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NASB | Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace [God's remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; |
Subject: Salvation: "By" Grace, "Through" Faith. |
Bible Note: Salvation: "By" grace, "through" faith... ...and "that" [Salvation] is not the result of anything you or I have done, but it is the gift or present from God to mankind. 1. "By" grace... Nothing anyone ever did could either merit or produce the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God. It was God Incarnate who "took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil. 2:7-8) This was the means of procuring salvation for all mankind. And in the very word "grace" [charis] we see a "gift" from God. "How beautiful God's salvation plan When Grace the awful gulf did span And He took on the form of man To take our sins away." Grace... the bridge built by God in the person of Christ that spans the gulf between lost humanity and glorious deity. 2. "Through" faith... Faith is believing enough to "walk across the bridge built by grace." No man simply sitting on the side of the gulf and viewing the beautiful bridge built by grace can consider himself "saved" simply because he acknowledges the construction of the bridge. Faith without works is lifeless; faith with works brings eternal life. God so loved the world that He gave to it the very embodiment and personification of Himself (His dearly beloved Son), so that whoever would actively and continually believe in Him (have faith in Him, i.e., trust and obey His teachings and continue in His Word) would not perish (be lost as is the unharvested grain in a field), but that they would have everlasting life (the essence of salvation). When crossing the bridge, we acknowledge that we had neither the knowledge nor the means to construct it; but we also recognize that the mere building of the bridge did not put us on the far side of it--we must "walk by faith" in order to reach the other side. Tim D. Cormier Tennessee Preacher |