Tag Archives: Christianity

The Righteousness of Faith

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Paul writes the following in Romans 10:2-3: “For I testify about them [his Jewish people] that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For not knowing about the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”

He’s writing here about his desire to see his Jewish friends and relatives come to know the salvation that is found in Jesus the Messiah. But what he teaches us here about their error in thinking, could be said of most religious people, no matter what the religion.

He says that they “have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” The Christian faith is built on truth and on knowledge of that truth. God has acted in history by sending his son Jesus into this world for the purpose of dying on the cross to pay the price for the sins of the whole world. The events surrounding all of what took place, happened on this earth in space and time. On the day Jesus was executed, the sun came up and a new day had arrived. When Jesus died, it was a specific time of day and his heart stopped beating. On the third day his heart began to beat again, and his entire body came alive. These are real events. Having a zeal for God outside the truth of these events is futile. Our faith must be according to knowledge of the truth, not just religious wishful thinking.

What did these religious Jews not know? They did not know about the righteousness of God. This is the plight of all human beings. We know a god exists and we also know we are not perfect, but we do not recognize or realize how righteous and perfect God is. That’s the problem. Further, these people, not knowing the righteousness of God, sought to establish their own. And that’s what we do. We establish our own standard of righteousness, making sure that it is a standard that we can attain. We say we treat others fairly and kindly, but what we mean by that is that we treat them as fairly and kindly as our own standard specifies. We never compare ourselves to the standard of kindness God requires.

And here is what Paul writes as the conclusion of the above passage: “They did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” We subject ourselves to our own righteousness which has a standard we can meet, but we don’t subject ourselves to the righteousness of God because we know that we can never reach that level of perfection. We recognize immediately that if we are subject to God’s standard, we are doomed! In Romans 3:23, Paul tells us that everyone has sinned and falls short of God’s glory. That’s the truth that we have to accept to be able to receive God’s solution to our problem.

What is God’s solution? The Bible speaks of the righteousness of faith. In Romans 10:9-10 he says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord  and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.” According to the Bible, God counts believing as righteousness. What we do is try to earn our salvation by trying to be righteous enough. But as we have seen, that is an impossible goal. There is a righteousness separate and apart from the list of rules. Romans 3:21-22 tells us that “the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and upon all who believe.”

God’s righteousness is given to all who believe what God has said. This is a crucial thing to understand. When we believe what God says about himself and about the accomplishment of his son on the cross; and when we believe the solution God has provided in Jesus the Messiah, our believing is counted by God as righteousness. It’s a gift from God because of his amazing grace toward us.

Here’s what Paul writes in Philippians 3:9 with my comments added in brackets: “I want to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness [because my righteousness will never ever measure up] which is from the law [the list of rules God has laid down for us to obey], but [the righteousness] which is through faith in Christ [believing that Jesus Christ bore all of my guilt on the cross], the righteousness which is from God by faith [by believing God and his word].

In other words, when we believe what God has said about his son Jesus, God declares us righteous and we are assured of Jesus’s life living through us here and now, and a home in heaven when we die, and the promise that there will be no condemnation for us ever! (See Romans 8:1). Rule-keeping plays no part in this righteousness. It is righteousness as a free gift from God when we believe the record that God has given of his son. Do you believe this?

How Can a Man be Righteous Before God?

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“How can a man be righteous before God?” (Job 9:2). In my opinion, this is one of the most important questions that needs to be answered. When you stand before God, and if He were to ask you, “Why should I receive you into my heaven?”, what would you say?  In our heart of hearts, we know that a god of some kind exists. All around us we see the evidence of an intelligent being who is the architect of all we see. Instinctively, we also know that this being is much more powerful than we are. The Bible tells us that it is appointed for us to die once and then face judgment. The fear of death and what comes next is universal. We also know that whatever this god’s standards are, we don’t measure up. What will happen to us when we face the judge of the universe? All of this is why Job asked, “How can a man be righteous before God?” The Bible actually gives us the answer to this question.

The Bible describes God as being perfectly good, righteous, and just. That has implications we are not comfortable with. I think most of us really hope that God is like a grandpa. Grandpas won’t let kids get away with terribly naughty behavior but will, if necessary, apply some moderate sanctions to keep their grandchildren from getting hurt or damaging the furniture. But, for most things, they will overlook behavior that is wrong but basically normal childhood character showing itself. We want a god like that – a god that will punish people like Hitler or Stalin but let us off the hook when it comes to the everyday sins normal good people commit. The problem is that that god doesn’t exist.

