We saw the monumental importance of these three verses this morning, both for the personal Christian life and the life of the church. Our fall is so deep that not only must God allow His pure grace to flow to us, but He must also guard that grace continuously so that we do not spoil it with our depravity.
I turn again to Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, that portion of the Word of God we commonly call the Book of Ephesians—or more properly, the letter to the Ephesian Christians. We continue our careful examination of the Apostle’s words, particularly as they are found in verses 8 through 10: “For by grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God aforeprepared, that we should walk in them.”
The Vivid Contrast
In everyday conversation, we often speak of two things being as “different as night and day.” Perhaps it is two children born of the same parents and reared in the same environment, yet their temperaments, interests, and natural inclinations are so entirely different that we shake our heads and wonder how they could come from the same home. Or, for those athletically inclined, you might notice two golfers or baseball players who are both tremendously gifted, yet their styles are as different as night is from day.
May I say that whatever “night and day” contrast you think you see in this world, no contrast is as vivid as the one set before us in Ephesians chapter 2. The Apostle describes what all men are by nature in verses 1 to 3, and contrasts it with what they have become by the operations of God’s grace in verses 4 through 10.
In that wonderful description of transformation, the Apostle has given us some of the clearest teaching in the Word of God concerning the Author of this change: God Himself. He describes the motive—His rich mercy and great love—and the unique method: God transforms dead, bound, and guilty sinners by uniting them to His own Son. He quickens us with Christ, raises us with Christ, and seats us together in the heavenlies in Christ. The goal, as stated in verse 7, is that in the ages to come, He might display the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
The Guarded Stream of Grace
In verses 8 through 10, the Apostle reviews, expands, and underscores these fundamental issues. He gives us what I call a “compendium of salvation by grace.” Here is a distillation of everything taught from Genesis to Revelation concerning God’s salvation.
Why was the Apostle so concerned to review this? Because few tendencies are stronger in the evil human heart than the tendency to pervert the grace of God. We tend to pervert it at its inlet, defiling pure grace with our own efforts, and at its outlet, turning grace into a license for sin. Verses 8 through 10 act as two sentries guarding this stream. Verses 8 and 9 tell us that salvation is pure grace, while verse 10 tells us that this grace will always issue in a transformed life of good works.
The Instrumental Means: Through Faith
We have seen that this transformation is described by the word “saved” and traced to its principal cause: “by grace.” Now, we come to the third line of truth: “through faith.”
This explains the instrumental means of our transformation. By what means do I come into possession of this salvation? The answer is: through faith.
To understand “instrumental means,” consider the illustration of a boy who has fallen through the ice into cold waters. The author of his rescue is a storekeeper who heard his cries. The moving cause was the storekeeper’s compassion. But the means used was a pole stretched out upon the ice. When the boy laid hold of the pole, that act was the instrumental means of his deliverance.
Or consider a starving beggar. A benevolent man offers him food. The beggar eats and is saved from starvation. The author is the man; the cause is the man’s kindness; but the instrumental means is the taking and eating of the food.
It would be ridiculous for the boy to build a monument to the pole, or for the beggar to worship his own teeth and digestive enzymes. Their gratitude is focused entirely on the person who rescued them. The instrumental means never becomes the focus of gratitude. Similarly, when Paul says we are saved “through faith,” he is placing faith in its proper position. It is nothing more and nothing less than the instrumental means—the laying hold of the pole God sets before us. We do not deify our faith; we lose ourselves in wonder and praise for the God who rescues.
The Place of Faith: Essential and Exclusive
The text clearly states that faith is both the essential and the exclusive means by which we are saved.
1. No Salvation Apart from Faith The text does not say we are saved independent of faith. In Paul’s thinking, there is no inconsistency between a salvation that is “all of grace” and one that is “through faith.” No one has grounds to say they are rescued by God unless they are a believer. As our Lord said in John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him.” Until there is the exercise of faith, a person remains under the canopy of divine wrath.
To draw down the unleashed fury of a returning Christ, you do not need to curse God or live a profane life; you only need to remain in your native unbelief. As Revelation 21:8 says, the “unbelieving” are classed together with murderers and liars.
2. No Other Instrumental Means This phrase also teaches that there is no means other than faith. We are not told we are saved through love, hope, zeal, prayer, fasting, or even through repentance.
Now, granted, this faith will never be divorced from repentance. Wherever one is, the other will be present. However, the Bible never says repentance is the instrumental means. Faith is the hand that takes the gift. This faith is never dormant or lifeless; it is always found in the company of humility, prayer, and self-denial, but the thing itself is faith. This is why the Reformers emphasized Sola Fide—by faith alone.
A Consistent Biblical Theme
This concept is consistent from Genesis to Revelation. Faith is not a “novelty” of the New Testament. Whether it was Abraham before the Law or David after the Law, salvation has always come through faith.
This was the consistent teaching of Jesus: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29). It was the apostolic testimony in the book of Acts. When the jailer cried out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” the direction was simple: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” In Romans, Paul’s great theme is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. So central is this truth that the early Christians were simply called “believers.” The goal of the Apostle’s ministry was nothing less than “obedience to the faith.”
Faith is the open hand that receives the riches of God’s grace already provided in Jesus Christ. It is not of our doing, and it is not of our deserving. It is all of grace, given to us day by day from the hand of God.
