Eph 2:8–10 — The New Creation

Review.

The amazing grace of God when we were dead in our sins, he made us alive. He made us alive by raising us up with Jesus Jesus was our covenant head. Thus, when he was raised, we were raised as well - because of our union with him. Thus, salvation is totally grace for it happened outside of ourselves when we were helpless, and in our sins. We contributed nothing. We were totally passive in this spiritual transaction. It was a monergistic work of the sovereign God. But not only have we been made alive with Christ, we have also been seated with him in the heavenly places Salvation is not an end in itself but a means to the inheritance. The inheritance is the goal of everything that we might be joint heirs with Christ of eternal life with God in heaven forever. This will redound to God’s praise in the ages to come (v. 7). The inheritance is not only for our enjoyment, but even more so, it is for God’s glory Salvation is a sovereign work of God’s grace in co-raising us up with Christ and transferring us to the heavenly realm in order that God alone might be the object of eternal adoration and praise in the ages upon ages upon ages to come.

Now, in vv. 8-10 …

Paul expands on a parenthetical remark he made in v. 5 “by grace you have been saved” Focus of this text is to explicate further the nature of God’s grace. There are two things Paul wants to say about grace:

Verses 8-9: Grace is opposed to all human participation and works. Thus, there is no room for boasting before God. All the glory in this business must go to God alone. However, there is a second, counterbalancing point …

Verse 10: Although Paul rejects all human effort in effecting our salvation he does not reject good works per se for they are the very thing for which we have been saved Salvation is a new creation and good works are the result. This merely reinforces the point that we cannot contribute anything to our salvation by our good works, because good works are the result not the cause of salvation.

(1) Verses 8-9: Grace is opposed to all human participation and works

“For by grace you have been saved”

Tense of the verb - “by grace you are saved” not “you have been saved” Salvation is an event in which we participate not an occurrence in our lives “Evangelical-speak” When did you get saved?

This is not what Paul means by the term Salvation is an eschatological deliverance from the wrath of God. This deliverance occurred historically once for all when God poured out his wrath on Jesus and then raised him from the dead “By grace you are eschatologically delivered through faith” So, this salvation is an eschatological deliverance but it is something is presently ours - it is the already of salvation. There are two aspects of the already of salvation, to benefits that we presently enjoy by union with Christ:

Regeneration Context deals with our spiritual resurrection. This focuses our attention primarily on the new birth Spiritual change:

from being dead in sins, enslaved to the lusts of the flesh to being alive unto God, inducted into his service Justification. What is stated here about our salvation (by faith not by works) is characteristically the language Paul uses in reference to justification Furthermore, the concept of justification is implied when Paul says that we have been seated with Christ in the heavenly realm. What did it mean for Christ to be seated at God’s right hand?

It meant that, having completed the covenant of works, Jesus was rewarded with the honor of exaltation, that is, being given the inheritance as his rightful due Since Christ was exalted at God’s right hand in the heavenly realm for us, as our covenant head, as the Last Adam, Paul makes the point here that we too were co-seated with Christ in the heavenly realm in Christ Jesus Thus, justification is implied here, even though the word isn’t used because justification is the legal act whereby we are given the right and title to the eternal inheritance on the basis of the covenant headship of Christ who earned the inheritance for us. Although sometimes theologians speak of adoption as a separate thing after justification, you see that it is really part and parcel of justification Adoption means being given the right to inherit. We are given the right to inherit because of justification in Christ. So, the term “saved” in our text is a summary term that includes both regeneration and justification Paul is not here distinguishing sharply between the judicial and the transformative benefits of salvation His focus is on the objective, historical event of Christ’s resurrection. Both regeneration and justification are included since both are made ours by union with Christ’s death & resurrection “… through faith” Faith is the means by which we lay hold of the benefits of Christ Faith is not a work. It is rather a looking to outside of oneself to Another. It is an empty hand that receives the gift. It is dependence upon God’s faithfulness. You are now eschatologically delivered. And this deliverance is enjoyed now by faith. Why faith?