The real God loves us more than grandpa does, but He is also a perfectly just judge who must make judgments from the bench that are perfectly consistent with His character and laws. We are not used to that. There is leniency in almost every area of life where rulings are made. As students we often receive opportunities to retake a test or have a tardy ignored. Police sometimes just give us a warning instead of a ticket. Even though I’m not a sports enthusiast, I’ve noticed that rulings on the court or field are generally pretty strict and the rules held to fairly consistently. But in many areas of life there is leniency. Yet even in this kind of culture, what would our reaction be if a judge releases a serial killer or even a serial thief saying something like, “I really care about this guy’s needs, and he seems remorseful, so even though he has committed this crime 20 times, I’m going to let him off this time too”? There would certainly be outrage. We expect our judges to be just and not ignore crime. Yet, at the same time, we expect God to give us a pass and ignore our countless infractions of His law.

God is just. That is what is so scary about facing Him at the judgment. The Bible says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). It is this knowledge that caused Job to ask the question, “How can a man be righteous before God?” Trying to keep the law won’t work because we are unable to keep it. God says that if a person keeps the whole law and yet breaks it in one point, he is guilty of all of it (James 2:10).  With that kind of standard, who is going to be able to stand? In fact, the writer of Psalm 130 asks this very question, “If you Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3).

God has designed an amazing answer to this question and solution to His “dilemma.” (God doesn’t really have a dilemma, but in our minds his dilemma appears to be how to forgive people he loves while at the same time maintaining justice and His own righteous character.)

What He has done is to come here to earth Himself in the second person of the trinity. He took on actual human flesh and lived here among us as the God-man, Jesus (John 1). Having lived a life without sin, perfectly keeping the law and loving God and neighbor as the law commanded, He was mocked, tortured, and killed. God has said that the punishment for sin is death – physical death and separation from God. Jesus endured those consequences of sin, even though He had never committed a single sin in His life.

God has promised to count Jesus’ death as the death penalty that we deserved. The Bible says in Ezekiel 18:20 that the soul that sins must die. But God is willing to count Jesus’ death as my death and as your death. He is willing to say that when Jesus died, you died. The death penalty has been carried out. Because of the curse on our physical bodies, we will still die physically. It’s spiritual death we’re focusing on here. Spiritual death involves being separated from God and sent to Hell to be punished forever. It is, indeed, a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God is promising to count Jesus’ death on the cross as the eternal spiritual death that you and I deserve. Even more amazingly, God declares that He will credit you and me with Jesus’ perfect record. In other words, when God would look at our record, He would find that we had obeyed every law and every standard perfectly. Those with a perfect record are welcomed into heaven.

The Bible says, “He made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

But who is this for? Who gets credited with Jesus’ perfect obedience, and for whose sins did Jesus get blamed and executed? The answer is simple: For those who believe. We’re not talking about believing in God. We’re talking about believing the facts He has given us and believing and accepting that the offer He is making is true.

God has given us this promise in what is called the Gospel, the Good News. He is making this offer of complete forgiveness of all sins, past, present, and future. With that comes the offer to credit us with Jesus’ righteousness. It is a gift. You can’t work for or earn a gift. If you work for it, it is no longer a gift. Paul says it this way, “And if by grace (a free unearned gift), then it is no longer of works; otherwise, grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise, work is no longer work” (Romans 11:6).   

Believing is the key, It’s not saying that we believe, but actual believing. “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5).

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

“He who believes in the Son (Jesus) has (present tense) everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:31).

Jesus, Himself, said, “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). To repent means to change your mind about who Jesus is and about what it takes to be accepted by Him. You realize that all of the good deeds in the world, all of the church-going, all of the money-giving, none of that is going to earn you a place with God. You can’t do any of it with pure motives or to the level that would be needed to earn your way in.

It’s believing. It’s not having faith in faith or a generic I-believe-in-God faith. But it is believing the testimony that God has given concerning His son (1 John 5:10). If you repent, and accept Jesus’ testimony that He is the son of God, and you believe that His death satisfied God’s death requirement for you a sinner, then God promises that all of your sins have been removed and paid for by Jesus, and you are declared righteous and will go to heaven when you die. The judgment for you has already been administered against Jesus on the cross.

That is the answer to Job’s question as to how a man can be righteous before God. He can be righteous by repenting of his former rebellious life and accepting God’s free gift by faith.

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a [substitute sacrifice] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate … at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26).

There you have it. God can be just and still declare us righteous because of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross.

Battle Plan – Strategy 7 – The Reason for God’s Wrath

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(The list of these strategies in chart form can be found here.)

