Special Insights No. 5
Fourth Quarter 2005
Adult Sabbath School Lessons
“Ephesians: The Gospel of Relationships”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
The Church: God's Workmanship
Paul’s burden in his epistle to the Ephesians is to reveal God’s purpose,
“the mystery of His will … which He purposed in Himself” in order to
restore unity in the universe (the genuine “gospel of relationships”)
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (see Eph. 1:7-10). Evidence
is piled upon evidence that God chose, adopted, predestined, and made
us accepted in Christ from the foundation of the world. And since God
is the Savior of all men and shows no partiality, this good news applies
to the entire fallen race of men. God purposed and accomplished His
will through the gift of His Son.
Next to John 3:16, the memory text for this week’s lesson is perhaps
the most familiar and most often quoted and most loved Bible text. “For
by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” It is
generally understood by many Christians that if you have sufficient
faith, then God’s grace will save you. The burden is on you and your
ability to develop sufficient saving faith.
We will address two issues in this Insight: (1) How does God make anyone
alive together with Christ Jesus? (2) What is the gift of God in Ephesians
2:8? Is it faith or something else?
Made Alive with Christ
The basis upon which anyone dead in trespasses and sins can be made
alive together with Christ is not our faith. God accomplished His purpose
for this by taking fallen human nature, dead in trespasses and sins,
and uniting that nature with the divine nature of His Son. By that one
unique act of the incarnation, the human race, from a corporate point
of view, was made alive or spiritually awakened together with Christ.
The fallen human race was reconnected with God.
The parenthetical phrase, “by grace you have been saved,” in 2:5 deserves
special attention. The verbal phrase, “you have been saved,” is composed
of two Greek verbs: este and sesosmenoi. The literal
rendering is the following: “by grace you are, having been saved” or
“by grace you exist, having been saved.” [1] In a unique corporate sense,
mankind is alive by virtue of the incarnation, death and resurrection
of Christ. They have been saved from the second death temporarily (and
in God’s intention, eternally), because Christ tasted and abolished
that death resulting in probationary life for all.
The grace of God originates from the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
(Rom. 3:24). It is this grace that is responsible for the unconditional
corporate good news of the gospel wherein fallen man has been chosen,
adopted, predestined, and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ.
But it is also true that all those who embrace Christ by a surrendered
life of faith and obedience will be made alive together with Christ
and will be given free access to partake of the divine nature to escape
the corruption that is in the world through lust.
From a similar corporate standpoint, when God looks at His Son, God
manifested in the flesh, He sees all mankind sitting in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. But this is especially true experientially for those
who believe. They are made alive and raised up together with Christ
and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ. They are new
creatures in Christ Jesus created in Him for good works.
What Is the Gift of God in Ephesians 2:8?
Is it faith or something else? “For by grace you are saved through
faith, and that not of yourself; it is the gift of God.” A cursory reading
of the passage would suggest that the antecedent pronoun “it” refers
to “faith” or perhaps “grace.” The pronoun “it” is supplied by the translators
and certainly refers to “that” in the phrase: “and that not of yourself.”
But what does the demonstrative pronoun, “that,” refer to? Both faith
(pistis) and grace (charis) are feminine Greek nouns.
However, the demonstrative pronoun “that” (touto) is neuter
in gender. This pronoun, (touto), must therefore refer to the
general concept of the salvation process (“having been saved”). The
pronoun “it” is supplied by the translators and is irrelevant. It is
therefore evident that the gift of God in 2:8 is God’s saving process
affecting all mankind.
What is the significance of all this? A literal rendering of the passage
is the following: “For by grace you are, having been saved through the
faith (tes pisteos); and this not of yourselves, the gift of
God.” Yes, a literal rendering of the Greek passage would suggest that
we are saved by grace through the faith of Jesus. More specifically,
“For by grace you are (exist), having been saved through the faith,
and that not of yourselves, (it is) a gift of God.” It is widely recognized
especially in the scholarly community that Paul’s epistles are permeated
with the phrase, “the faith of Jesus,” but which is more often translated
as faith in Jesus.
The gift of God resulting from the faith of Jesus includes both probationary
life for all and eternal life for those having been made spiritually
alive with Christ by faith which originates from the Author of faith.
What is the conclusion of all this? Salvation is entirely a work of
God through the faith of Jesus Christ bestowed as a gift upon all. For
those who receive the gift of Christ, they become the workmanship of
God, created in Christ Jesus for good works. This is a faith expressed
by His saints that works because of His great love with which He loved
us.
—John W. Peters
[1] Other versions (KJV) translate 2:5 as “by grace you are saved.”
This requires only the present passive verb in Greek (for example, see
1 Cor. 15:2). The NKJV translation of Eph. 2:5 or 8 would require the
perfect passive Greek tense. However the unusual compound Greek verb
in 2:5 and 2:8 demands the literal translation: “by grace you are, having
been saved.”
Note: Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is the inspired
source for many of the unique “what-Christ-has-accomplished” and “what-He
does-in-you” concepts which make the 1888 message of Christ’s righteousness
so unique. The 1888 Message Study Committee has just published Robert
J. Wieland’s accompanying commentary on Ephesians, YOU’VE BEEN “ADOPTED.”
Call (269) 473-1888 to order; ask for the special introductory price.
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