Deadly Deception

Deadly Deception:

One of the most concise and powerful passages of Scripture comes from the book of Ephesians. In 2:8-10 Paul writes, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The elegance and economy of this passage is that it eradicates cultural Christianity on at least two major points.

First, is the false notion of authentic faith in Jesus being a “decision” or “process.”

Second, is the ludicrous idea that works are not part of the “salvation equation.”

Regarding the first point, i.e. that faith in Jesus is not a “decision” or a “process,” let’s look at verse 8; “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” If your faith in Christ is yours based on your upbringing, your rational or logical conclusion, your having weighed the evidence, etc., then none of that is the divine gift of faith Paul is writing about in Ephesians 2:8.

As the Bible states, “and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” Faith is a divinely transcendent transaction that comes from outside of us - as a gracious gift from God. Faith must be an external, transcendent, perfect, holy, love-gift of grace from God to us - otherwise it is merely a synthetically derived philosophy of religion.

Since authentic faith is a transaction that pierces and systemically invades the absolute corruption of the human heart - faith itself is not a “process.” There is a distinction between “coming to faith,” i.e. the life prior to the grace-gift from God, and “faith,” which is the definitive moment where the Spirit of God breaches the darkness and forever becomes Sovereign of our heart.

The process before hand is God’s way of preparing us to gladly surrender our autonomy, independence, and rebellion when He appears. The moment is when the transaction of transcendent faith occurs - when the gift comes from God - not by works, so that no one can boast.

Regarding the second point, i.e. that works ARE part of the “salvation equation,” my point is that we are NOT saved by works, but rather saved FOR works; “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Those works are not “random acts of kindness,” or “paying it forward,” but both general and specific ministry, which God reveals to His children.

The general ministry of works is revealed to all Christians through the Bible: The Great Commandment (love God & neighbor), The Great Commission (make disciples of all nations through baptizing and sound teaching), etc. The specific ministry, or “good works,” we are created anew in Christ Jesus to do are revealed as we become more and more intimate in our relationship with God. God cultivates relationship through circumstances which are always ministry opportunities.

The beauty of Ephesians 2:8-10 is that it squashes any sense of our making a “decision for Christ” as if our corruption in sin left us with that ability - to choose Christ. This false notion reduces the biblical concept of sin and human depravity to a palatable “fun sized” version of reality. If we could simply choose God by our own volition then it would be from ourselves and we WOULD have something to boast about.

This passage also eliminates the false notion that works are not part of the “salvation equation.” If someone professes to have faith in Christ, yet they are not wholly invested in the mission of God, actively seeking opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, and continually/willfully participating in their own sanctification (surrender and obedience to God’s will) - then as we read over-and-over in Scripture that person has deceive themselves (James 2:14; Jer 17:9-10; et al.). We are saved FOR works - not by them.

If you are banking on a faith that is “pretty sure,”or one that you arrived at after years of cultural indoctrination or examining all the evidence - then your faith is exactly that: YOURS, and it is not a gift from God. In John 3:6 Jesus tells us, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to Spirit.”

If you have NOT been born of the Spirit and NOT experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection in your own life, then do not allow yourself to be deceived unto eternal death. There is no salvation in your works or the words of your prayers - there is ONLY ONLY ONLY salvation in the God of infinite and eternal power who stands behind them, i.e. Jesus Christ.

If you are uncertain about your faith and salvation, then call out in humility and surrender to Jesus who is gracious and faithful to save all those who call upon Him:

“Help me, LORD my God; save me according to your unfailing love.”

-Psalm 109:26

Blessings,

-Kevin