Names of God; part 29. Being a son in the house of YHVH.

Title: Names of God; part 29. Being a son in the house of YHVH.

 

 

EPH 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 

EPH 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

 

"By grace you have been saved in past time completely, with the result that you are in a state of salvation which persists through present time." [full and complete translation]

 

The unending state of the believer in salvation could not have been put in stronger or clearer language. The finished results of the past act of salvation are always present within us and they affect everything we think, say, and do.

 

Our present state of salvation is dependent upon one thing and one thing only, our past appropriation of the Lord Jesus as Savior through faith. His initial act of faith brought him salvation in its three aspects.

 

Saved: Justified, sanctified, and glorified.

 

EPH 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,

 

The Holy Spirit through Paul does not make a point of distinguishing between future bodily resurrection and present spiritual resurrection or walking in newness of life. He presents them as being identical.

 

The only difference between our spiritual and literal resurrection is a segment of time. Time to God is instantaneous. To Him, a thousand years is as a day and vice versa. Hence, our certain future, which is our hope, should fully influence everything that we do.

 

EPH 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,

 

EPH 2:7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 

In the age to come, when Christ is about to come again, the saints will be raptured and the entirety of the body of Christ, every one of whom were at one time enemies of God, dead in their sins, the surpassing riches of His grace will be unmistakable. The spectators would be angels, but it doesn't matter who's watching, for it is the act of His kindness and His glorification by that act that only matters.

 

EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

 

"that" - neuter, while "faith" is in the feminine, and so "that" cannot be modifying "faith". The point is that faith appropriates that which God gives as a gift. Nothing in man gains or makes salvation.

 

This truth has led to many extremely harmful false doctrines, foremost of which is double predestination, that God picked some to be saved and condemned others quite outside of their own choice. The point being made by the Holy Spirit is "that" salvation is purely a gift from God. Not even your faith causes it. Faith certainly is the way to accept it, but faith didn't cause it, and this is pointed out wonderfully in the grammar of this verse. It is like receiving a very expensive gift. Let's say that someone gave you a brand new house without cost. You did nothing to build it or pay for it. All was done without anything from you. To receive it you still have to sign the title deed. You can reject it for any number of reasons. God's salvation is accepted purely on faith, but faith did not make salvation: Christ did all of that.

 

Salvation is not produced by man nor earned by him. It is a gift from God with no strings tied to it. Paul presents the same truth in ROM 4:4-5.

 

ROM 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due.

 

ROM 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness

 

EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

 

EPH 2:9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

 

EPH 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 

His workmanship - as new creatures we have been constructed by Him. It was never up to us what we should become. He made us a creature that has a particular purpose.

 

A person makes a tool or an instrument for a certain purpose. He has in view a task or skill and he designs the object to do a particular job.

 

By means of grace we perform all the works that God has prepared for us. We do not do them by human effort. We do them as new creatures in Christ fully versed in the word of God and fully empowered and influenced by God the Holy Spirit. We trust the word and the Spirit and in such faith we spontaneously perform the many works that God has predetermined.