Strategy 7: I realize that participating in and supporting immoral, sexual activities is making me a part of the reason God’s wrath is coming on the world.

 In Ephesians 5:3 we read the following:

“But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;” (Ephesians 5:3, NKJV)

Paul continues listing various sins and then concludes with this:

“For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.” (Ephesians 5:5–7, NKJV)

Paul gives another such list in 1 Corinthians:

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10, NKJV)

So God is saying that people who live in the life styles listed here will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and God. Now before you get too self-righteous, be sure to notice that he doesn’t include just the sexually immoral. He also includes those who are characterized by covetousness, idolatry, drunkenness, and thievery and swindlers among those who will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Then he goes on (in Ephesians 5)  to tell us why we shouldn’t involve ourselves with these sorts of behaviors. The reason is because these sins are the reason why God’s wrath will come upon the earth. How can we justifiably participate in activities that are the cause of God’s judgment? It doesn’t make any sense for children of God to live in this way. Add to that the thought that others, maybe even some friends, who live in a similar way, or who get involved in such activities with us — these other people who don’t know Christ will perish for all eternity. What will they think of you who participated with them and encouraged them by your participation, are now enjoying eternal salvation while they are condemned. The whole picture doesn’t make sense.

When we come to Christ there is a basic change in our nature. In this same passage in verse 8, Paul writes:

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8, NKJV)

There is a change. We’ve gone from darkness to light. It makes no sense to have fellowship or common bond with the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph 5:11).

Priority Goal 7: Today, every time I am tempted to look at or participate in anything that God says is wrong, I will remind myself that it is because of these very things that God’s wrath is coming. Do I want to be a part of God’s reason for judging the world?

Our Idols are Lying to Us

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Isaiah 44:9-20

In this passage, the prophet Isaiah rails against idolatry and the foolishness of it. He first declares, “All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit.” Unlike virtually every nation at that time, Israel believed in one God who had created heaven and earth. They also believed that idolatry was vain, empty, and frankly, stupid.

Sometimes we modern folk think that the people of ancient times were superstitious and irrational in their thinking. And there was a lot of that. But the message which God proclaimed was one of reason. Yes, God emphasizes faith, but not at the expense of reason.

The gist of this passage in Isaiah is that the idols are the creation of a man. The ironsmith creates his image and wears himself out and becomes hungry in the process. The idol does not relieve his hunger. The woodworker expends his energy cutting down a tree, sharpens his tools, makes an idol for himself.

Here is the interesting thing about this latter scenario. The woodworker cuts the log in half. He splits one half and cuts it into smaller pieces so that he can make a fire with which to warm himself. It’s the other half that he uses to create his idol.

Isaiah writes it this way:  “Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, ‘Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!’ And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!’”

I don’t know if you can hear it, but there is mockery in the prophet’s voice. It is shear stupidity to think that you can burn part of a log for heat, and then claim that the other half is a god who can supply needs, protect, and deliver! It is totally irrational, and the Bible, in the words of Isaiah, points this out. There is no power to save in a piece of wood that a man has the power to burn. No one thinks to say, as verse 19 says, “Shall I fall down [in worship] before a block of wood?”

Verse 20 says, “He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’. “But” you say, “we don’t do this. So, what’s the point?”

The point is that we do do this – just not with physical idols. We create idols in our hearts out of things that our “deluded heart” lusts for. We’re generally not satisfied with God and the things He so graciously provides for us to meet our needs. We want more. As John writes in his first epistle, it is the “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life,” which, he says, do not come from the father but are from the world – these are the things that we want.

Our natural self longs for the affirmation of others. We want to be seen as beautiful, strong, sexy, self-confident, popular, rich, and/or … the list could go on. Our lusts tell us that if we had just a few more likes on Facebook, or one more look at a pornographic site, or a faster, sportier car, or if we were stronger and more athletic,  then we would surely be happier and more content. Look at commercials. Isn’t that the message? Whether people are drinking the best coffee, driving a car over desert sand dunes, or vacationing with their spouse in the Caribbean, they are all smiling and having loads of fun. But you – you live just a mundane life in your average home, driving a used grocery-getter car with two of the back seats taken up with approved baby-carrying booster seats. Our lusts cry out, “Give us our idols! I want what those people have!”

We are being lied to. Our idols are promising the world, but giving us nothing but sorrow, emptiness, and regret. Look at what Eve was promised in the garden. She looked at the fruit and when she “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate,” and the human race was plunged into all of the devastating consequences that resulted from our first parents’ disobedience.

