branch and his grabbing hold of the pole.
Similarly, if you are a beggar on the brink of starvation, someone might offer you bread. You may lay hold of that bread and eat it. That, we may say, is the means of your deliverance. If you do not receive the bread and put it in your mouth, you are doomed to die.
So we can say that we were delivered from starvation by the man who gave us the bread. His kindness and generosity were the cause of our salvation. We may also say we were saved by means of the bread and our taking and eating the bread.
Now, you recognize, in both cases, the one who is saved does not glory by the means. He praises the shopkeeper or the rich man who offered him bread. He may say that he is thankful for that person’s compassion and generosity, but he does not say, “Praise be to the pole and my ability to grab the pole.” He does not build a monument to his ability to chew the bread.
In the same way, faith is necessary for salvation, but it is not the focus of our adoration. The means is never the object of our attention. All the attention and praise will be on the one who did the saving and his generosity. No one would build a monument to their teeth or to their hands. That would be absurd.
But it is absolutely necessary for salvation. We must believe in Christ in order to be saved. We must receive and rest upon Jesus, or we will be utterly lost. The Scripture makes it clear that he who does not believe stands condemned already. So if you fail to put your faith in Christ and trust in him as the Savior, then you will find that your unbelief will leave you in a lost condition.
We must recognize that God’s grace and salvation do require a response. You must receive it. The boy who does not reach up and grab hold of the pole that is offered to him will die by drowning. The man who does not take the bread and eat it will die of starvation. And the one who does not lay hold of the cross whereupon Jesus was crucified and does not put his trust in Christ (who is the bread of life), will find himself dying the death of deaths. There is only one way to be saved from that terrible predicament, and that is through faith.
That then is how we come to be saved. Paul shows us the essential components of how we come to be Christians. But you’ll notice that Paul isn’t finished. He goes on in the next part to state it again. Only this time he says it negatively. He says what it is not.
II. Negatively
There are two things that you should see here. First, when we think of our salvation, we should recognize that we do not initiate our salvation in any way whatsoever.
A. We do not initiate our salvation
Paul wants us to understand that our salvation is all of God, and not dependent in the least on anything we can do. That’s why he says, “This is not of yourselves.”
Now, what exactly is he talking about here? He says that salvation is by grace and through faith, and this is not of yourselves. What exactly does he mean when he says “this.” What does the “this” refer to?
Let me get a little geeky with regard to the Greek language. The word “this” is in the neuter. In the Greek language, there are words that are masculine, feminine, and neuter. For instance, the words “grace” and “faith” are both feminine, and the word “salvation” is masculine. But the word “this” is neuter, meaning that it is neither masculine nor feminine.
Because it is neuter, it has a holistic sense about it. It is comprehensive. So you can say that salvation is not of yourselves, grace is not of yourselves, and furthermore, you should recognize that even your faith is not of yourselves. Your faith may be your response to salvation and grace, but even that must first be given by God.
We know that the Lord is the one who increases our faith. Here we should understand that he initiates the faith too. Indeed, that’s what verses 1-3 tell us. We do not have faith. Our faith is in our flesh. Our faith is in the devil; that’s why we follow him. Our faith is in the world; we believe that the world is right and we follow it. And being dead in our sins, we do not have the ability to put our faith in God. Therefore, our faith must first be given to us.
And so the whole package of salvation should be recognized as a gift that God gives. In the words of Jonathan Edwards, the only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that makes it necessary. Everything else is God’s doing.
So we recognize that salvation is in no way initiated by us. It is initiated by God and God alone. But we may also go on to say that just as we do not initiate our salvation, we do not contribute to it in any way either.
B. We do not contribute to our salvation
Paul ends in verse 9 by saying that it is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” This is the crux of the matter. Paul throws down the gauntlet here and declares that no man can do anything or add anything to his salvation.
If we are going to talk about works, we may talk about the work of Christ or the work of God whereby he grants grace, saves, or creates the faith we show. But we may not in any way say that we have done any works which merit it or contribute to salvation. For once we do, we have a reason to boast. We may say, “Ha! Look at what I did. Look at how I helped God and gained for myself this great gift.”
This is where we as humans need to be aware that it is our tendency to try and add something. In our vanity, we want to have some sort of part to play. Paul here is obviously speaking to the great evil of his day, proposed by the Judaizers. They would say that you need faith in Christ, but you also need to uphold certain aspects of the law of Moses (such as circumcision) in order to be saved.
In the Roman Catholic tradition, they make the same mistake. The RCC will say that you need faith, but you also need to be baptized. You need prayers and penance to go along with it. They will never say that faith isn’t necessary. They will avidly affirm the need for faith, but they will also sneak in there that little bit of obedience that is necessary, too.
When you truly examine any of the cults, what you will find is that they not only err when it comes to the Trinity, but they are also defective because they have added some kind of work to their salvation. They not only believe in a wrong god, but they must also then do something to gain the salvation that that this god supposedly offers.
I would also suggest that the modern evangelical belief that is wrapped up with the Arminian scheme of things also falls into this trap. For instance, Billy Graham is noted to have said in his invitation at the end of his gospel crusade messages that “God can do 99% of the work, but you must still do your part.” The idea is that you cannot be born again until you exercise your faith. You understand that, in this respect, faith is turned into the controlling power of salvation. God cannot do anything until you let him. And once you exercise your faith, then he can come and save you. What happens is that faith is exercised and, as a result, God owes you that salvation.
So, in the end, in every age and every place, the question becomes, “Is our salvation completely dependent upon God, or is there something we must do? Is there some condition man must fulfill by his own work in order to gain eternal life? Is there something that we must contribute to our salvation to help God along in the process?”
But once we cross that line, we have infringed upon the formula that the apostle Paul has laid out here. And ultimately, the greater crime is that you have stolen from God; you’ve stolen the glory that he alone is due.
Conclusion:
Again, the point of this is not to trumpet the doctrines of Calvinism. The purpose is that God would be rightly acknowledged as the one and only Savior who should be given all praise. When we understand the dynamics of salvation and how it all comes through his gracious gifting of it to us, then we will join with Newton and say,
When we’ve been there 10,000 years
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.