By Grace You Are Saved Through Faith, Not of Works (Ephesians 2:6–10)

Eph. 2:6. And with Him He raised us up and enthroned us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

In “He quickened together” one need not distinguish Christ’s quickening from the quickening of believers through Him—because of their merging in reality and in power; but in “raised together and enthroned together” one cannot but make this distinction. In the person of Christ the Saviour we were raised and seated in the heavenly places, but this has not yet been accomplished in actual fact—it will be accomplished in due time. Yet it will be accomplished without doubt; so that since Christ has risen, one may count us as also risen; and since He has sat down in the heavenly places, one may count us as already seated there. “Since He has risen, we too have risen in hope; since He shares the throne with the Father, we share in this honour as well; for our head shares the throne, our first-fruits reigns together. He clothed Himself in our nature” (Theodoret).

Previously the Apostle showed that God manifested the greatness of His power in raising Christ and seating Him at His right hand (Eph. 1:20). Now he intensifies this manifestation of God’s power, showing that in Christ Jesus we too are all raised together and enthroned together in the heavenly places. Whoever should lift a heavy piece of magnet would have shown his strength; but if at the same time he lifted all the bits of iron clinging to it, he would have shown thereby still greater strength. So also here. Great power was manifested in the resurrection and enthronement at the right hand of Christ the Lord; but still greater power was manifested in this—that together with Christ and in Christ all who have cleaved and will cleave to Christ through faith are co-raised and co-enthroned in the heavenly places.

“Raised together and enthroned together.” These words show at the same time the close union of believers with Christ, as members with the head, and above all the destiny of humanity glorified in Christ. All that was accomplished in Him was accomplished not for Him but for the human race. Therefore, when He rose for the sake of man, one can say that our race rose in Him; and when He sat down at the right hand of the Father, one can say that our race was enthroned in the heavenly places in Him. Christ is the possibility, the source, the power. What belongs to believers is the realization of this possibility, the drawing from this source, the filling with this power. Saved humanity—the Church—is the development or unfolding of Christ—His fulfillment.

The Apostle does not say that God intends to co-raise us through Christ and to enthrone us in the heavenly places, but that He has already co-raised and co-enthroned us. All that in due time will belong to the redeemed human race, the Apostle sees already accomplished in Christ at one stroke. Christ, as the head of redeemed humanity, is the archetype being realized in the lives of the saints and to be realized until the end of the world. The gracious life of those being saved is the comprehensive application of all that is in Christ Jesus as the fullness of all. What was accomplished in Him was accomplished for all, and is accomplished in deed in all who follow Him by faith. In the first Adam we all sinned and died; the sin and death of Adam, in time, only unfolded and found their application through the sins and deaths of his descendants. In the same way, in the second Adam we are raised and enthroned in heaven. In believers, what is comprehended in Christ finds its application. The resurrection and ascension of Him as Head show their effect in us, His members. This begins already here spiritually, in rebirth or co-quickening in Christ, and will be completed at the end of the ages in the universal Resurrection and glorification, after the judgment, of all who will have been found worthy of it.

What the Christian will receive in its full power and perfection at the time of the restoration of all things—this he already possesses now, though in first-fruits, as it were in seed, or in its foundations. He lives—by virtue of communion with the risen and glorified Lord—by His life even on earth; and though under the cross, even here he has a foretaste of the blessedness of future glorification; already from here he is a citizen of the heavenly kingdom. There he is enrolled. And faith gives him a firm foundation for hope when it suggests to him: Christ—my head—has risen; I too shall rise—His member. Christ—my head—has ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father in glory; I too shall go there, partake of the glory of my head, and find rest with Him and in Him. For not false is His word, who said: “where I am, there shall My servant be also” (Jn. 12:26).

St. Chrysostom concludes: “Do you see the surpassingly abundant ‘greatness of His power in us who believe?’ He quickened those who were dead, who by nature were children of wrath. Do you see ‘the hope of His calling?’ ‘With Him He raised and enthroned us’ (God). Do you see the glory of His inheritance? — Yes, you will say, that He co-raised us—this is plain; but how does the Apostle prove that He ‘seated us in the’ ‘heavenly places’ ‘in Christ Jesus?’ — By the same means by which he proves that He co-raised us. No one would ever have risen if the head had not risen; but when our head rose, we too were raised. In exactly the same way He also enthroned us. When the head sits, the body sits together with it—that is why the Apostle added: ‘in Christ Jesus.’ But how did He enthrone us? — ‘If we endure’ with Him,’ says the Apostle, ‘we shall also reign with Him’ (2 Tim. 2:12). If we died together, we shall also live together. — Truly, one needs the gift of the Spirit and of revelation to comprehend the depths of these mysteries!”

Eph. 2:7. That in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in goodness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Just as previously the Apostle set forth the “praise of the glory of grace” (Eph. 1:6) as the purpose of the whole economy of salvation, or of the whole eternal plan of God concerning it; so too in the realization of this plan he sees no other purpose than the manifestation of the “riches of grace.”

“The ages to come”—the same as the future age, after the second coming of Christ—the time of the matured Kingdom of Christ. Even now this wealth of grace is visible to those who have eyes to see, but not all see it—not only among unbelievers, but also among believers. But then this ineffable wealth will be openly revealed before the eyes of all, in all its greatness and splendor. “It does not yet appear what we shall be” (1 Jn. 3:2), and we cannot comprehend the full breadth of God’s goodness toward us in Christ Jesus. Only in part does everyone see—and the Apostles no less than other believers.

“The riches of grace”—denotes the treasury of divine gifts to us; and “by His goodness toward us in Christ Jesus”—points to the manner of the opening of this treasury for us. In Christ Jesus the Heavenly Father said: This is My beloved Son, in whom all My good pleasure rests. This good pleasure extends through the Lord Jesus to all who believe in Him. He who rests in good pleasure upon Christ Jesus rests with it upon those who cleave to Him. This good pleasure is the goodness toward us in Christ Jesus, by virtue of which all the riches of grace are poured out upon us. It is the key to God’s treasury.

Is not even what is received already now—enough? Forgiveness of sins, the grace of the Holy Spirit, overcoming of passions, growth in virtues, sanctification, adoption, the shining forth of extraordinary gifts—is this not enough? But all of this now manifests itself in earthen vessels, piecemeal and under the covering of external disorders all around. Then, however, there will be revealed in full glory not only this, but also much else that we cannot even imagine—and revealed in the complete totality of all believers. In this age, a building of astonishing beauty is being erected invisibly, covered however by protective scaffolding. When all that obscures the beauty of the building is removed in the age to come, the beauty of the building will astonish both human and angelic minds, which will then behold all the riches of grace expended in the construction of such a building.

Blessed Theodoret writes: “The greatness of the hoped-for blessings is now entirely unknown to unbelievers; but even believers see them ‘as through a glass, darkly’ (1 Cor. 13:12). For they ‘walk by faith,’ ‘and not by sight’ (2 Cor. 5:7); but then they will see face to face. Then believers and unbelievers alike will see the adorable nature that was taken from us for the sake of all creation, and the saints reigning together. ‘For if we have died with Him,’ says the Apostle, ‘we shall also live with Him; if we endure, we shall also reign with Him’ (2 Tim. 2:11, 12).”

St. Chrysostom sees this manifestation of the riches of grace in the co-enthronement of believers with Christ, as the course of the discourse requires. He says: “Since he had previously spoken of Christ, and in all that was said there was nothing that directly concerned us (you may ask—what is it to us, in fact, that Christ has risen?); having shown beforehand that this must also be applied to us—because the Saviour is united with us—he now speaks of what directly concerns us. ‘And us also, who were dead in transgressions, He raised and enthroned.’ So believe that He has enthroned us with Himself, being convinced of this truth by what was said before—that is, by what was said about the head—and also by this: that He wishes to manifest His goodness toward us. For how, in fact, will He manifest it, if this is not so, that is, if He has not enthroned us with Himself? — ‘He will manifest it in the ages to come.’ But what will He manifest? — That the blessings He has prepared are both great and entirely worthy of faith. Now these blessings seem impossible to unbelievers; then all will know them. If you wish to know also how He enthroned us, hear what Christ Himself says to the disciples: ‘you shall sit… on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel’ (Matt. 19:28). And in another place: ‘to sit at My right hand and at My left hand… is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father’ (Matt. 20:23). So it is already prepared. And well did the Apostle say: ‘by His goodness toward us in Christ Jesus.’ To sit at the right hand—this is an honour above all honour, beyond which there is no further honour. In saying this—that is, ‘by goodness toward us’—the Apostle shows that we too shall sit. To sit with Christ—this is truly an ineffable wealth, this is truly the surpassingly abundant greatness of His power! If you had a thousand souls, would you not lay them down for the sake of being worthy of such honour? If it were required to go into fire, should one not be completely ready for even this trial? Christ Himself says: ‘I desire that where I am, there they may be with Me also’ (Jn. 17:24). For such honour, even if one had to be cut in pieces every day, one ought to bear even this with joy. Consider where He sits—‘Far above all rule and authority’ (Eph. 1:21). Consider with whom you shall sit—with Him. But who are you? — Dead, a child of wrath by nature. What right have you done? — Nothing. Now it is truly the right time to cry out: ‘O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!’ (Rom. 11:33).”

Eph. 2:8. For by grace you have been saved through faith: and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

In verses 8–10 St. Paul proves, or explains, why through the glorification of those who believe in the Lord Jesus there will be manifested nothing other than the riches of grace. Because what elevates a man to such a state as makes him fit for such high honour—co-enthronement with Christ—is grace alone. He calls this state here salvation and says: therefore in our co-enthronement the riches of grace will be manifested, because you have been saved, placed in a state to make use of this gift—by grace. After this he explains that salvation is indeed wrought by grace. For salvation, faith and holy virtuous life are needed. But faith also is from God (v. 8), and for good works we are ourselves fashioned by Him through regeneration and the bestowal of grace (v. 10). Faith and virtue make Christians saved, pure, holy, pleasing to God, and thereby fit for co-enthronement with Christ. Since these are wrought in the Christian by grace, it is evident that through this co-enthronement nothing but the riches of God’s grace will be manifested.

“By grace you are saved”—“you are,” you Ephesians. All who are saved are saved by grace; but the Apostle addresses the Ephesians because he had in mind to impress this truth upon them more forcefully at this moment. His general argument proceeds with “we”; but as soon as he needs to fix the attention of the Ephesians more particularly on something, he directs his speech as though exclusively to them.

These same words he had already uttered above (v. 5), but there they burst forth as if unexpectedly from the heart—as an exclamation, perhaps with the aim of stirring up feelings of thanksgiving. Here the discourse is calm, perhaps with the aim of moral instruction and the lesson: “that no one may boast.”

By salvation one may understand both the economy of salvation and each person’s individual salvation. The economy of salvation—that is, God’s eternal counsel concerning it and its fulfillment: the fact that the Son of God came to earth, became incarnate, suffered, died on the cross, rose again, ascended to heaven, sat at the right hand of God the Father, sent down the Holy Spirit and established the Church on earth as the vessel of all saving means concentrated in the Word of God and the sacraments—all of this is the independent work of God’s grace. Man contributed nothing of his own either as means or as motive. Each person’s individual salvation begins from the preaching of the Gospel. The preachers were sent by God and guided by God as to where to go and what to say. All of this too is the work of grace. When a sermon is preached, whether to hear or not to hear, whether hearing—to attend or not to attend, whether attending—to agree and desire to believe or to disagree and not desire—this is a matter of freedom. But further, once the heart has expressed its consent and a desire for salvation through faith has been formed—faith itself is impressed and transformed into a living, unshakeable conviction again by the working of God’s grace upon the heart. After this, grace settles in the heart through the sacraments and becomes the inexhaustible and guiding principle of life according to faith.

Thus the ordering of salvation is entirely wrought by God’s grace; each person’s individual salvation also is entirely from grace; from man there is only the consent to faith and the desire to be saved in this way. And this is in keeping with the character of a free creature. All the rest is accomplished by grace, for consent and desire, of themselves, lead nowhere unless all-powerful grace comes.

Blessed Theodoret writes: “God’s grace has deemed us worthy of these blessings, and we on our part have contributed only faith; but in that too, divine grace is at work alongside us. For we did not believe of ourselves, but being called, we drew near—and from those who drew near the Lord did not require purity of life (as a condition for receiving them), but, having received faith alone, He granted forgiveness of sins.”

St. Chrysostom expresses the same truth with a closer application to moral improvement, saying: “Lest the greatness of the benefactions should puff you up, see how he humbles you, saying: ‘by grace you are saved.’ But, lest he destroy your part in it, he adds also what is required of us: ‘through faith.’ Then once more he as it were annuls this free participation of ours, when he says: ‘and that not of yourselves.’ Faith also, he teaches, is not from you. If Jesus Christ had not come, if He had not called us, how could we have believed? ‘How,’ it is written, ‘shall they believe unless they hear?’ (Rom. 10:14). Thus, according to the teaching of the Apostle, faith is not our own possession, but a gift of God. Faith is not sufficient for salvation, but—lest He save us without any participation on our part—God requires it of us. He said that faith saves, but not by itself, but through God: God wills it, and faith saves.”

The last thought of St. Chrysostom is expressed more clearly by Oecumenius and Theophylact, who say that faith in itself has no particular power, but possesses it because God was pleased to unite this power with it. It is God’s good pleasure that we be saved through faith—and faith saves. It is a gift of God that we are saved through faith. Oecumenius writes: “This is a gift of God in this sense, that faith of itself would not have had the power to save if God had not willed to save through faith. So both our believing is a gift of God, and our being saved through faith is also a gift of God.” Blessed Theophylact, having said that faith is a gift of God because if the Lord had not come and called us we would not have believed, then adds: “Or otherwise: he does not call faith itself the gift of God, but that we should be saved through faith—this is what is the gift of God. For granted that faith is also ours—yet how could it alone save if God had not been pleased to receive us for the sake of it, so that we might not be altogether passive in the matter of our salvation, but might be seen to be contributing something of our own as well.”

Eph. 2:9. Not of works, lest anyone should boast.

He confirms that God arranged this mode of salvation through faith, and our calling to faith for salvation, by His own goodness alone—not for any works of ours. What works brought the Son of God to earth? Not works, but our idleness brought Him. What works had the Ephesians shown, that they were called to faith? God sent the Apostle, equipping him with the gifts of grace. By the power of his gracious word and miracles, he turned them to faith and brought them within the fold of the saved, with all the privileges both present and laid up for the future. The Ephesians brought nothing of their own to merit such mercy, except obedience to the faith—and even that was completed by grace. And not only the Ephesians, but no other nation and no individual is admitted into the rank of the saved for any works, but by God’s grace alone. We (Russians)—what have we deserved, that we stand within God’s saving Church? Each of us is born within the enclosure of faith and immediately upon birth becomes a member of the body of the Church. This is a great grace of God! What works do we bring? None whatsoever. Works are required afterward. When one has been called and has received grace, his task from then on is simply to act. So the ordering of salvation and the calling to it is one thing; the life following the calling and the bestowal of grace is another. In the first, works play no part; in the second, works alone are required—faith has done its part; now act—and you will be holy and blameless, for that is the essence of Christianity.

The Apostle’s words: “not of works, lest any man should boast” refer to the first moment, while the following words—that “we are created for good works, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10)—refer to the second.

St. Damascene writes: “Even with works, salvation is not from them; to believers, participation in salvation has been granted apart from works.” Oecumenius says: “Not because God did not wish us to be saved by works, but because no one could be saved by works—only by faith.” “So then,” cries St. Chrysostom, “did the Apostle himself forbid the seeking of justification through works? By no means! He only says that no works justify anyone, and he says this in order to show the grace and loving-kindness of God. Those who have works God does not repel from Himself; but those who would have perished even with their works, He saves by grace—so that after this, absolutely no one has any right to boast.”

Eph. 2:10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

He has just said: “not of works”—so how does he here say: “created for works”? Salvation was arranged for us and we were called to receive it not for any works, but by grace alone. But we were called not in order to do nothing on our own part, but to work out our salvation, growing rich in good works which God has appointed for us—advancing in every virtue; though even this is not by our own strength but by the power of grace, by which we have been re-created for such works and have received the ability, with its help, to perform and to be perfected through them. This is why the Apostle joins this statement to the previous with “for”—showing here, too, the ground for why he considers the glorification of believers to be a manifestation of the riches of grace. For both faith and good works—two conditions for admission into the Kingdom of glory—both come from grace.

Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle said here ‘created,’ meaning regeneration—that is, God called us by His ineffable goodness, we obeyed and, believing, received salvation. But just as before baptism He required no active virtue from us, so after baptism He commands us to take care of it. For this is what the words mean: ‘for good works, that we should walk in them.’”

“For we are His workmanship.” Just as at the beginning God breathed His breath into a body formed from clay and man became man, so now into us who have been made earthly by passions and lusts—who have become less than human—at our calling to faith, He breathes the Spirit of grace, and we become human once more. Without the spirit, man is not man. But after the Fall, the spirit is smothered by passions and lusts and every kind of sin. The Spirit of grace descends, quickens the spirit of man, and man is man again—only now bearing a different name: a Christian, as one anointed by the gracious Spirit.

“Created in Christ Jesus”—that is, through faith in Christ Jesus, through the gracious economy of salvation established by the Lord Jesus Christ. “If anyone is in Christ,”—he alone is—“a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). This is accomplished in baptism, in whose font the old nature is buried and in its place newness of life is received, that we might walk in it brightly, as the risen Lord is bright (Rom. 6). He who is baptized into Christ puts Him on; and as, by the Lord’s word, without Him no one can do anything truly good, so having put Him on, one cannot but do good.

“For good works.” As leaf, blossom, and fruit are witness to the life of a tree, so doing good is witness to the quickening in Christ. Holiness and every virtue is the character of the newly born—or newly created—the very breath of their life. A Christian carries within his conscience the obligation to this and is zealous to be faithful to it. Grace descends through the sacraments, but its vessel in the soul is readiness for every good—expressed in baptism by the renunciation of Satan and his works and by union with Christ, and in repentance by the vow to sin no more. This readiness, the grace that descends in the sacrament makes strong and fruitful. Hence the one faithful to his calling and vow grows rich in good works. Inextricably bound to this are the labors of asceticism, by the law that whoever is obligated to an end is obligated to the necessary means. In the one who has received grace, holiness is consciously held as the norm of life. But when grace comes and dwells in the heart, it drives sin out from there—yet it does not drive it out all at once from the whole of man’s nature. Sin remains there as a tempter, acting from outside in relation to the heart. It is driven out by combat with it—free combat, though with grace’s help and under its guidance. Where there is combat, there are ascetic labors of every kind: self-mortification aimed at restraining the rise of sin as temptation, and the strengthening of good as its antidote. This is why “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). Asceticism is inseparable from Christianity. Its laws permeate the entire rule of the Church. All of this is because Christians are created for good works alone.

“Which God prepared beforehand.” How did He prepare the works? He appointed them for us who believe, according to the idea of the new life, and established means for receiving the strength to perform them—with which He clothes all who draw near to the Lord in faith and are sanctified by the holy sacraments. This preparation is from God, not from us.

“That we should walk in them.” By the bestowal of grace—or regeneration—an obligation to constancy in good is laid upon us. Regeneration, the indwelling of grace, is given so that we might walk in good works—and only in good works. But is it we who walk? Grace is in us, and without grace we can do nothing good; yet it is we who walk in good. A tool is given, but we ourselves must wield it. Arrows and a bow are given, but they will not shoot the enemy on their own. Take them up, prepare yourself properly, and shoot. Just as in faith one’s consent to believe and desire to believe are required so that grace may stamp a living faith in the heart, so in doing good one needs the conceiving of good (which is itself prompted by grace), consent to do it and desire to do it with corresponding personal effort and a cry for help, so that grace—coming to the aid—may help complete in deed what has been conceived and resolved upon, completing it blamelessly, overcoming all obstacles without and within. This is the law both for each individual act and for the whole of life.

Therefore, for a Christian to grow rich in good works is an essential matter. There are systems of doctrine in which good works are placed in shadow and asceticism is wholly excluded—all out of fear lest some notion of merit be introduced into the work of salvation. But surely one can devote every effort to both without any thought of merit, simply from a sense of obligation. How much this teaching enfeebles moral strength and virtue, and deflects one from inner purity toward outward propriety, is known by experience to those who have lived among such people. Decent outward conduct there takes the place of genuine moral goodness; while all inner impurity, in their view, is supposedly covered by faith. “What is to be done?” they say. “I see another law…” — and they renounce all resistance to it. It is said that their first ringleader (Luther) frequently uttered his wise word: “Sin more boldly, but believe more boldly too, and do not doubt that you will be saved.” Yet he did not explain how it is possible to have faith while serving the passions, when the very beginning of faith demands: let us deny ourselves and take up the cross.

Let us hear what St. Chrysostom says on this passage: “Lest, having heard that our salvation is accomplished not by works but by faith, you remain at ease—observe what the Apostle goes on to say: ‘For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…’ Note that this is proclaimed by the same Apostle (that is, the one who had just been speaking of salvation through faith). Here he alludes to re-creation. In truth, our salvation is a second creation: through redemption we have genuinely been brought from non-being into being. In the state we were in before—the state of the old man—we were dead; but now we have become what we were not before. Hence the work of our regeneration is indeed a creation—and moreover, a creation far more excellent than the first. By that creation we were called to life; by this one we are made capable of good life. — ‘For good works, which He prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them’—that is, a virtue that is constant, uninterrupted, continuous to the last hour of life is required of us. If we had set out on a journey to the royal capital and had completed the greater part of it, but then grown slack and stopped before finishing it, what benefit would that journey have brought us? In exactly the same way, what benefit will the hope of our calling bring us who share in it, if we do not walk worthily of Him who called us? We who are called for good works must also abide in them until we have completed all our good endeavors. We are called not, to be sure, to perform some single good deed, but to be virtuous at all times. Just as we must use all five senses in a proper manner, so too must we perform all the virtues. If someone is chaste but not merciful, or merciful but a usurer, or does not take what belongs to others yet does not give away what is his own—for such a one, everything is in vain. One single virtue does not give us the right to stand with boldness before the throne of Christ; for that we need many and various virtues, virtues of every kind—or rather, all the virtues. Hear what Christ said to His disciples: ‘Go… make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’ (Matt. 28:19, 20). And in another place: ‘Whoever shall break one of these least commandments… shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 5:19). So we must keep all the commandments.”