Who gets to go to heaven and how?
The Apostle Paul answers this most profound question of how is a person saved and what the implications of being saved are. We are shown in Ephesians 2:1-10 that we were all dead in our sins and transgressions and thus powerless to do anything but continue to succumb to the negative influences of the world, the flesh and the devil. Consequently we were all dead, enslaved and condemned.
“But God … because of His great love for us … made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Eph 2:4, 5)
We see:
- What God did – He saved us, made us alive, and raised up in Christ
- Why God did this – Not because of our goodness, not because we deserved it, but because of His mercy, love and grace
- How God did this – By grace, through faith.
Paul stresses six times that we can only be saved by grace:
- V5 it is by grace you have been saved.
- V8 For it is by grace you have been saved,
- through faith—
- and this not from yourselves,
- it is the gift of God—
- not by works, so that no one can boast.
It is all God. 100% pure grace. It is grace not works! It is not even grace + works. We are saved only by grace.
We have not been saved in Christ by our good works, but for good works. It is vital that we understand the sequence, we are not saved by good works, but once saved by grace we are to do good works.
v10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works
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