Ephesians 2:10, commentary and pictures

After being dead in trespasses and sins under the world and the prince of the power of the air, sinners are made alive together with Christ by rich mercy and great love and raised to sit in heavenly places, saved by grace through faith as God's gift and not of works lest any boast. Those so saved are His workmanship, made new in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand for them to walk in, so the works are the purpose and path of the new life and not its cause or ground for boasting. The power to do those works does not come from human effort but from God who creates anew, changing the heart and dwelling within by faith to shape thoughts, affections, and character into Christ's likeness. Together the recreated become fellow citizens of God's household built on the apostles and prophets with Christ as cornerstone into a holy temple for the Spirit, where each person is given a place and work according to ability and must labor in unity and mutual love rather than division. Walking in the ordained life means belonging wholly to Christ in body, mind, talents, and moments for active service that blesses others, bears fruit as evidence of living faith, and will be tested and rewarded in the judgment.

Verse Setting and Terms

Ephesians 2:10 stands after the change from being dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of the world and the prince of the power of the air, to being quickened together with Christ by God's rich mercy and great love. Those so quickened are raised up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus to display in ages to come the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness through Christ. They are saved by grace through faith as the gift of God, not of themselves and not of works, lest any man should boast. That kindness and grace are learned when the Word containing the record of Christ's life, work, doctrines, sufferings and final triumph is respected and obeyed as God's voice, the source of wisdom, truth, higher education and strength, made teacher and guide and searched above all human productions as the book meeting the soul's wants, nourishing the soul and making wise unto salvation, while ages to come will unfold eternity's heights and depths. Through Christ such believers are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone, fitly framed together growing into a holy temple in the Lord and built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit, forming His body gathered from north, south, east, and west.

Those saved are His workmanship, recreated and made new in Christ Jesus unto good works which God before ordained that they should walk in them. Those works are not the basis of salvation or grounds for boasting and do not earn it; they are the purpose, path, and way of life God prepared beforehand for those made alive to live by and follow. Sitting together in heavenly places in Christ shows this to the world, bringing that kindness into dealings with one another. Christ's love and grace are the basis for a life that can bring help and encouragement to others.

Being created anew is a defining mark of belonging to God: dead to the world and alive to God, distinct from the world in spirit and practice. Where Adam, because he believed Satan's misrepresentations of God and disobeyed his Creator, was not permitted to work in the garden of Eden, through Christ's mercy men are now called to go work in His vineyard as His purchased heritage called away from the world's disloyalty to build character in obedience to His word, accepted as laborers together with God, His husbandry and building. Those dead in Adam, sunk in corruption and condemnation, are given everlasting deliverance in Christ and made new by the renewing power of the gospel, and where there is true faith God Himself dwells in the believer and awakens a zeal that urges and constrains to good works. Grace does not leave people free to continue in sin, for good works are the necessary fruit of faith that looks to the cross and trusts Christ's all-sufficient passion as an eternal sacrifice forever satisfying divine justice for all who rely on it with firm, unshaken faith, a surer foundation than vain purchased pardons, and the change from death in sin to new life of service is God's work so praise belongs to Him and not to human goodness.

Human beings in bodily construction are God's workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made and curiously wrought. The body is a living habitation prepared for the mind and a temple fitted up by God for the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. The mind of every person is itself God's work, made through Christ.

The mind controls the whole person, and it is the mind that worships God and joins people to heavenly beings, with all good or bad actions coming from the mind. Mental and physical faculties and talents are given with a duty to use them well, for wrong habits and indulgence of perverted appetite weaken these powers and make honoring God impossible. Head, hands, and feet are God's workmanship with each given his own work to do as an efficient worker, yet people are useless when they do not employ powers already possessed; through Jesus Christ they can become efficiency and power as volunteers, but God's work in His workmanship must begin at the heart as the center of being and only then work outward in head, hands, and feet, since all possessed is a loan from God carrying stewardship of His grace and entrusted goods. God created human beings for doing works of righteousness requiring an active life in which every part of the human machinery, limbs, brain, and every organ including the hand, is brought into service for His glory and the blessing of the world and cultivated and understood physically, or the power to use them will be lost, though physical knowledge alone is not enough. Mothers should therefore teach children to understand their own bodies and how to care for them, because many live without understanding the casket that contains this treasure.