Let’s be like the Thessalonian Christians who “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). And let’s obey the admonition of the apostle John who said, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). Let’s not just keep ourselves from idols, let’s follow Paul’s admonition to “flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14).

“When you follow the trail of your time, energy, affection, and money, you find a throne. And whatever or whomever is on that throne is the object of your worship.” ~Louie Giglio

Let’s make sure God is the one on that throne. Don’t believe the lies!

Ephesians 3:20-21

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Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

We’ve taken a little break for Christmas and New Years, but it’s time to get back into the Word.

Having completed his prayer for the saints, Paul uses verses 20 and 21 as a benediction to proclaim the worthiness of God to receive glory.

He describes God as the one who is able to do more than all that we ask or think. This makes me realize that my prayers are so puny. Whatever I can think of or ask God for, pales in comparison to what God is actually able to do.

We saw that in the previous verses didn’t we? Paul asked that we’d be able to comprehend what surpasses knowledge. And he prayed that we might be filled with the fullness of God. I never pray for things like that, do you?

He goes on in verse 20 to say that God doing these things is according to the power that is at work in us. He mentioned that power in verse 16 where he prayed that we would be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man.

As he blesses God, what does Paul ask for in that blessing? He asks that God would be glorified in the church forever. One of the church’s chief roles, if not the chief role, is to glorify God now and forever. We learned back in verse 10 that the church was to be the thing which proclaims and displays the manifold wisdom of God, even to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. The church is at the center, the core, of what God is doing in this world.

But, I left something out from verse 21, didn’t I? To God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate source of the display of God’s glory. But it is interesting to me that the church is tied so closely with Jesus. But that shouldn’t surprise us because the church is the body of Christ. We are members of His body, of His flesh and bones as Ephesians 5:30 tells us.

I have so much to say on this topic, but I think we had better leave it at that for now.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:14 AM January 4, 2021.

Ephesians 3:16

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That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.

Ephesians

Ephesians 3:16

Beginning in verse 16, we enter into the content of Paul’s prayer. Petition 1 – God would grant you to strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person. He asked that this be provided according to the riches of God’s glory.

So, let’s pick this apart a little bit. First we need to consider how great and deep are the riches of God’s glory? I think we would all agree that they are infinite. His glory is infinite and the riches of his glory are infinite. It is according to this richness that he bases his request. In other words, use the vastness of your power and glory to provide what I’m asking for to these people.

What, then, does he request? He is asking that God would strengthen their inner being, their heart and soul. Further, he is asking that it be strengthened with power. Paul is asking that his people would have an inner strength provided by God Himself.

And finally, the mediator of this transfer of strength is the Holy Spirit. In other words, may God use His Holy Spirit to infuse power into you so that the inner man is strengthened.

Isn’t that something we all would like to see in our own lives and in the lives of our fellow Christians. Maybe we should pray for things like this rather than merely praying for health and safety.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:41 AM December 11, 2020.

Ephesians 3:12-13

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In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

The eternal purpose of God was realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, according to verse 11. Paul begins verse 12 with “in whom.” I’ve pointed out before that our position “in Christ” is our identity. When we trust Christ we are placed in Him. His history becomes our history. For example, we have died and were raised with Him. We are currently seated with Him in heavenly places. So, you need to learn to adjust your thinking to believe the truth that you are in Christ.

Paul says that in Him we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. It reminds me of what Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

We have access. And yet we take that access for granted. Access to the throne of the King is not something that is easily acquired. But if you are the King’s child, access is available.

So, since all of these things are true, Paul asks his readers and disciples not to lose heart over what he is suffering. The suffering which Paul is enduring on their behalf is their glory. We don’t use glory in our vocabulary much, but in the natural world, what might be your glory? Perhaps your position, or your family, or some achievement. Long hair is a woman’s glory. A young man’s strength is his glory. So, our glory is something we might be legitimately proud of. Not in the sinful sense.

We would never use the term suffering in relationship to glory, but here Paul says that his suffering is their glory, their point of boasting. It doesn’t make sense to us. In Galatians 6:14 Paul says the cross of Christ is his place of boasting.

Perhaps we need to do a little more meditating on this concept. It might free us from the bondage of the normal centers of our boasting and glory and center us more on the cross and that point of suffering which ultimately became the means for our salvation.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:03 PM December 7, 2020.

Ephesians 3:11

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This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

This eternal plan which we discussed in the last post was according to the eternal purpose of God. I can’t stress this enough. God’s decrees and plans are eternal. His plans and purposes are not dependent on what people do. This eternal plan was realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, let’s summarize the last couple of verses. God has had an eternal purpose, realized and revealed through Jesus Christ coming into the world as a man. This mystery has been hidden for all generations until revealed to the apostles and prophets of the first century.

