Eph 2:8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
What a wonderful verse. Grace saved us. Amazing grace, scandalous grace. We, wretched sinners, have been saved, through grace. God loved us THAT MUCH, that while we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us.
And the next verse:
9not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
We cannot do it ourselves, we are unable to save ourselves through our own works. Our works cannot make us righteous, our righteousness is seen as filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Only Christ is righteous, and His righteousness is imputed to us. So we are saved by grace, through faith, not by works. We cannot save ourselves, only Christ can. He shed His blood sacrificially so that we might be saved. We can only fall on our knees at the foot of the cross, and repenting, turn to Him, and be extremely grateful.
But but but! James talks about faith without works being dead! Indeed so!
James 2: 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
And Ephesians 2 continues on, saying the same thing:
10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The works that go with faith, are HIS works. We have already discussed our righteousness being as filthy rags, so why would we think that our works would be pleasing to God, and would achieve righteousness? When we believe Christ, believe His promises, believe that He is our Saviour, and give Him our hearts so that we can have these hearts of stone replaced with hearts of flesh, hearts full of His love, we are no longer the same person. We now want to do HIS will, HIS works….and that is what we do. HIS works of love. Rahab did His works of love Abraham did HIS works of love. Read Hebrews 11 and find all who did likewise.
James said above: I will show you my faith by my works. When he said my works….this means the works that God gives him. The works that are a direct growth of faith, that come to you because of grace. They are from God, not your own idea. James also talks about feeding the poor. And Christ did too. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus talks about the parable of the sheep and the goats. In the judgement, the ones who cared for the unfortunate, fed the poor, visited the prisoner, in other words those that loved as Christ loves us, were those who were rewarded with their inheritance as God’s children. These were the sheep, His followers, and they followed the Good Shepherd. Their faith PRODUCED God’s work.
Your own works does not produce faith. Faith produces God’s work. Your own works stand alone and produce nothing.
Rest in Christ. Have faith in Him, let Him produce in you HIS works. And show the world His love, His saving grace.
Light of Christ 