Mar 14 - 06 - Ephesians 2:8

For it is by grace

you have been saved,

through faith – and this

is not from yourselves,

it is the gift of God

Ephesians 2:8

Bible Rank: 6

Yesterday's verse was Romans 3:23 -- the realization that we all sin and fall short of God's glorious standard. 

How then can we be reconciled to God? Romans 3:24ff tells us what today's verse tells us -- that we are "justified by God's GRACE effective through FAITH ... apart from works prescribed by the law."

Do you see the same key words -- grace and faith? So let's look specifically at the clarification that the Apostle Paul adds in our verse from Ephesians today ... 

Question 1: Who does GRACE come from -- us or God?

Question 2: And who does FAITH come from -- us or God?

The answer to question one should be obvious: God loves; grace comes from him. Or as our verse tells us: [grace] is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

The answer to question two is less obvious -- or should I say, more debatable. 

In the pop-religion of our culture, we assume that faith is all our doing: Either I believe or I don't. It's my choice. 

And that sounds good, but it ignores how God is actively working through the witness of his people, the wonders of creation, the movement of "circumstances," and most of all, the wooing of the Spirit. Gods acts "preveniently," as Wesley famously said; he intervenes pre- (before) we ever know to choose him. 

So, faith is not totally our action. 

There are other theological systems that say that faith then is totally God's action ... and not a choice at all. It is totally a God-given gift. And because some have faith and some don't have faith, God chooses who he will give faith to (predestines the elect) and who he will not. 

So, is faith totally God's action? Or can I, like the rich young ruler, have the gift of life -- Jesus himself -- standing right in front of me, and can I choose to turn and walk away? Can I, like the prodigal son, be living comfortably in the house of the father and choose to run away? This debate hinges on free will. 

In a short devotion, I can't do justice to this whole argument, so let me cut to my conclusions. Faith is 90-some-odd-percent God's work (he sets the conditions, he opens the door), and yet at some point, we must choose to walk through the door or not (and that is what we call faith). 

Some would say that this makes God less powerful if his grace is resistible. But we all know in our own hearts that we resist grace all of the time. Even faithful believers constantly compromise, lie, cheat, and fudge. Like Adam and Eve, we are free to choose, and our sin makes us resist. Therefore, it's not whether God's grace is resistible; it's whether the God of grace made us free to resist or not. 

So ... God is active. He is wooing you. Faith is his work. He opens the door to an eternal relationship. This is the gift of God. And the question is will you (or your friend or your daughter) choose to walk through it or not?

In Christ's Love,

a guy who is glad

he chose the God

who'd already

chosen me