So That No One May Boast

I’m continuing to work my way through Ephesians 2. You’ll find what I’ve posted previously at Out of the Ordinary: Our Hope for By Nature, Seated in the Heavenly Places, and Showing His Grace.

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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)

Do you remember the verse that precedes this passage? It’s a purpose statement: God’s ultimate purpose for saving sinners is to show his limitless grace throughout eternity (Ephesians 2:7). The little words “for” at the beginning of verses 8 and 10 connect this passage to the purpose statement in verse 7. (If I substitute “because” for “for” the relationship becomes clearer for me. Try reading it that way.)  

First, the salvation of sinners shows up God’s grace because it’s by grace that sinners are saved. Salvation—the whole process, including the faith that receives it—is the result of God’s gracious work. We contribute nothing. He gives and so we have. If we scored contibutions to salvation, it might look something like this: sinner, zero; God’s immeasurably rich grace: everything!

There’s nothing boast worthy in “not of your own doing” and “not a result of [your] works.” What’s boast worthy in salvation is God’s role in it, because it is “the gift of God” and “by [God’s] grace.” In this way, salvation fulfills God’s purpose for it, showing “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

What’s more, even the fruit of salvation, the good works believers do because they are being saved, is a result of God’s recreative work and precreation plan. If you have been saved, you’ve gone from walking “in trespasses and sins” to walking in “good works” because of God’s grace. Like our salvation itself, the good works resulting from salvation are boast worthy only for God, who graciously prepares them for us and produces them in us.

God has many purposes, of course, for the good works Christians do, but the ultimate purpose is so that we will glorify him forever for his infinite grace.