Grace Not Earned by Works

Salvation is God's gift of grace received through faith, not of self and not earned by human effort or good works, so no one can boast. Forgiveness comes only through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and human working at its very best cannot make a single virtue in itself. Good works grow from Christ's life in the soul, for the Holy Spirit imparts His active love which makes a person fruitful, and these works arise from righteousness by faith and never as a way to earn pardon.

Salvation is received without conditions by coming to Christ, drawn by His invitation while viewing Him elevated on the cross of Calvary. The sinner is convicted that the law has been transgressed and that Christ died because it was transgressed, and looks to the righteousness of Christ as the only thing that can cleanse from sins and transgressions. Living faith lays hold wholly and entirely upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour as propitiation and eternal sacrifice that forever satisfies divine justice for all who rely on it with firm, unshaken faith. Then, clothed with His righteousness, the believer receives imparted power and strength so that Christ works with and by him to work the works of righteousness, hating the sins that caused Christ's suffering though still able to make mistakes and errors.

Only Christ can redeem from the penalty of transgression by dying as a propitiation for sin, yet saving faith must be shown by works. All who hope to be saved have something to do themselves in securing salvation: they must turn from sin to obedience and give evidence of faith by obedience. This means cooperating with the saving agencies God provides and appreciating and using the helps He has given — the light of truth, the way of life, facilities, ordinances, and privileges — by believing and obeying all divine requirements, just as Israel showed faith by placing the blood on the houses, separating from the Egyptians, and remaining inside.

Good works do not purchase salvation, and no one can depend on them for salvation, yet no one is saved for good works and no one will be saved without them. They are essential as evidence of genuine faith, which works through love and purifies the soul. They are the necessary fruit of faith that looks to the cross and trusts Christ's all-sufficient passion, springing only from a heart under the control of the Holy Spirit and from living faith in the Word of God, and proving transformation of character. Those dead in Adam, sunk in corruption and condemnation, are given everlasting deliverance in Christ and made new by the renewing power of the gospel, and where true faith is present God Himself dwells in the believer and awakens a zeal that urges and constrains to good works, not leaving anyone free to continue in sin. When there is living dependence upon a living God and living connection with Him, with Christ abiding in the heart by living faith, the human agent works after Christ's life with changed life and character, speaking the words Christ speaks and revealing the character Christ reveals.

Good works are the fruit that follows justification by faith and belong to the good Christian life, and those made spiritually alive by God's grace and pardon take up new duties so their lives become strong and full of them, not as grounds for boasting. They accompany sanctification, a more perfect faith, and a life marked by gratitude to God. His distinguishing love keeps the heart contrite and deeply humble, giving God rather than self the praise and the glory. This result comes as the whole person — body, soul, and spirit — is consecrated to God and submits to His shaping, with the believer working by addition while God works for him by multiplication, in overflowing gratitude and deep humility.

These works are tested at the final judgment, when all people are judged by the works they have done. Unselfish labor endured in hardship to help others is not forgotten, and the Lord will reward according to works, giving courage to those who have so labored. The verse comforts the discouraged and erring with assurance that believers are God's workmanship, His children. Even though they have erred, Christ remains their Saviour, willing to pardon and restore them, a living Saviour and Advocate in the courts of heaven who lives to make intercession for His needy, dependent creatures, so they need not be anxious or troubled about their spiritual state but should be thankful every moment.

New Creation in Christ

The power to do good works does not come from human beings but from God, who makes believers His workmanship by creating them anew in Christ Jesus unto good works ordained beforehand for them to walk in. This new life and its good works come from God and not from human achievement, and every good work depends on a power outside the self. Well-doing is possible only through grace imparted by God, for human wisdom is foolishness and no step taken in own wisdom and no effort in own strength can gain success. Safety lies in daily repentance unto eternal life, in daily refusal to deviate from clean, pure principles, in following where Christ leads, and in entire surrender to Him.

The new creation requires change in heart and character, with the heart unlocked and opened so that Christ, the light and life of men, takes possession and His love flows forth in pure, rich currents of tenderness, courtesy, and kindly deeds. It means yoking with Christ to learn His meekness and lowliness, and being grafted by God into Christ the living Vine to bring forth much fruit not to one's own glory but to the glory of His name, for connection with Christ is the only hope. Without this reformation of the soul and obedience to Christ's injunctions, the attributes Christ came to give are lost. Anything earthly that attracts and absorbs the mind and turns the moral powers away from Him works against Christ's purpose to purify and elevate the human soul, for He is the source and strength of all genuine religious experience.

