EPHESIANS 2:8-13

February 1, 2021

GRIPPED BY GRACE

Ephesians 2:8-9 (BSB) For it is by grace5485 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.

G5485 Grace – cháris – graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstr. or conc) Lit., fig. or spiritual: espec. The divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude): acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace(ious), joy, liberality, pleasure, thank(-s, -worthy).

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

“5485 – cháris – “God’s grace affects man’s sinfulness and not only forgives the repentant sinner but brings joy and thankfulness to him. It changes the individual to a new creature without destroying his individuality (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:8,9).”

The Complete Word Study Dictionary, Spiros Zodhiates Th.D., ed.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (BSB)

SUSAN: God’s grace—His favor that we cannot deserve or earn—influences our heart to salvation. The evidence that this change has occurred is that we reflect the nature of Jesus in our daily lives. 

SUSIE: Because of God’s grace, He even provides the faith we need to trust Jesus for salvation—even faith is not our own doing. The entire redemption experience is dependent on God’s provision rather than our own abilities, works, or worthiness.

SUSAN: We did nothing to attain the status of salvation. Our only part was receiving the gift God gave us when He chose us from before the foundation of the world. 

SUSIE: I have no “bragging rights” when it comes to being redeemed. My redemption was purchased by Jesus on the cross and applied to my need by the Holy Spirit. I was dead spiritually, and the Lord made me alive.

SUSAN: God makes us brand new, as if we had never sinned; yet we remain who He designed us to be with our own unique personalities, created to fulfill our divine destinies.  

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in ChristG5547 Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

For we are the product of His hand, heaven’s poetry etched on lives, created in the AnointedG5547, Jesus, to accomplish the good works God arranged long ago.

Ephesians 2:10 (VOICE)

G5547 – Χριστός Christós, khris-tos’; from G5548; anointed, i.e. the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus:—Christ.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

G5547 – to anoint. Anointed, a term used in the OT applied to everyone anointed with the holy oil, primarily to the high priesthood (Lev. 4:5, 16) Also a name applied to others acting as redeemers:

  1. As an appellative and with the art. ho, the, Christós, Christ, it occurs chiefly in the Gospels and means the Messiah . . .
  2. As a proper noun, Christ.

The Complete Word Study Dictionary, Spiros Zodhiates, ed.

Then the anointedH4899 priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the Tent of Meeting.

Leviticus 4:5 (BSB)

H4899 – מָשִׁיחַ mâshîyach, maw-shee’-akh; from H4886; anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); specifically, the Messiah:—anointed, Messiah.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

SUSAN: God not only chose us before He formed our world, but He predetermined the good works He would do through us after we surrendered to Jesus, that we would become more and more like Him (sanctification).

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 8:29 (ESV)

For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

Philippians 2:13 (BSB)

SUSAN: Once we surrender our lives to the Lord, we are the instruments He uses to bring about His purposes. As God’s anointed High Priest and King, Jesus has been consecrated—set apart—to be our Redeemer and to sharpen us, His instruments, for good works.

SUSIE: My cousin, Russell Little, posted a good word on Ephesians 2:8-10 on Facebook the other day, and I asked if I could share it here:

We can’t receive justification by good works, but we do good works because we are justified by His grace. We need to unwrap the package that is tailor made for each of us in Christ Jesus and walk in those good works. God ordained that for each of us. It is exciting to watch for the random opportunities (from our side) that lie ahead.

(Russell Little – Susie’s cousin)

SUSAN: We are created in the image of God, and when we enter a relationship with Jesus, He empowers us to become an illustration of who He is by exercising our God-given gifts. The sacrificial love of Jesus is demonstrated through our love for each other and for those who do not yet know our Lord.

SUSIE: Each of our lives becomes a testimony to God’s grace, a praise poem that others can “read.”

Ephesians 2:11-12 Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

SUSIE: The Ephesian believers were not Jewish: they were not of the nation set apart as God’s chosen people in the Old Testament. They were Gentiles (non-Jews) who had never converted to Judaism, and therefore, had never been circumcised according to Jewish law. For those who may not have been raised reading the Bible, especially the Old Testament, we wanted to include some information about the rite of circumcision in the Jewish tradition which was a sign of the covenant between God, Abraham, and Abraham’s descendants. God instituted circumcision with Abraham:

This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcisedH4135. You are to circumciseH5243 the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

Genesis 17:10-11 (BSB)

H4135 – מוּל mûwl, mool; a primitive root; to cut short, i.e. curtail (specifically the prepuce, i.e. to circumcise); by implication, to blunt; figuratively, to destroy:—circumcise(-ing), selves), cut down (in pieces), destroy, × must needs.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

H5243 – נָמַל nâmal, naw-mal’; a primitive root; to become clipped or (specifically) circumcised:—(branch to) be cut down (off), circumcise.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

CIRCUMCISE, verb transitive To cut off the prepuce or foreskin of males; a ceremony or rite in the Jewish and Mohammedan religions. The word is applied also to a practice among some nations of performing a like operation upon females.

American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828

SUSAN: Like baptism for believers (Christians), circumcision was an outward sign of an inward commitment to God.

SUSIE: The true circumcision was not the outward sign but the change in one’s heart due to God’s grace. Here are some verses to support this:

The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live.

Deuteronomy 30:6

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of your evil deeds.

Jeremiah 4:4

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26

No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.

Romans 2:29

SUSAN: The stony heart would not be pliable and responsive to God. Just like the gods the Gentiles had worshiped before coming to know Jesus, their hearts were incapable of having a relationship.Before hearing about Jesus and believing in Him, the Ephesians had been directionless . . . 

SUSIE: . . .following after myriad false gods and not knowing the true God or any of His benefits laid out in the covenant promises since they were not Israelites. They were completely without hope. Gentiles were despised by the Jews and even called “dogs.” However, Christ died for Gentiles as well as Jews (see Mark 7:25-30).

SUSAN: Gentiles looked to many gods to meet their needs. According to the stories the Gentiles believed, these gods of stone or metal demanded everything from the people but had no real power to give back to them. Their worship was empty and meaningless because it was devoid of relationship. According to their myths, their gods expected the people to sacrifice (some even requiring child sacrifices), but none of their gods sacrificed something to benefit the people. However, in Christ we have a God who sacrificed His own Son, and a Lord who willingly gave His own life for our benefit!

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

SUSIE: Rabbinical teachings referred to Gentiles as being “far off,” as in not near to God. 

SUSAN: Until the Holy Spirit draws us into relationship with Jesus, we are all alienated or far off from God. The blood of Christ allowed these who were previously not worshipers of the true God the privilege of being in relationship and, therefore, children of God and brothers and sisters with the Lord Jesus. 

SUSIE: They even had the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in them. The Holy Spirit draws us to know Jesus and “circumcises” our hearts to be tender and malleable toward the Lord.

PONDER THIS: Unbelievers today suffer the same problem as the Ephesians – they are far from God and without hope. Sharing the Gospel, the Good News of salvation through Jesus as a free gift from God, is our opportunity to bring hope and light to those desperately in need of God’s grace. Witnessing is not a chore and not a prescribed method of explaining the Gospel. It is our privilege and is simply sharing what Jesus has done for us with someone who needs to know Him. 

ASSIGNMENT: Write or type out a list of friends and family who do not yet know Jesus personally. Pray for these people regularly and be open to opportunities to share your testimony with them. Live before them in such a way that they will ask you to explain what you have that they don’t.