EPHESIANS 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Save Through Faith; (Nelson Study Bible) Christians have been saved by grace. The grace of God is the source of salvation; faith is the channel, not the cause. God alone saves. Salvation never originates in the efforts of the people. It always rises out of the loving-kindness of God.
πίστις pistis; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:--assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity. (See also Ephesians 1:15)
Gift Of God; Some contend that the gift of God modifies the word "faith" in this verse. So essentially Paul is saying that even our faith is a gift from God, as well as salvation. Everything received is from our merciful and gracious Father.
Verse 9 - This is pretty straightforward, but the Greek word for "boast" here is καυχάομαι kauchaomai and its related words katakauchaomai, to glory or boast" and the nouns kauchesis and kauchema, translated "boast," and "boasting," in the AV, are always translated "glory," and "glorying" in the RV, e.g.,. So contextually it has the idea of taking credit or glory for works as a means to salvation.
Cross-references: (Romans 4:5) But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
(Romans 3:27) Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
Work in this text is ἔργον eron in Greek. of those who seek justification by works, e.g.,. For anyone digging into the Greek, this is Strong's Lexicon G2041. Vines (def. d).
His Workmanship; denotes that which is made by God. The Greek word is ποίημα poiema Strong's G4161 Vines (prime def). "(His) workmanship."
Paul goes on to say that we are God's workmanship and that we are created for good works.
Good Works; Paul is not downing good works, but rather saying that we were created for them, and Jesus Christ will create them, not us. We are the vessels.
Prepared Before Hand; to prepare beforehand is used of good works which God "afore prepared". For the fulfillment by believers. The Greek word here is προετοιμάζω proetoimazo Strong's Lexicon Vines (prime def, verb) Strong's Lexicon G4282.
Walk In Them; signifies the whole round of the activities of the individual's life. The Christian is to walk in newness, in good works. The Greek word for "walk" here is περιπατέω peripateo Strong's G4043. Vines (def. b fig.)
Takeaways -
1. We should not glory in our own works but rather in our Father in Heaven who has given us this gift. This does not mean that the saved won't produce good works. Just being saved ought to drive us to good works as the Holy Spirit works in us.
2. The good works we are created for are prepared beforehand by God. I know this is kind of hard to grasp for some because we are always being told how everything is about us that we need to live our best lives and there is such a thing as "our truth" and blah blah blah. We need to unlearn that and face the real TRUTH that God in His graciousness and mercy actually made us to be able to overcome this world when we walk with Him, and we are the vessel by which God carries out good works in this world. We aren't the only means by which God does this, but his grace allows up to be involved.
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