Being God's workmanship means Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, shaping thoughts and affections as believers abide in Him. Those who cling to Jesus are created anew for good works by contemplating Christ, beholding Christ, and cherishing Him as the very best and honored Friend so as not to grieve Him in any action, with the cleansed heart freed from moral impurity and the whole nature ennobled and sanctified as a temple for the Holy Spirit. That faith does not stagger in feeling or doubt and is not buried in darkness, but cleaves through the obstructing shadow cast athwart the pathway to eclipse the light, reaching the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Rooted and grounded in love, believers are enabled to comprehend with all saints the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love that passes knowledge.

That kindness and grace are learned when the Word of God, which contains the record of Christ's life, work, doctrines, sufferings, and final triumph, is respected and obeyed as the voice of God and the source of all wisdom, truth, higher education, and strength. It is to be made not only a study but teacher and guide, searched diligently above all human productions as the book that meets the wants of the soul. Received truth nourishes the soul and makes the one who studies and obeys it wise unto salvation, springing from a living faith under the control of the Holy Spirit as evidence of transformation of character. The ages to come will unfold a history of eternity whose heights and depths reveal what God has prepared.

As God's love directs and transforms the mind and cleanses the heart from selfishness, the person becomes fit for the Master's use. When created anew, a person becomes a partaker of the divine nature, with the human and the divine united by God's own power. God clothes him with the robe of Christ's righteousness and enables him to discern the Saviour, and by beholding Christ he is changed into the likeness of His character, with inward assurance that Christ abides in the soul-temple. This new creation gives him the mind of Christ and draws him away from political strife to rest and peace and quietude in God, so that he beholds His glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The new creation begins when the sinner views Christ upon the cross, sees sin in its offensive character, exercises repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and lays hold of the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour. No longer living to self, all transformed powers are held sacred to God's service, with every talent, qualification, reason, knowledge, affection, speech, and property appreciated as a precious trust purchased with precious blood. Living to self proves a person is not converted, while the one so created lives with an eye single to the glory of God, devoting himself unreservedly to go where the sinner is, hold the cross before those who do not know God, and labor together with God to win souls from sin to holiness and from error to truth. Purity and holiness then extend to conduct, dress, and the home.

Believers are Christ's jewels, bought with infinite price, to shine brightly by shedding forth the light of His loveliness with all the luster of Christian character received from the Sun of Righteousness. Like rough stones taken to be hewed and squared for a building, they must submit to the polishing process and consent to have sharp edges cut away until character is shapely, beautiful, harmonious, and symmetrical, fitted to represent the perfection of Christ's character and worthy of a place in His temple. The divine Worker polishes only the precious jewels after the similitude of a palace, with hammer and chisel cutting away rough edges and surplus surface and cutting deep into self-sufficient experience to take away human pride and self-uplifting, then pressing the stone close to the polishing wheel until all roughness is worn off, however severe and trying, until the Master holding the jewel to the light sees in it a reflection of His own image. The work requires both submission to God and strenuous human effort, putting to the tax every sinew and muscle, so that character becomes more pure, words more helpful, and actions such as God can approve. When His people do not live in that light they reflect no more light than common pebbles and dishonor the Lord, and their service is tarnished with selfishness.

People are God's workmanship, worked and built by God and not by themselves. Christ abiding in the heart puts beauty in the inner temple that is seen through good works revealing the beautiful character of Christ, and faith that works by love and sanctifies the soul makes a person God's husbandry and building, a laborer together with God. Character building requires first-quality material, with God removing poor timbers, and a person must not build after his own model but let God make him a holy temple. Every capability and every success comes from God, with heavenly intelligences working through human agents, so all self-exaltation is worthless, taking glory and credit to self greatly dishonors God and shows separation from Christ, counting for nothing as righteousness before a holy God. Those who seek God's approval are responsible for faithfully doing the work He entrusts to them while honoring fellow workers, overcoming difficulties in pure, holy obedience to His commandments.

United Temple With Assigned Work

Those remade in Christ are no longer outsiders but fellow citizens with the saints of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ himself as chief cornerstone, fitly framed together and growing into a holy temple in the Lord for a dwelling of God through the Spirit. That body is the true tabernacle on earth, gathered from north and south and east and west, with the whole weight of the temple resting on its foundation. The cleansed heart freed from moral impurity becomes part of that building as Christ dwells within by faith to ennoble and sanctify the whole nature and make the person a temple for the Holy Spirit. Where Adam was barred from labor in Eden for believing misrepresentations and disobeying, the purchased heritage is now called away from worldly disloyalty to work in the vineyard as laborers together with God, His husbandry and His building.

