For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourself: it is the gift of God: Not of
works, lest any man should boast.
(Ephesians 2:8, 9)
There is a strikingly similar verse
in the book of Romans, 4:16 “Therefore it is faith, that it might be by grace;
to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed;” From everlasting, God,
in the trinity of his sacred persons, has loved his church in Christ. (Jeremiah
31:3; Romans 8:39) And has resolved in himself, to bring his many sons to glory
(Hebrews 2:10) In order that the event be brought to certain fruition “an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure” (II Samuel 23:5) was made
concerning the elect in Christ. The
faithfulness of the three persons in their sovereign resolution to bring to
pass all that had been purposed in eternity was ordered and surely ordained in
that covenant.
“Therefore
it is of faith,” It, in this phrase, is the obtaining of the good things promised.
“For the promise, that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or
his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” (Romans
4:13) Now the promise was not to be obtained through the keeping of the law,
but through a justifying righteousness which was apprehended and received by
faith in the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone may
ask, how can faith in Christ bring about a justifying righteousness?
Answer: Abraham
rejoiced to see the day of Christ, and he saw it, and was glad. (John 8:56)
Abraham saw the day of Christ by faith, Abraham understood that Christ would
crush the serpents head. (Genesis 3:15) The serpent had brought the descendants
of Adam into condemnation through his (Adam’s) transgression, for Adam was their
Natural federal head. Therefore to crush the head of the serpent would be to
destroy the works of the Serpent, (I John 3:8) or to overturn the state of
condemnation, by bringing Abraham’s Spiritual seed (the elect in Christ) into a
state of immutable justification. The greatest thing in the promise for Abraham
and his spiritual seed in Christ was and is justifying righteousness, this,
Abraham believed Christ would establish, and further that God would impute that
righteousness to the children of the covenant upon faith which would be given
them by the great teacher of the covenant (that is, the Holy Ghost). “For what
saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted (imputed) unto
him for righteousness.”(Romans 4:3) Abraham believed God; that the woman’s seed
[Christ] would bring in everlasting righteousness, by crushing the Serpent’s
head, this everlasting righteousness which was established by Christ was
imputed to Abraham, it is his justifying righteousness. “Now it was not written
for his sake alone, that it was imputed him; but for us also, to whom it shall
be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;” (Romans 4:23, 24).
That same righteousness which was imputed to Abraham is imputed to all who
believe that Jesus is the Christ.
Man
in his innate state, has no ability to savingly believe that Jesus is the
Christ, or, for that matter that there is a Christ. For man in his innate state
is spiritually dead, and the dead do not believe, see or hear. All these things
require life, which natural man has not. “For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” That faith is the
gift of God the scripture abundantly teaches. “No man can come to me, (to come
to Christ is to believe on him) except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44) It is the office of the Holy Ghost to
effectually give eternal life to those whom the Son has redeemed by his blood.
This has nothing to do with the choice of man, for the dead can make no
choices. At the time appointed the Holy Ghost simply comes to the sinner and
freely gives him eternal life, then the living saint begins to seek the Lord
for comfort, and every other need of his soul, it is the new life, which is in
him and directing him in all his ways that causes the new born child to seek
comfort for his soul. The resurrected sinner seeks the Lord, not understanding
that the Lord has already found him and made him alive, in order to seek and
live upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who is his life. (Colossians 3:4)
“Therefore
it is of faith” God given faith, effectually given faith, faith that is the
product of eternal life, which is the gift of God (Romans 6:23). God the Holy
Ghost gives faith by giving eternal life, and this life is in the Son of God
and it surely believes God. “And this is the record; that God hath given to us
eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” (I John 5:11) “Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47) “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, (a thing which the dead do
not) and believeth of him that sent me, (which thing the dead cannot) hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from
death to life.” (John 5:24) Those that have passed from death to life, have
passed from a state of spiritual condemnation in death, to a state of immutable
justification in life through Jesus Christ.
“That
it might be by grace” It is by a gift freely given, in spite of what wicked man
deserves. Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve, that is eternal life. Mercy
is God not giving us what we do deserve; that is the execution of the sentence
of eternal woe, for violation of His strict and inflexible law.
“That
it might be by grace” Not of merit, for the spiritually dead have no merit God-ward.
Not of our own good works; we have none. It is the free favor of God, merited
for the elect by Jesus Christ according to the will of God the Father. For,
though the elect fell in violation of God’s law in Adam in time; yet from
eternity they were beheld, and beloved, and chosen in Christ. (Ephesians 1:4;
II Timothy 1:9; II Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 8:28-30; I Peter 1:2: Jude 1)
“To
the end the promise might be sure to all the seed” The promise is that the
heirs shall have their part in the inheritance of grace, or, as it is stated in
Hebrews 9:15 “..they which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” It is the heirs of grace who
are to receive this promise. The heirs of grace are the elect of God, whether
Jew or Gentile. The fruition of the promise is sure to all this seed; they fell
in Adam, but were redeemed by Jesus Christ. They were originally chosen in
Christ, therefore in eternal union with him, where they shall be found when all
the worlds are gone. “Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world:” (Matthew 25:34) this
blessedness was prepared for the children of God in “an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure:” (II Samuel 23:5) from everlasting, and shall
last to everlasting.
“For
by grace” (the free favor of God) “are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God:” Faith is the gift of God, it is not
generated by man, it is not a decision that is made by man, it is the sovereign
work of God the Holy Ghost wherein He grants life to the spiritually dead; that
life is bound to God in His glorious Three Persons in Jesus Christ, it is
eternal life and it is in Christ, and given to whom He will. Once that life is
given it can never be extinguished, or lost; it is the gift of God to all
eternity. This new life in Christ (new to the one who receives it; and new in
all it’s aspects, but in itself, it is from everlasting) gives a new heart to
receiver of it, the new heart is connected to the Three Persons of the Godhead
in Christ, and it causes to walk separate from the world and unto God, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost.
“Not
of works, lest any man should boast.” It is the uniform testimony of Holy
Scripture that Salvation is not of the works of men. For, Salvation is by Jesus
Christ alone; it is the unparalleled, and infinitely holy, and perfectly
executed and finished work, of the God-man mediator that has propitiated the
justice, truth, and holiness of God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. In His perfect
life the “Word made flesh” has perfectly fulfilled the precepts of the moral
law of God, He perfectly obeyed that law to the jot, and tittle (Matthew 5:18);
by His death the mediator and surety of His people has perfectly pacified the
justice of God. Therefore God in the trinity of His persons is reconciled by
Jesus Christ and is the God of peace toward those in eternal union with His Son.(Hebrews
13:20) If man kind had anything at all to do with procuring salvation, whether
by choice, decision, or merit of work he would have whereof to boast. “But the
scripture has concluded all under sin, (and therefore absolutely incapable of
any merit of thought, word or deed, before a Thrice Holy and sin hating God)
that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe”
(Galatians 3:22). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
A.J.Ison
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