In the epistle to Ephesus, Paul writes some truth in what we call the second chapter of Ephesians..
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
The reason this is so powerful is because there is a very profound truth in this one verse. The truth is that we cannot get saved by anything but Grace. We cannot get saved through anything but faith. It cannot be of anything we ourselves have done, and it is a gift of God.
Jam 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
As I stated, these are the folks who believe that one needs a water baptism in order to be saved. But Ephesians 2:8 doesn't state that, does it. Let's look at the passage of Ephesians 2:8-10 in context, shall we?
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Now, see if you see the same thing that I do here. Salvation is not of works, lest any man should boast. So that lets out water baptism right there as being necessary or required for salvation. If no work can save you, then a work like water baptism cannot save you. Clear and simple.
Act 16:28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
The first operation of salvation is answered by the question, "What must I do to be saved" The answer to that question is to be saved by grace, through faith (ie, wholehearted belief in Jesus for who He is). The second operation of salvation is answered by the question, "What must I do now that I am saved?" And therein is where works come in.
Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
If your treasures are on the things of this world, then your heart will be focused there, instead of on the higher things of God. If you have treasure stored in heaven, then your heart will be focused there, and your good works will bolster and increase your faith.
Thanks for reading. I invite comments and questions...peace.
Grace was enabled as a gift from God when Jesus shed His blood and died on Calvary's cross. That selfless act of an innocent God-man dying for the sins of those of us who are guilty of our sins allowed God the Father to bestow a free, unearned, and unmerited gift to those who would take it. And that gift is Grace.
We then access Grace as an unearned, unmerited gift by God through faith unto salvation. The process of salvation cleanses us from our sins and allows the Holy Spirit to Indwell in us, and to start our life as a christian. We simply cannot do enough to repay our sin debt, and so God the Father bestowed this gift on those who accept it so that they can be saved by Grace through faith, and have the christian life and one day live with God forever.
When we mention this profound truth, that salvation is in Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, some people who want to add works to their salvation will say at that point, "Not so. " And then they will proceed to tell you how a water baptism is necessary in order to be saved. But the profound truth in Eph 2:8 is that is it not of ourselves, but rather a gift of God that Grace comes. Therefore, there is nothing you can do or enough that you can do to take away your sin debt without being saved by Grace, through faith, plus nothing.
"Hold on," these detractors will cry, "What about James 2:20?" Well, let's examine James 2:20 for a moment, in context...
In the very next verse, you should also see the words, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works..." This tells me truthfully that we cannot possibly do good works until after we are created unto good works by being saved by grace through faith!
In other words, just as a man cannot obey his wedding vows until after he is married, a christian cannot do good works until after they are saved by grace through faith! Which gives twice the amount of truth that no work can save anyone.
One must understand that there are two operations of salvation. The first operation of salvation is answered by what the jailor in Acts 16 asked...
Imagine if you will a young person who goes to a job interview and meets the criteria for education and experience, and has an outgoing personality, and the manager of the fast food restaurant hires them. What do you think would happen if they walked in the door, clocked in, and then sat around doing nothing, just basking in their hiredness?
On the other hand, imagine a person just showing up at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs and just saying, "Ok, I'm here, and I'm ready to run races for the USA..."
In the first case, you have a person who has been invited to work, but hasn't yet realised that the invitation means that work is going to be done. In the second case, you might have someone who is emminently qualified to run races for the USA, but they haven't yet been invited to try out for the Olympic team.
So it is that if you look at salvation as an invitation to the Kingdom of Heaven, then you can assume that once you become saved by grace through faith that that is not the end all and be all of christianity. If you aren't saved yet, then you don't have an invitation, and all the willingness in the world can't get you invited. You must first access an invitation by accessing Grace through faith unto salvation.
So, in the first case, we have a person who was invited to come work at the fast food restaurant, but they didn't think they needed to do anything there. We could rightfully say that their faith was dead because they had no good works to show for it. In the latter example, the person cannot just show up and do good works, because first one must be saved by grace through faith in order to be created unto good works.
So salvation gets you in the Book of Life. But there is going to be good works involved once you are saved, if you are really saved. Otherwise, your faith too would be dead. So what we should have learned here today is that the truth of the Bible shows that we are saved only by grace, only through faith, and only in Christ. We cannot do any works to get us saved, because Grace is unearned and a person cannot even do good works until after they are created unto good works, which means post-salvationally.
Once you are saved, you are going to be doing some good works. Part of that is out of your love for God Almighty and your desire to please Him, a desire to do the Will of God, and part of that is the desire to earn eternal rewards. Jesus said wherever your treasure was, your heart would be focused....