Because the eschatological deliverance we now enjoy in Christ is not evident to us in any other way. It can only be grasped and laid hold of by faith Like Noah building the ark in faith. He looked ahead to being delivered from the flood and thus, by means of faith, he was in essence already delivered already enjoying the gift of salvation in its realized dimension.

“And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”

Most commentators take the word “that” as a reference to the whole idea of the previous sentence, namely, salvation by grace through faith. However, it is grammatically possible that Paul is referring specifically to faith itself as the gift of God Paul would then be saying that the faith by which we are saved is itself a gift of grace Faith does not originate within man as if God provided the salvation and man provides the faith to receive it. It is not that God provides the salvation and we have to supply the faith to receive it. No, God supplies both. He even grants us the gift of faith for we are spiritually dead apart from his gracious Spirit working in our hearts and causing us to embrace Jesus Christ. This would be a good proof text for the doctrine of effectual calling. The general call of the gospel. The effectual call by which our dead hearts are made alive so that we might respond in faith to the gospel and thus come to Jesus Christ.

“Not as a result of works, so that no one may boast”

Boasting is utterly excluded God doesn’t his glory to be spread around equally. He is jealous for his own glory Ezek. 36:22-23 Isaiah 42:7-8 If we are justified by works or by what set us apart from the rest, then we would have something to boast about But God has saved the weak and the foolish things of the world in order to demonstrate the glory of his grace so that the one who boasts, must boast only in the Lord. We must stop putting confidence in the flesh Our good upbringing Our refinement and good taste Our intelligence and education Our ethnicity or race. All of these things are the flesh. Although they mean much to the world they mean very little in the sight of God Paul has already declared what we were in God’s sight apart from Christ in vv. 1-3 - children of wrath Nothing matters, then, but our identity as those united to Christ.

(2) Verse 10: Salvation is a new creation and good works are its result

In v. 6 salvation is described as a resurrection from the dead. Now in v. 10 it is described as a new creation. The verse begins with the word “for” Paul here provides a further reason why salvation is not a result of human effort or works Salvation is by grace alone, apart from man’s works, because we were saved unto good works not by them If good works are the result of our salvation, how can they be the basis of our salvation?

A tree is not made to grow because of the fruit it produces!

“Workmanship”

Poor translation of Greek word poiema which comes from the verb “to make” Perhaps it could be translated, “We are that which God has made”

“Created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works”

The word “created” here clearly refers back to Genesis 1. We are a new creation in Christ - 2 Cor. 5:17. The new heavens and the new earth have already come into existence in and through the work of Jesus Christ By his death he brought the old order to an end for it was judged in Christ’s broken body on the cross By his resurrection, he has inaugurated a new creation. The good works that we do as those who are in Christ are an anticipation of our eternal life with God in heaven. They are the firstfruits of heaven Good works are a foretaste of our future eternal existence when the effects of sin and corruption will be totally done away.

“which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them”

Prepared beforehand. The good works that we do are ultimately not from us but from God. This “preparation beforehand” has overtones of predestination for the term is used elsewhere in Paul in Rom. 9:23. The prefix “beforehand” (pro +) means, before time. This takes us back to Eph. 1:4, to the eternal counsels before the foundation of the world when God elected us in Christ that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love God prepared good works for us in those eternal counsels when he ordained that Jesus would come and fulfill the Law and then be raised and given the reward of his labors Our good works are part of the reward that Christ receives Titus 2:14 Inclusio with the word “walk” takes us back to vv. 1-2 Contrast:

We formerly walked in trespasses and sins inherited from Adam. Now we have been saved to walk in good works created for us in the Last Adam, Jesus Christ Good works are God’s design for his new creation and flow from his gracious salvation as its necessary fruit NT generally consistently urges those who have experienced God’s gracious redemption to live in a manner consistent with that redemption Eph. 4:1 + imperatives that flow from redemption. The hallmark of the new creation is heavenly attitudes and behaviors which reflect the eschatological nature of our salvation.