God gives each person work and a place in His building according to ability, and every contribution is essential to the united community He is raising as a dwelling for the Spirit. Each is to take an appointed place and do an appointed part together with the others, rather than grasp many responsibilities outside the lines marked out. These works do not earn salvation or furnish ground for boasting; they are the life of service that follows salvation and the purpose and path of the new life.

The ordained walk therefore calls those out of harmony to leave division and walk together in the good works appointed beforehand. All are to press shoulder to shoulder in entire dependence on Christ and sincere mutual love, of one mind as a unit with Him so that their work tells on the side of right. Obedience to this calling produces lives that show what belief in the truth does and that do not cause dissension and strife.

Sitting together in heavenly places is for displaying the exceeding riches of grace and bringing its kindness into dealings with one another. Helpful words, pure actions, and noble principles reveal Christ and show what belief in Him can do in human life. Staying in close companionship with Christ and beholding His image through His word issues in practical good words and works that set forth His tenderness and love and tell others by life and action that this is the way to walk.

Each person is individually that workmanship by creation and redemption in soul and body and spirit, in mind and talents and intellect, bearing His stamp and molded after the divine likeness. God is the rightful master, so no one may claim another as property or take God's workmanship into his own hands. Each has an individuality and identity that cannot be surrendered to another, with God-given freedom to think and to follow duty as a doer of the Word. Therefore no human being may control another's mind, prescribe duty, dictate service, judge, exercise authority over fellows, or take jurisdiction over conscience, any more than take life itself.

God has a purpose for each life and shows what each may become in striving to fulfill it. He appoints beforehand a special and good and excellent work for each to accomplish and gives a chance to live and do it. That work succeeds only by daily dependence and consecration, looking into the mirror of the Word as an overcomer, laying aside self-sufficiency and confidence in self and sensitivity to blame and misjudgment, hiding self with Christ in God so the Lord can work with him. Staying in the channel of light, tasting the love of God, and feeding on His promises uplifts and cheers and makes one a blessing to others.

That ordained work includes the gospel ministry giving the last warning and medical missionary work rightly related to it, neither absorbing all nor working apart. God Himself fashions His people for it, placing workers, giving tact and skill and wisdom, guiding the hand, and setting humble teachable united workers at the head of reform to call others to be lights. It is done not by wealth or eloquence or scholarship or position or display but by those united with Christ and holding divine power, gentle as Christ and partaking the divine nature, shining as lights in darkness with fragrance-like influence that through the oil of the Holy Spirit from the two anointed ones flows into other lives and makes them laborers together with God. It includes warning of coming judgments, winning perishing souls, and revealing saving grace in righteous action, and medical institutions are designed for this missionary revelation of truth in the Spirit's power. Weaving selfishness into the work hinders that purpose and brings humbling, while neglect fails cooperation with God and can bring judgment, and exercise in soul-winning strengthens the faculties.

Fulfilling God's purpose shows what people may become as they let light shine in good works that display the advantage of Christianity over worldliness. Through them God reveals His manifold wisdom and uses them to convert men and women and lead them to have character washed white in the Lamb's blood. Being molded by transforming grace means communicating received truth so hearts are reached, imbued with the Redeemer's Spirit, denying self, taking up the cross, ready for any sacrifice, lifted above self-serving, no longer indifferent to perishing souls, with eye single to God's glory and every part belonging to Christ who bought every moment with His lifeblood.

Walking the Ordained Life

Being made new in Christ is not for self-enjoyment but for a life of service to God, for living to self proves one is not converted and not a Christian. The new creation begins when the sinner views Christ upon the cross, sees sin in its offensive character, exercises repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and lays hold of the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour. Every part of human nature and every moment of existence has been purchased with the precious blood of the Son of God, so the believer belongs wholly to Christ and no other being has any claim upon that service. All transformed powers are therefore held sacred to God's service as a precious trust, with every talent, qualification, reason, knowledge, affection, speech, property, power, ability, possession, and moment dedicated to Him, denying self, taking up the cross, and ready to make any sacrifice. The one so created lives with an eye single to the glory of God, is lifted above self-serving so that self-serving has no part in life, can no longer be indifferent to souls perishing around him, prays for the spirit and wisdom of Christ, and works as Christ worked by going where the sinner is, holding the secret of the cross before those who do not know God, communicating received truth so hearts are reached, and laboring to uplift from sin to holiness and from error to truth, even when only a little can be done. Such Christians serve Christ willingly and unreservedly as laborers together with God, giving no allegiance to worldly claims or to any power, relationship, or society that would lead to denying Christ, dishonoring God, or disobeying His law, and God claims them as His own and gives special help to be complete in Christ and more than conquerors through His love, growing through His grace and study of His word to use abilities in harmony with His will and resist evil.

