“The Just Shall Live By Faith”

New King James Version                                                                                                              Written by: David Hicks

 

Romans 1:17 “ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Galatians 3:11 “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."

Hebrews 10:38 “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."

“Articles of Faith”

 The Church of Christ

(A Study in Ephesians)

Lesson 5. We are His Workmanship, Created ‘In' Christ:

In our last lesson we found in Paul's prayer for spiritual wisdom, three primary points:

 I. What is the hope of His calling?

 II. What are the riches of His inheritance in the saints?

 III. What is God's great power toward those who believe?

Having expressed his desire that his readers might know these points and who is at the heart of all they exemplify, he know will start this chapter by reminding them that they had been dead in sin but made alive together with Christ, note:

Ephesians 2:1-10

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

• Verse 1.

Alive and dead are used figuratively here in this verse in a spiritual sense. Sin and trespasses are never found in God (for He is light, I John 1:5 ), thus when two things are separated they are dead to each other. So, when men are living in sin they are separated from God, for sinful men cannot have any connection with Him ( I John 1:6-7 ).

• Verse 2-3.

In these verses Paul would continue to enlighten the behavior that caused the separation from God. Consider that absolute sinless perfection does not exist in any man ( I John 1:8 ). However, the difference between a sinner and one who walks in the light as He is in the light are described in these verses. It is an issue of which master you elect to serve, note:

Romans 6:17-18 “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

Just for the record, Christians are not sinners! We have abandoned the course of this world through Christ and having been cleansed from our sins, we now have chosen to walk in righteousness. This does not mean that we do not get it wrong from time to time. However, when we do, because we have the spiritual blessings ‘ in ' Christ, we also have the ability to be restored from our errors ( I John 1:9-10 ).

When we were outside of the body of Christ, we were separated from God by following our fleshly nature (sinners), and this threatened us with the wrath of God.

• Verse 4-7.

Starting in this verse, Paul now returns to his opening remark, “And you He has made alive ” . In verse 4 , the richness of God's mercy was indicated by the kind of love with which he regarded mankind while in the bondage of sin.

In verse 5 , Paul adds the information that the ‘making alive' is done ‘ in ' Christ. This means that it is through Him that we are made alive and free from sin, note:

Romans 6:11 “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The parenthetical statement is simply a brief explanation of verse 4 and 5 combined. God's love demonstrated by Christ Jesus embodies the unmerited favor of God, and saves all those ‘ in ' Christ.

Verse 6 , is a continuation of these two verses and continues to explain the quickening process (making alive), as well as return to the statement made in chapter 1 and verse 3 , note: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” This also helps us to understand that the association of Christians with each other in the church of Christ is heavenly, as the entire arrangement originated in heaven.

Lastly in verse 7 , the terms “ ages to come ” usually refers to eras or dispensations, but it is here more general and only means, ‘in the years to come' (from the time of enlightenment and quickening forward, for all Christians).

• Verse 8-10.

In verse 8 , the matter of being saved involves two parties; the one being saved, and the one doing the saving. God is the latter and is indicated by the term “ grace ”; man is the former and is represented by the word “ faith ”. Since grace is the unmerited favor of God (Grace is from the Greek word, ‘ charis ', and means, “kindness which bestows upon one what he has not deserved”; and since all of God's favors upon man are un-deserved, the grace of God spoken of by Paul here is context specific and means, all the that has been done through Christ by God to enable these and all Christians to be quickened to life from death in sin.), it includes the entire plan of salvation as far as the Lord's part is concerned ( Romans 1:16 ). Faith is on the part of man, and includes all of the things a man must do to prove his faith, note:

Romans 1:5 “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,”

Romans 2:8 “but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth , but obey unrighteousness--indignation and wrath,”

Romans 6:17-18 “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered . 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

Romans 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God .”

Romans 10:16 “But they have not all obeyed the gospel . For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"

1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments . And His commandments are not burdensome.”

Hebrews 5:8-9 “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him ,”

“ Not of yourselves ”, does not set in order an excuse not to obey the instructions of God that lead to salvation (as we will see in the key verse), it simply states that man could not have provided any ‘ plan ' whereby he could be saved from sin. Since salvation is the subject matter, it is this plan of salvation ‘ in ' Christ that is the gift of God. Since a lifetime of service to God could never warrant eternal life, it will always be a gift from God.

In verse 8 , Paul will elaborate on this concept of “ not of yourselves ”. Here he uses the terms “ not of works ”. This has led to countless false concepts concerning God's plan of salvation. Since there is not any conflicting teaching in the Gospel, it is vital that we understand the works of the scriptures, as well as remember that Paul has written this to Christians that have already repented and been baptized into the body of Christ (Thus ‘ in ' Christ).

There are three kinds of works mentioned in the New Testament :

 I. Works of the flesh (mentioned in verses 2-3 of our text as well as Galatians 5:19 -21 ). Both in our text and throughout the New Testament are strictly condemned.

 II. Works of ‘The Law' or works of merit. Works done under the Law of Moses (a law that magnified sin) in which the child of God had to keep that law flawlessly in order for God to owe that child salvation (Jews). Works of merit would embody any process created by man in which he would assume God owed him salvation (Gentiles). This is the works of verse 9!

 III. Good works. This would personify all the required works of faith as specified by God through Christ by which the gift of God may be given. These are the works of verse 10!

With this understanding of the differences in the works being condemned in verse 9 and the works being promoted in verse 10 , we can move forward now to the key verse. Remember that Paul is attempting to answer for these and all Christians the original three premises found in the opening of this lesson. With this in mind note:

Vs.10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Summary: Paul reminds these Christians of how they had been dead in sin but made alive together with Christ. In fact, they were raised and made to sit together with Christ in heavenly places (the church, His body, the kingdom of heaven), that God may show even more riches of His grace in the time to come. The whole God did by His love, grace, and mercy. While it involved their faith, it did not involve any works of their creation by which they could boast.

The end result:

“ We have been created ‘ in ' Christ to walk in good works, as God planned beforehand ”.

“We have been created (workmanship) in Christ”. A man makes a tool for a specific job (it has a specific purpose); likewise, God has created us in Christ for a specific purpose. We will find out in the chapter to come, that it was part of His eternal purpose. It is vital that we continue to remind ourselves of just how important it is that we are ‘ in ' Christ (life and death), and just how important it is that we realize our role ‘ in ' His body (since it was part of God's eternal purpose).

What are these good works? They embody everything the Gospel of Christ instructs us to in righteousness with God (from the plan of salvation to the good works of citizenship that we will discuss in detail starting in Chapter 4 ).

We will also discuss the importance of God's great plans in up-coming lessons as well.

Next: “ Far, then Near, then Fellow Citizens ”