Ephesians 2:8-10 | |
8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: | 8. Gratia enim estis salvati per fidem; idque non ex vobis: Dei donum est. |
9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. | 9. Non ex operibus; ne quis glorietur. |
10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. | 10. Ipsius enim opus sumus, creati in Christo Iesu ad opera bona, quae praeparavit Deus, ut in illis ambulemus. |
8.
Ought we not then to be silent about free-will, and good intentions, and fancied preparations, and merits, and satisfactions? There is none of these which does not claim a share of praise in the salvation of men; so that the praise of grace would not, as Paul shews, remain undiminished. When, on the part of man, the act of receiving salvation is made to consist in faith alone, all other means, on which men are accustomed to rely, are discarded. Faith, then, brings a man empty to God, that he may be filled with the blessings of Christ. And so he adds,
9.
This passage affords an easy refutation of the idle cavil by which Papists attempt to evade the argument, that we are justified without works. Paul, they tell us, is speaking about ceremonies. But the present question is not confined to one class of works. Nothing can be more clear than this. The whole righteousness of man, which consists in works, -- nay, the whole man, and everything that he can call his own, is set aside. We must attend to the contrast between God and man, -- between grace and works. Why should God be contrasted with man, if the controversy related to nothing more than ceremonies?
Papists themselves are compelled to own that Paul ascribes to the grace of God the whole glory of our salvation, but endeavor to do away with this admission by another contrivance. This mode of expression, they tell us, is employed, because God bestows the first grace. It is really foolish to imagine that they can succeed in this way, since Paul excludes man and his utmost ability, -- not only from the commencement, but throughout, -- from the whole work of obtaining salvation.
But it is still more absurd to overlook the apostle's inference,
10.
When he says, that "we are the work of God," this does not refer to ordinary creation, by which we are made men. We are declared to be new creatures, because, not by our own power, but by the Spirit of Christ, we have been formed to righteousness. This applies to none but believers. As the descendants of Adam, they were wicked and depraved; but by the grace of Christ, they are spiritually renewed, and become new men. Everything in us, therefore, that is good, is the supernatural gift of God. The context explains his meaning.
We must look to Paul's design. He intends to shew that we have brought nothing to God, by which he might be laid under obligations to us; and he shews that even the good works which we perform have come from God. Hence it follows, that we are nothing, except through the pure exercise of his kindness. Those men, on the other hand, infer that the half of our justification arises from works. But what has this to do with Paul's intention, or with the subject which he handles? It is one thing to inquire in what righteousness consists, and another thing to follow up the doctrine, that it is not from ourselves, by this argument, that we have no right to claim good works as our own, but have been formed by the Spirit of God, through the grace of Christ, to all that is good. When Paul lays down the cause of justification, he dwells chiefly on this point, that our consciences will never enjoy peace till they rely on the propitiation for sins. Nothing of this sort is even alluded to in the present instance. His whole object is to prove, that,
"by the grace of God, we are all that we are."
(1 Corinthians 15:10)
1 "Kai< tou~to oujk ejx uJmw~n. It has been not a little debated, among both ancient and modern commentators, to what noun tou~to should be referred. Some say, to pi>stwev; others, to ca>riti; though on the sense of pi>stiv they differ in their views. The reference seems, however, to be neither to the one nor to the other, but to the subject of the foregoing clause, salvation by grace, through faith in Christ and his gospel; a view, I find, adopted by Dr. Chandler, Dean Tucker, Dr. Macknight, and Dr. A. Clarke. And to show that this interpretation is not a mere novelty, I need only refer the reader to Theophylact, who thus explains: Ouj th<n pi>stin le>gei dw~ron Qeou~ ajlla< to< dia< pi>stewv swqh<nai tou~to dw~ro>n ejsti Qeou~. 'He does not say that faith is the gift of God; but to be saved by faith, this is the gift of God.' Such also is the view adopted by Chrysostom and Theodoret." -- Bloomfield.
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