In this message we come to Eph. 2:4-10, which reveals that we have been saved by grace to be the masterpiece of God.
Verse 4, which tells us that God is rich in mercy, begins with the words “But God.” This was the turning factor in our position. We were in a miserable situation, but God came in with His rich mercy to make us suitable for His love.
God is rich in mercy “because of His great love with which He loved us” (v. 4). The object of love should be in a condition deserving love, but the object of mercy is always in a pitiful situation. Hence, God’s mercy reaches further than His love. God loves us because we are the object of His selection. But we became pitiful by our fall, even dead in our offenses and sins; therefore, we need God’s mercy. Because of His great love, God is rich in mercy to save us from our wretched position to a condition which is suitable for His love.
God’s mercy reached us even when we were dead in offenses (v. 5). We did not deserve anything from God, but God had mercy upon us in our miserable situation.
Verse 5 says that we have been made alive together with Christ. The book of Ephesians does not consider us sinners as does the book of Romans; it considers us dead persons. As sinners we need God’s forgiveness and justification, as revealed in the book of Romans. But as dead persons we need to be made alive. Forgiveness and justification bring us back to God’s presence to enjoy His grace and participate in His life, whereas making us alive enables us, as the living members of the Body of Christ, to express Him. God made us alive by imparting His eternal life, which is Christ Himself (Col. 3:4), into our deadened spirit through His Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). He has enlivened us with Christ. God enlivened us together when He enlivened the crucified Jesus. Therefore, He made us alive with Christ.
As a parenthesis in verse 5, Paul says, “By grace you have been saved.” Grace is free. Here it denotes not only God freely dispensed into us for our enjoyment, but also God’s action in freely saving us. By such grace we have been saved from our wretched position of death into the marvelous realm of life.
Verse 6 says, “And raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” To make us alive is the initial step of God’s salvation in life. Following this, God raised us up from the position of death. To be made alive is one thing, and to be raised up is another. Consider the story of the raising of Lazarus as an illustration (John 11). The Lord firstly made him alive and then raised him up out of the tomb. In the same principle, God’s mercy firstly made us alive and then raised us up from the dead.
Verse 6 says that we have been raised up together and seated together. From our standpoint we have been raised up from our position of death one by one. But in God’s view we were all raised up together, just as all the Israelites were raised up together from the death waters of the Red Sea (Exo. 14). According to the book of Exodus, the entire congregation of the children of Israel was saved at the same time, for they passed through the Red Sea together. This is a clear type showing that we were all saved together; we were all made alive and raised up at the same time.
Again I wish to point out that the salvation in Ephesians is different from the salvation in Romans. In Romans salvation is by God’s righteousness, but in Ephesians salvation is by the divine life. The salvation unfolded in Ephesians is not that which satisfies God’s righteous requirements. Rather, it is the salvation that imparts life into us to make us members of the Body of Christ so that God’s eternal purpose to have a living Body for the expression of Christ may be fulfilled. This purpose is fulfilled not by righteousness, but by life. Therefore, Ephesians 2 emphasizes that we have been made alive together with Christ.
Verse 6 says that we have been seated together in the heavenlies. The third step of God’s salvation in life is to seat us together in the heavenlies. He not only raised us up from the position of death, but also seated us in the highest place in the universe.
The heavenlies are the high position into which we have been saved in Christ. In the book of Romans, Christ as our righteousness has brought us into such a state that we may be acceptable to God. In the book of Ephesians, Christ as our life has saved us into such a position that we may be above all God’s enemies. The church people today are in the heavenlies.
The word “heavenlies” is rather peculiar. It refers not only to a place, but also to an atmosphere with a certain nature and characteristic. God’s salvation by life has brought us into a heavenly place and into a heavenly atmosphere with a heavenly characteristic. When we meet together, we often have the deep sense that we are not in an earthly atmosphere, but in a heavenly atmosphere. However, if you go to a theater or some other worldly place, you will have the sense that you are immersed in an earthly atmosphere. Because we are in a heavenly atmosphere with a heavenly nature and a heavenly characteristic, we are a heavenly people. God’s salvation has transferred us into such a realm and atmosphere.
It was in Christ that God seated us all together, once for all, in the heavenlies. This was accomplished when Christ ascended to the heavens, and it was applied to us by the Spirit of Christ when we believed in Him. Today we realize and experience this reality in our spirit through faith in the accomplished fact.
Both Romans and Ephesians indicate that we are in Christ. In Romans, however, to be transferred from Adam into Christ is primarily a matter of being placed into a justified position. However, in Ephesians to be in Christ is not only a matter of a heavenly position, but, even more important, a matter of life. Because we are in Christ, we have the vitality of life. In Romans Christ is the righteousness of God, but in Ephesians Christ is life. Therefore, according to Romans, to be in Christ means to be in a justified position; but according to Ephesians, to be in Christ means to have the vitality of life.
Verse 7 says, “That He might display in the ages which are coming the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” The church is produced in the present age; the ages which are coming are the ages of the millennium and eternity future. To display the riches of God’s grace is to exhibit them to the whole universe publicly. The riches of God’s grace surpass every limit. These are the riches of God Himself for our enjoyment. They will be publicly displayed for eternity.
Verse 7 says that the surpassing riches of God’s grace are in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Kindness is a benevolent goodness which issues out of mercy and love. It is in such kindness that the grace of God is given to us.
Verse 8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” The word “for” at the beginning of this verse gives the occasion for God to display His grace (v. 7). Because we have been saved by His grace, God may display it.
In Ephesians grace denotes God dispensed into us. Therefore, to be saved by grace means to be saved by having God dispensed into us. Most Christians regard grace as a thing, not as a person. To them, grace is merely a gift freely given to them. According to this concept of grace, we were sinners who did not deserve God’s salvation, but God saved us freely by giving us His unmerited favor. This, however, is a superficial understanding of what it means to be saved by grace.
John 1:17 says that grace came through Jesus Christ. This indicates that grace is somewhat like a person. Ephesians reveals that the saving grace is God Himself in Christ wrought into our being. We have emphasized that the governing concept in Ephesians 1 is the dispensing of the Triune God into our being. Therefore, to be saved by grace means to be saved by the dispensing of the Triune God into us.
Many Christians consider salvation as merely being rescued from a pitiful situation. According to this understanding, to be saved by grace is to have the Savior, who is rich in mercy, reach down to us in our low estate and rescue us. But this is not the salvation revealed in Ephesians. According to Ephesians, salvation is the transmission of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ into us. When this Person comes into us as grace, we are saved. Once we receive such a divine transmission, we are made alive, raised up, and seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Therefore, in Ephesians grace is the saving Person of Christ Himself. Hallelujah for such a salvation! This is a deeper understanding of salvation by grace.
It was not a simple matter for God to be transmitted into us as grace. He had to be processed through incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. By being processed in this way, He is now able to transmit Himself into us. When the processed God is transmitted into us, He becomes the saving grace. This grace is not only the amazing grace; it is the abounding grace. Grace is the processed God transmitted into our being.
Do not regard this as a mere human interpretation. If you read Ephesians 1 and 2 with much prayer, you will see that God processed and transmitted into our being is the saving grace and the abounding grace. We have been saved by the transmission of this processed God.
As we have indicated, this grace has surpassing riches. It has many aspects, virtues, and attributes, such as life, light, and power. Apart from life, light, and power, God cannot save us. For example, how can you rescue a person who has fallen into a pit if you do not have the strength to lift him out? Furthermore, if you do not have love for him, you will not bother to save him. In order to save us, God needed love and wisdom. These are some of the surpassing riches of God’s saving grace. In His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, God has saved us by His grace. In the ages to come — in the millennium and eternity future — God will display this grace publicly to the whole universe.
In verse 8 Paul says that by grace we have been saved through faith. Faith is the substantiating of invisible things. It is by faith that we substantiate all the things Christ has accomplished for us. Through such substantiating ability, we have been saved by grace. The free action of God’s grace saved us through our substantiating faith.
Speaking of faith, verse 8 also says, “This not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Faith is not of our works, nor of our endeavor or strife; it is of God’s gift that no one should boast (v. 9). Faith is not of ourselves. Although we believe, the faith with which we believe does not originate with us. In ourselves, we do not have any faith. However, at the time we repented and made confession to God in the name of the Lord Jesus, the believing ability was put into us. Before we were saved, we were utterly unable to believe. But on the day we were saved, faith was imparted to us, and we believed. Others may ask how we can believe in Jesus Christ when we have never seen Him. Although we have not seen Him, we cannot help believing in Him. This faith is not of ourselves; it is part of the grace transmitted into us.
Faith actually is an aspect of Christ. This is the reason the Bible speaks of the faith of Christ (Rom. 3:22). In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Faith is Christ Himself. When some hear me say this, they may think that for me Christ is everything. That is right. The faith which is given to us is the faith common to believers (Titus 1:4). Faith is given, faith is received, and faith is common. When we put all these facts together, we see that this faith is Christ Himself.
If there is a beautiful diamond in front of you, you will spontaneously appreciate it. This appreciation does not originate with you, but with the diamond. In a sense, your appreciation is the diamond itself. You certainly would not have the same appreciation for a piece of clay. A diamond is worthy of appreciation; clay is not. Likewise, the reason we do not put our faith in Socrates or Confucius is that they are not believable. But because Christ is absolutely believable, we put our faith in Him. Our faith in Christ does not come out of us; rather, it comes out of Him. When we see Christ, faith is imparted to us. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to say that faith is Christ. This is like saying that holiness, love, righteousness, patience, and endurance are Christ.
Because the unique faith is Christ Himself, we who believe in Him have a common faith. You do not have one kind of faith and I, another kind. When Christ came to you, you believed; and when He came to me, I believed. Whenever Christ comes to a person, that person believes in Him. This is a further indication that faith comes not out of us, but out of Christ.
Because faith is a gift of God and is not of our works, none of us has the right to boast. On the contrary, we all must humbly say, “Lord, if you had not come to me, I would not have any faith. But praise You that You have come, and I have received faith! Lord, You are my faith.”
We have been saved by grace through faith to be God’s masterpiece. Verse 10 says, “We are His workmanship.” This word may also be rendered “masterpiece.” The Greek word poiema means something which has been made, a handiwork, or something which has been written or composed as a poem. Poetry does not consist only of poetic writing; any work of art that expresses the maker’s wisdom and design may be considered a poem. We, the church, the masterpiece of God’s work, are the highest poetry, expressing God’s infinite wisdom and divine design.
God has made many things, but none of them is as dear, precious, valuable, and desirable as the church. The church is God’s masterpiece. Writers, composers, and artists often attempt to achieve a masterpiece, an outstanding work. God created the heavens and the earth, but neither the heavens nor the earth is God’s masterpiece. Likewise, God created man, but not even man is God’s masterpiece. Only one item of God’s work in this universe is His masterpiece, and this masterpiece is the church. As God’s masterpiece, the church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. What could be a greater work than this? Furthermore, the church as God’s masterpiece is the corporate and universal new man (2:15). Because we see things from the side of the messed-up “kitchen” of the church life, we may not realize that the church is such a masterpiece. But eventually we shall see that we are both the Body and the new man, God’s masterwork.
Verse 10 says that we are God’s workmanship “created in Christ Jesus.” As the masterpiece of God’s work, we, the church, are an absolutely new item in the universe, something newly originated by God. We have been created by God in Christ through regeneration to be His new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
God’s masterpiece is absolutely new because it is the mingling of God and man. We may also say that the church is a hybrid, the blending together of two lives. Our opposers accuse us of teaching that the church is God. However, we do not say this. But we do say that the church is the mingling of God and man. God’s masterpiece, His greatest workmanship, is the working of Himself into man and the constituting of man into oneness with Himself to produce the church.
As we have already pointed out, this masterpiece is a poem, an artistic work that expresses the wisdom, design, and beauty of the maker. The church is God’s poem that speaks forth His wisdom. According to 3:10, God’s manifold wisdom will be made known through the church. Hymns express the wisdom of the hymn writers. In the ages to come, in the millennium and in eternity, there will be a unique hymn, the church, which will express the wisdom and design of God. When we see the New Jerusalem, we may extol God for the beauty, wisdom, and design manifested in this marvelous production. The New Jerusalem will be God’s poem, His masterpiece. When we behold this masterpiece of God in the midst of the new heaven and new earth, we may say, “This is the best hymn ever written in the universe!” This was Paul’s concept in writing Ephesians 2.
Finally, we are God’s masterpiece created in Christ Jesus “for good works, which God before prepared that we should walk in them” (v. 10). The good works for which God created us are not the good things according to our general concept, but the definite good doings which God pre-planned and previously ordained for us to walk in. These good things must be the doing of His will to live the church life and bear the testimony of Jesus, as revealed in the following chapters of this book. Therefore, we need to do God’s will, live the church life, and bear the testimony of Jesus. These are the good works prepared beforehand by God for us, His masterpiece, to walk in. Therefore, 2:4-10 reveals that we have been saved by grace to be God’s masterpiece that we may walk in the good works prepared before by God.