Paul’s preaching as well as our own is to bring this mystery to light. And what is the goal? That the multifaceted wisdom of God might be made down to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

A key part of this is to understand that making known the wisdom of God to the principalities and powers occurs through the church. The church is the body of Christ. The church is the people whom God has saved, filled with His Spirit and commissioned to worship together and proclaim the gospel. So, living as a Christian as part of the church involves more than just being a good testimony to those who are around us. It involves demonstrating to these powers, even those we wrestle against, demonstrating what God is like. How merciful and gracious He is in having taken enemies and turned them into friends, joint-heirs with Christ to rule and reign with Him.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 1:16 PM December 3, 2020.

Ephesians 3:8-10

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To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

This commentary is going to be a little longer than most because I want to cover the entire sentence that runs from verse 8 all the way through verse 10. I would suggest reading these verses a couple of times to get the flow of Paul’s logic, and then read through this commentary on those verses. You can spread your study over several days, but I didn’t want my comments to be broken up mid-sentence.

Paul is going to explain an amazing truth that has been given to him to explain. He begins by demonstrating his humility, calling himself the very least of all the saints. That’s saying something, isn’t it. Here is a highly educated Jewish leader, chosen by God to write a large portion of the New Testament, and he calls himself the least of all the saints.

What is the message he is to preach? He is going to proclaim the good news of the fathomless riches of Christ. A fathom is a measurement of depth of the ocean. Fathomless means there is no way to measure the depths of the riches of Christ. There is so much wealth there, it is impossible to get to the bottom of it.

By the way, he calls the opportunity to proclaim this good news, grace. In other words, he counts it as an undeserved gift of God to be able to declare this message.

What else is involved in this declaration? He says in verse 9 that he is going to bring to light something that has been hidden for ages. That’s what a mystery is in the New Testament. Where has this plan been hidden? It has been hidden in God who created all things. So what is Paul claiming? He is claiming that there is something that has been hidden in God Himself since before creation, and now he, Paul, is going to explain what that plan is. How does he know the plan? Verse 3 told us that it was given to him by revelation. God told him!

The question is, “Why?”. Why is this plan being made known now, and why to Paul? Verse 10 answers that question. So that the multi-faceted wisdom of God might be revealed and made known. To whom, Paul? Who are the recipients of this picture of the manifold wisdom of God?

The answer to that question is the principalities and powers. The rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Wait a minute! Isn’t it the rulers and authorities that we wrestle against? “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12.

So, let me see if I understand this. In the wisdom of God, He revealed this mystery to Paul so that the principalities and powers of the universe would see and know the amazing wisdom of God!

And through what means is this knowledge to be transmitted to the principalities and powers? Through the church! The church is God’s instrument through the preaching of the gospel and through lives transformed by the power of God — transformed from rebellious traitors to Christ-like followers — the principalities and powers, who have been warring against God since the beginning, will see how amazing God is!

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:17 AM December 3, 2020.

Ephesians 2:8-9

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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.

Now that we have gone through the previous verses, you can see the context for verse 8 which many of us have memorized. The verse starts with “For.” It’s connected to what has gone before. We memorize it as a stand-alone or with verse 9, but it belongs with the previous verses. He is explaining the grace part of the previous several verses related to God’s purpose in demonstrating the glory of God.

It is by grace we have been rescued. God’s rescue of us and lifting us up out of the miry pit and placing us on the solid ground of salvation is totally and completely by grace.

God has extended favor toward us, and that favor and kindness are not related in any way to any good we think we may have done. It is not a reward or a benefit, or a response to our goodness. It is a totally unmerited blessing given from the generous hand of God by grace.

We receive this gift by faith. That means by believing. God has announced the good news of the gospel that Jesus came to pay the penalty for all of our sins when He died on the cross. Believing this and trusting God with His promise to save and forgive, is the way this grace is received. Salvation is not a reward for believing. It is freely offered, and the way we take advantage of it is by believing it.

And all of this is not of ourselves. It is not of our own doing. Our new birth is not by the will of man, but by the will of God (John 1:12-13). It is a gift. And you don’t work for a gift.

Verse 9 goes on to tell us it is not of works. Works give us an opportunity to boast: I was smarter than you in taking God’s offer of salvation; I was more faithful in obeying God; I went to church more; I paid more attention to my BIble reading than you; etc.

But salvation has nothing to do with any of that. It is a gift of God, period.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:43 PM November 4, 2020.