The “obedience of faith” is a most accurate description of how the gospel is received among all nations. Why is the Apostle so concerned about this? He is concerned that there should be the exercise of faith, which, in turn, will produce the holy fruit of obedience to the gospel and the Savior it proclaims.
If these two assertions are true—that there is no salvation apart from faith and no instrumental means of salvation other than faith—we should not be surprised that this doctrine is the “jugular vein” of saving religion. Because it is so vital, there has been a continuous effort throughout church history by the “spirit of error” to undermine it. If the spirit of error seeks to destroy true religion, it will strike precisely here.
B.B. Warfield, in his panoramic presentations of scriptural themes, made a perceptive comment: in a very real sense, the New Testament Epistles are nothing more than the efforts of the various writers to correct false notions of faith that had crept into the churches.
- In Galatians, they were mixing faith with legalism, so Paul showed that it is faith alone.
- In James, they had a wrong notion about the substance of faith, thinking it was merely a matter of intellectual notions; James had to show that a faith without works is dead.
- In Hebrews, the people were tempted to despair, so the writer stirred them up to persevere in faith.
We are dealing with things that lie close to your spiritual life-blood. If the spirit of error seizes this vein, your life’s blood will flow out at your feet. Here are the five main areas where the spirit of error seeks to distort the biblical teaching of faith.
1. The Error of Substitution
The first acting of the spirit of error is the claim that anything else can be substituted for faith as the instrumental means of our salvation. This was the great problem with the Pharisee in the temple. He rested upon his performance and his character to attain acceptance with God. He told God about his attainments—his fasting and his tithing—believing he was saved by his own religious performance.
Our passage explicitly says, “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Boasting is only excluded when we recognize that the instrumental means of our acceptance is faith alone.
2. The Error of Addition
The second acting of the spirit of error is the claim that anything needs to be added to faith. It is one thing to replace faith; it is another to maintain faith but demand an addition.
Imagine “Mr. Faith” and “Mr. Performance” looking at each other. Faith says, “If you stand with me to plead for this sinner’s acceptance, I will strike you.” But the spirit of error tries to make them join hands. This is the book of Galatians. The Judaizers didn’t ask the people to give up Jesus; they just wanted to change Paul’s “full stop” into a comma. Paul said a man is justified by faith. Period. They wanted to say: by faith, plus circumcision, plus holy days, plus dietary laws.
The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 wrestled with this and concluded that we are saved by grace through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ—nothing more. We must beware of telling sinners they must bring a hand full of “vows” or “sincere intentions” to serve Christ before they can be accepted. This causes the sinner to look at his own heart rather than the infinite mercy of the Savior. True faith works by love, but we do not wait for the love before we believe; we believe that we may love.
3. The Error of Exalting Faith Above the Savior
We must beware of the spirit of error which exalts faith to the place of the Savior. Some say, “I have faith, therefore I am saved,” making a virtue out of the act of believing.
As Warfield noted, the saving power of faith resides not in itself, but in the almighty Savior on whom it rests. It is not our “frame of mind” that saves us. It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ who saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively in the Object of faith. We must not transfer to faith even the smallest fraction of the saving energy that belongs solely to Christ. This is the curse of “decisionism,” which asks, “Have you made your decision?” rather than, “Have you beheld the glory of Christ?” Faith is the path to the Refuge, but we do not build monuments to the path; we marvel at the Refuge.
4. The Error of Barren Notionalism
This is the “easy-believism” of our day, which reduces faith to the mere adjustment of notions in the head—accepting facts without a change of heart. But the Scripture says, “If thou shalt believe in thine heart.” The heart is the seat of your total personality.
True faith is the outgoing of the whole person to the whole Christ. If the whole of you goes out to the whole of Him as Prophet, Priest, and King, you will never be the same again. There is no such thing as being a “believer” but not a “disciple.”
At the same time, we must not drive the convicted sinner to despair by telling him he must bring a “sincere intention” to a Savior. A sinner under conviction knows his heart is a cesspool of falsity. The good news is that there is a Savior who receives the ficklest of sinners who simply come to Him. Venture on Him wholly!
5. The Error of Negating the Necessity of Faith
Finally, beware of the error that says faith is unnecessary for salvation. The Pharisees thought they were saved by their genes because they were “Abraham’s seed.” Some today think they are saved because of their parentage or a “covenant” lineage.
But the text says you are saved through faith. God will take vengeance on those who believe not, even if they have twenty generations of believing ancestors. Do not be bullied by “carnal logic” into thinking that faith is unnecessary. Stick to the bounds of Scripture.
Conclusion: Are You a Believer?
Let me drive this home with one simple question: Are you a believer right now? Have you been saved by the grace of God through faith?
Saving faith is a paradoxical act: it commits itself without reserve to Christ while renouncing all self-dependence. It empties itself of all claims upon God and casts itself fully upon Him.
You do not come like the Pharisee, presenting your character or your vows. You bring nothing in your hands. You simply cast yourself upon Him. This is a stumbling block because it seems too simple to some and too confusing to others. But you will never be saved until you believe, and you will never believe until you see the necessity of going completely out of yourself to another.
Study seriously who Christ is, for He alone is the worthy Object of faith.