But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
-1 Corinthians 15:10
Paul knew the state of his heart prior to being saved, so he wrote empathetically from this viewpoint. Given the mandate for repentance prior to saving faith (they are two sides of the same coin), every believer is bound to understand, ultimately, how much God has done for them, by grace. The more we learn, the more we understand God’s love for us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
-Romans 5:6-10
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
-Luke 7:47
The one who is forgiven much loves much.
Whenever I forget where I came from, I go back to the Book of Ephesians, another of Paul’s epistles. I see his humble heart as clear as day. I see his sense of gratitude for God’s grace on full display. I encourage you, also, to make a practice of reading this wonderful letter.
For the sake of context (always read your Bible in context), Paul states who his audience is in his salutation. In this case, it is believers (“saints”).
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
-Ephesians 1:1-6
This love is difficult to comprehend. It is a love which existed before human history and was earmarked for those who would believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is the motivating factor for our adoption into God’s family. Think about it – God could’ve just saved us; but He chose to make us members of His own glorious family. He accomplished all of this through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in a way we simply couldn’t accomplish on our own.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
-Ephesians 1:7-14
The very basis of a believer’s hope in eternal life is the grace of God, “according to the purpose of his will” (v5), that He has indeed accomplished something Jesus, Himself, stated we could not.
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
-Mark 10:27
When God calls a spiritually dead person to Himself (ala John 6:44), He opens their eyes to the Truth, “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you” (Ephesians 1:18), for prior to God’s direct intervention, “seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matthew 13:13).
A spiritually dead person is utterly incapable of seeing or hearing.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
-1 Corinthians 2:14
Paul echoed what he had previously written “to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2) to the saints in Ephesus.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
-Ephesians 2:1-3
Paul clearly wrote that prior to God’s direct intervention all men are “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (v3). Therein lies the stupendous inability of man to save himself. Carnal man, left to his own devices, remains “dead in [his] trespasses and sins” (v1).
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
-Ephesians 2:4-9
Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus:
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
-John 3:3-8
Jesus, “the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2) and Paul’s personal tutor, stated that in order for anyone to be saved, they must be born again. Paul understood this implicitly and so wrote from this divine perspective in all of his epistles. From the day God “made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5), it has been “God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
From eternity past, this has always been the Gospel truth. God saves His children because He loves them with an incomprehensible love which was manifest in His Son, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).
To me, the Book of Ephesians (heck, the entire Bible) is a love letter to God’s children. As believers, we have the privilege of “having the eyes of [our] hearts enlightened, that [we] may know what is the hope to which he has called [us]” (Ephesians 1:18). He opened the eyes of His elect - those “predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11) - because they were unable to do so on their own. It is to His supreme glory that He does this for some and not others (ala Romans 9:18-24).
This love letter is proof of God’s love towards the unworthy, to the hopeless and helpless, to those whom He’s given eyes to see and ears to hear with, to those who believe in Christ as Lord and Savior.
Why would He ever do such a thing???
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
-Ephesians 2:10
To God be the glory.
Amen.
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins
