The Good Works of the Gentile Church before Ordained.
By R. F. Cottrell
"For ye are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph. ii, 10. There can be no good works aside from the keeping of the commandments or law of God; otherwise the law of the Lord would not be perfect. But the good works which the Ephesians and other Gentile churches were required to practice in Christ Jesus, were not the requirements of some new law, something newly ordained for their observance, at the introduction of the Gospel dispensation; but they were those which God had before ordained, that all who obey the gospel should walk in them. When the apostle John wrote "a new commandment" to his little children, he did not abolish the old commandment. Instead of this, he is careful to confirm the old commandment before speaking of the new. He says, "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning." He would have his brethren distinctly understand, that though, in a certain sense, he wrote a new commandment to them, the old one—the word that had come down to them from the beginning—was not abolished, but was in full force and had an undisputed claim to their obedience. R. F. Cottrell.