Ephesians 2: 8-9

Ephesians 2: 8-9, the meaning and the extended explorations

Ephesians 2: 8-9

⁸For it’s by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it’s the gift of God - ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

This part of the Bible, which is the Ephesians 2: 8-9 actually contains the most important thing for Christians, since it’s talking about faith. Faith is said by the Bible to be the only way for Christians to be able to receive the gift of salvation, a true gift for Christians, but the Bible also says that it’s not any faith that will bring salvation, for which it’s the faith to Jesus Christ which will bring us true salvation and eternal joy for us in heaven above.

But first, since the verse says “For it’s by grace you have been saved, through faith…”, there comes a time when you wonder, “Why faith? Why faith is so important? What is so special about it? Are there any things that can replace it?” These questions often wander around inside our head without any answer popping out and giving us solutions to these questions.  According to the Oxford Dictionary, faith is a trust in somebody’s ability or knowledge, but it could also mean as a religious belief. Faith for Christians could be meant as a trust or a belief in God’s ability to control our lives. From the Bible we know that God’s influence in our life is massive and something which is massive must have a strong authority. So, we get the relationship between faith and God that faith is actually the evidence that we believe in God’s plan for our lives.

Why faith? This question is definitely the question that keeps people’s minds awake, wondering why faith is chosen to be the link between us and Jesus Christ. God holds the greatest authority in our live and for that; He has beautiful plans for us. There are evidences that God has plans for us, but what matters is not either the evidences exist or not, but it’s all actually about whether we believe in those evidences or not. Faith is the belief in God but without faith we’re just too arrogant to admit God’s influences in our lives. Why faith is so important? The answer is that faith is the only connection between our hearts and the mighty Lord above. This answer has answered the two other questions mentioned above that faith is the only connection and nothing can replace it. It’s so special that faith to Jesus Christ is promised by God to be the only way to ensure our salvation.

Other questions that still possible to be wandering around inside your mind about these particular verses is actually “Why can salvation be given to us by grace, through faith?” The answer to this is actually so simple, because actually no one; no human being even Adam can actually retrieve salvation himself. Adam sinned and by what he did, he actually has made all human beings sinful. Sin makes human beings so different from God, even though before sin actually ruled us, we were very similar with God, because we have God’s characteristics. But, sin has changed it wholly. Sin has made a distance between God and us. We are in a position of no power and so we can’t actually do anything to fix the mistake Adam made thousands of years ago. It’s only God, our creator that can find a way to unite us and Him once again. So, it’s by grace; the grace of Lord that we can actually earn salvation through faith, since no one can earn salvation because no one deserves it. But God has made us deserved for salvation by His grace.

Why did God send His Only Child to give us salvation? The answer for this question is once again pretty simple. It’s actually because man is never meant to die. Salvation is an act of saving from harm and God gives us salvation because God actually rescues us from the eternal death in hell. We must first recall that Adam, as the first human, was created to be immortal, but sin made him mortal. Adam only lived for about 900 years, very contradictive with the former fact that he was immortal, meaning that he should have lived forever. By sending His Only Child, Jesus Christ, God actually gives us the opportunity to regain our actual fate, to live with God for eternity in heaven.

Why can’t we earn salvation by our works? Verse 9 says that “Not by works,…” and this is actually because none of man’s works are actually worthy enough to earn salvation. We must remember that humans are sinful and that makes all the works done by humans sinful too. Sin doesn’t make human earn salvation and that’s why, our works can’t be considered as the main factor for earning salvation, for which our works is actually driving salvation away from us.

Why shouldn’t we boast? Verse 9 says that”…, so that no one can boast” and this is because no man’s works can earn salvation and  because of it, there’s no need to boast about our works since our works aren’t going to give us eternal live. It’s just bringing us further from God and that’s why, once again, salvation is given by grace through faith.

Ephesians 2 : 8-9 once again holds the true process behind salvation, and actually this gift is too great for us. It’s only because of our God’s love to His creations that we could earn this salvation. We as sinful human beings don’t actually deserve to be given salvation since we sin and we deserve death as our punishment ( Rome 6: 23) but once more, God’s love is so great that He, has actually given it to us.

We, as Christians should be more than grateful that we actually have a God, a Father who loves His children so much that he wouldn’t let even one of them to run away. So, we as His children should respect and obey Him wholly for our lives lie on His hand; for He holds the greatest authority in the universe.

God Bless You!