Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. NET
God’s disposition arises from His grace and is unchanging. This is important because if God is constantly changing his mind, then our salvation is precarious, at best.
Grace is an unmerited (and unearned) gift. A problem that can arise for us when it comes to grace is the notion we have ingrained into us that there is no free lunch. That is, our mindset is that everything has to be earned and if we work hard then we will be rewarded. While we think of (and appreciate) grace at our conversion, once we become Christians we feel like we have to start measuring up. Next thing you know, we start to think that our status is only guaranteed by our own good performance.
Simply stated, our hearts and minds are wired as Pelagians. (Pelagius showed up in Rome about the time of Augustine. Where Augustine was all about grace, Pelagius said that people weren’t taking things seriously enough as our capacity for good exceeds our performance of good). The point is that it is very easy to read “works” here as a Pelagian and miss what is being said. This is important as there are many who believe that Paul and James are each teaching something different but that is only true if you don’t understand Paul. James and Paul start from different sides of the coin but end up in the same place.
Here “saved” is past tense. In the New Testament, there are three tenses of salvation – past, present and future. I am saved (justification). I am being saved (sanctification). I will be saved (glorification). As a result, we can sing “Blessed Assurance” with confidence. Not because we are good but because God is good. From the Reformed standpoint, salvation is permanent, i.e. once saved, always saved. We don’t lose salvation simply because we are flawed and imperfect Christians. Arminians are not quite as sure when it comes to eternal security noting that there are some Christians from the end of Galatians and in Hebrews who are rethinking their position. These people are making a conscious and deliberate decision to leave the faith (and salvation) and are putting themselves at risk of apostasy and of the consequences that follow. (Of course, one might wonder whether these people thinking about moving away from Christianity were ever actually saved to begin with). At the end of the day, the possibility of salvation through faith is all God’s doing. We get to participate by responding to the offer of faith by God.
Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did not we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ 23 And then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’ NHEB
The people being discussed here didn’t leave the faith nor did they change their mind. Instead, they were never part of the family. Faith is more than just an intellectual decision. In Luke 13, Jesus tells the people that they must change (repent) or perish. The people described in these verses as lawless believed in Jesus intellectually but their hearts and lives didn’t change as a result.
Again, this is not of our own doing. The Reformed tradition is that faith isn’t from yourself but is given to you. The only reason you accept Christ is because God decides to save you and creates a regenerative heart so that you will be able to do so.
Recall that there is no punctuation in Greek nor does it follow the same rules as English. The Greek word translated as “this” in Ephesians 2:8 has a feminine ending but faith doesn’t. This means that it applies to the whole clause so the gift applies to everything (salvation and faith). Stated differently, the gift isn’t that God picks out people for salvation but has made a provision that makes salvation available for all.
Boasting is telling God that He owes you because of all the things you have done. In the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14), we see that the Pharisee boasts of works and lays out his pedigree. Another example are the two brothers in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The one at home is living the way of the boast and resents the brother who has been away because he did everything he was supposed to do and the prodigal brother did not. The question arises about what would have happened to the bad son if he hadn’t repented and returned home? The story doesn’t address that question as parables typically have one point that they are trying to make. (We would have to look elsewhere in the Bible for the answer of what would have happened if the prodigal son didn’t repent). Note also that the parable doesn’t teach universalism – if the prodigal son had died in the far country, he would have died apart from the father.
Works applies to the moral codes such as the Ten Commandments as well as to social issues such has helping the poor and the homeless (Matthew 25). These are all part of the “ought” of the New Testament. Again, this becomes a problem arises when we believe these are the things we must do for salvation.
If we stop here, James and Paul are at odds. But Paul doesn’t stop the argument at verse 9. So while we need to realize that grace isn’t just for baby Christians and we need to accept that we are accepted, there is something more. Something is going to happen to you if you believe and that something is going to impact you. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about fruit. Orange trees produce oranges. A fig tree without figs is cut down. We are saved to do something (good works) and producing fruit is the consequence of being saved as being created in Christ is different than simply being created. Looking back to Genesis 2, God created Adam and Eve to be co-laborers – we were purposeful in the Garden. This falls apart and we are recreated in Christ in order to be restored to where we were originally,
The Greek word translated as “prepared in advance” in verse 10 (Strong’s 4282. proetoimazó ), is only used twice in the New Testament here and Romans 9:23 and while it typically doesn’t get translated as “predestined”, that is a shorthand way to define what we are talking about. Here it isn’t referring to predestination related to salvation but to the works that God has prepared in advance for us to do. We are born again and our behavior has changed as we were once thistles but now we are a fruit producing tree. It is predestined that our faith will show through the works that God has prepared beforehand for us to do.