"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."
Ephesians 2:8
Part 2
Yesterday:
“For by grace are ye saved.”
Our salvation from God is a gift of His grace.
“Through faith.”
Faith is the channel through which God gives us His gift of salvation.
Today:
“And that not of yourselves.”
We have no ability nor power to provide our salvation. We can never earn it or work for it. It is only offered as God’s free gift to us.
“Grace, without any respect to human worthiness, confers the glorious gift. Faith, with an empty hand, and without any pretence [sic.] to personal desert, receives the heavenly blessing. And this is not of yourselves – This refers to the whole preceding clause, That ye are saved through faith, is the gift of God” [1] (Wesley).
“It is the gift of God.”
Our salvation can only come to us by the gracious gift of God. For a man to try to earn salvation by his own merits, is an insult to God for His gift of grace. Many years ago, in Guam, a dear lady brought my wife a present of beautiful fresh strawberries. As my wife shared Christ with this lady, she did not understand why she could not earn salvation but that she needed Jesus and His free gift to pay for it. Garthea said, “what if I offered to pay you for your strawberries?” The lady became indignant and said, “you cannot do that because they are a gift! To pay for a gift is to insult the giver!” That’s the point. To try to pay for God’s gift is to insult God and His Son, who provides salvation without cost to the sinner.
“‘By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast.’ What is it that is ‘not of works’? [v. 9] Faith? Certainly not. Nobody would ever have thought it worth while to say, ‘faith is not of works,’ because nobody would have said that it was. The two clauses necessarily refer to the same thing, and if the latter of them must refer to salvation by grace, so must the former. Thus, the Apostle’s meaning is that we get salvation, not because we work for it but because God gives it as a free gift, for which we have nothing to render, and which we can never deserve” [2] (MacLaren).
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Do you have God’s special grace gift? It can be yours today! Turn to Him, repent of your sin and confess the Savior, and by faith, ask Him to save you now.
Dear Lord, thank you for your free gift of salvation by grace!
[1] John Wesley. John Wesley’s Notes on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Alexander MacLaren. Expositions of Holy Scriptures, the electronic version in eSword.