God’s Work of Grace in the Believer

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” –Ephesians 2:8-10 (NKJV).

For everyone who is a new creation in Christ Jesus, we are the workmanship of God.

God’s grace—His unearned, unmerited favor—is the gift from Him that changed us from a separated, condemned, hopeless state to a new creation in Christ Jesus. Not from any works which we did or could have done are we saved. Salvation is the gift of God. And Jesus is the originator and bearer of that gift of salvation. God prepared and ordained it beforehand and Jesus died that God’s grace could be manifested.

A person’s works cannot save him/her. If we depend on a salvation by our works—which are “as filthy rags,” we cannot be saved. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. Our own personal faith is the commodity we bring to the Lord to accept the gift of grace He extends to us. How can we describe faith? It is a firm and unshakeable conviction, belief, trust and confidence. Faith gives believers the assurance that they can approach Holy God; He is reachable, accessible and already reaching out to us even before we approach Him in faith. If salvation came through our own works, we would have occasion to boast, to brag about what we have done. But it is through no merit of our own work or goodness that we are saved.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (v. 10). The Greek word poiema translated “workmanship” is the same word from which we derive our English word “poem,” and means “that which is made.” For myself, being a poet of sorts, and having a life-long interest in the pursuit of and love for poetry, I can relate to this idea of God’s workmanship in us being like creating a poem. The germ of an idea presents itself for a poem. Sometimes it comes “full blown” and easily; at other times much thought, rearrangement and labor go into a poem before the poet is satisfied that the work is finished. God’s grace saves us and His “poiema” (poem) workmanship begins in us. Then through His Word, the Bible, which teaches and woos us, our prayers, our diligence in study, and even trials and sufferings, God works in each individual to bring us to our fulfillment in Him. Look how long He worked in Moses: forty years in the wilderness; and Joseph, sold into slavery before he was made second in power to the Pharaoh in Egypt and ready to help his own brothers who had sold him into slavery; Paul, persecuting the Christians before he was called to be an Apostle. God’s grace saves us, and that individually through our faith. God’s workmanship in us, to form us into the meaningful “poem” our life can be takes our whole lifetime of walking in His way. Not only is faith required to accept His grace, faithfulness is required in practicing and growing in our faith. May we be found faithful! --Ethelene Dyer Jones 04.19.2015