God designed people to be active and useful, doing good and blessing others through influence as stewards responsible to their Creator. Selfish interests can make them forget this purpose, leaving them useless to others and harmful in influence. The good works intended are carried out in useful duties benefiting self and others, where industry exercises the body while developing mind and character, teaching the young to use hands and bear life's responsibilities, cultivating the habit of living to do good, and bringing satisfaction and a clear conscience.

Walking in the works means being wide awake to duty and using precious present moments to do a work for God, crowding all possible good deeds into life as a store in heaven. Those deeds are not depended on for salvation but are done to imitate the life of the Redeemer, pressing on in faith and hope and courage against Satan's obstacles by looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of faith. Each of God's children has work to do for His honor and glory and can be a blessing wherever they are.

God's workmanship is the right condition of the heart, not a splendid house of worship, so outward splendor amounts to nothing without inward rightness. The ordained walk therefore makes spiritual condition the greatest concern, revering God's presence when He meets with His people and educating children to direct their thoughts heavenward. Being created anew means a life changed by truth, with its purity and holiness extending to conduct, dress, and the home, while those claiming to receive truth but showing no such change are living for themselves rather than Christ.

Because people are God's workmanship and building, accountable to Him who made them, they are to care wisely for what belongs to Him, including how they work, eat, and rest. This new life and its good works come from God, not from human achievement, and are to be lived out in right relation to Him. Obeying God in every action, including proper care of the body, is missionary work, while wrong habits and perverted appetite weaken powers and make honoring Him impossible.

No one is saved for good works and no one can depend on good works for salvation, yet no one will be saved without them. The good works before ordained are loosing the bands of wickedness, undoing heavy burdens, and breaking every yoke. They come from living dependence on a living God and living connection with Him, with Christ abiding in the heart by living faith, so the human agent works after Christ's life with changed life and character, speaking the words Christ speaks and revealing the character Christ reveals. Keeping the Saviour's example ever before him, he meets trials and oppression without a rebellious spirit, without letting self arise, without passion controlling words or actions and without revenge, doing just as Jesus would have done under similar circumstances in meekness and lowliness, hid with Christ in God.

Those engaged in the work of the Most High, especially those in positions of trust, are made by God in Christ for good works ordained beforehand that they must walk in, and therefore must rid themselves of an unmerciful spirit, of claiming power to rule fellow men, and of hurting and discouraging Christ's heritage. They must examine and prove their motives to see whether they are in the faith, weave no thread of selfishness or sin into their work, and rise to a higher plane of daily experience where justice marks their service. God weighs characters, actions, motives, purposes, and thoughts, reading every motive, purpose, and thought of the heart, and requires sinners made alive in Christ by grace to be born again and surrender the soul so that by His grace the light He has given becomes a living principle of action in good works designed for the advancement of salvation. Unfair dealings, misappropriation of the Lord's funds, investing money in worldly projects, and deeds that hedge up and block the way of the work of salvation violate that ordained walk, and those who do them are weighed in the balances and found wanting.

To be Christians at all means to be Christians in all things, revealing His virtues and doing His works. Well-doing is possible only through grace imparted by God, for human wisdom is foolishness with God, and no step taken in own wisdom and no effort in own strength can gain success. Safety lies in daily repentance unto eternal life, in daily refusal to deviate from clean, pure principles, in following where Christ leads the way, and in entire surrender to Him. God's Word carefully and prayerfully studied keeps men well-balanced and clearly defines God's way, so no sincere searcher walks in darkness while walking in the rays of light God sends, and truth planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit is the safeguard giving clear sight of the difference between right and wrong, so those cherishing truth refuse to be drawn into speculation.

God alone is the one to look to for help, and the wisdom of even the most learned person is not to be trusted unless life, spirit, words, and conduct show the righteousness of Christ. Believers are God's workmanship created for good works appointed to live out, which comes as the whole person — body, soul, and spirit — is consecrated to God and submits to His shaping, humbling self before Him and cooperating with Christ in ministry. A teacher must be made new and maintain daily, living consecration, pictured as placing oneself on the altar as a living sacrifice. A life so formed reveals good works in which the believer works by addition while God works by multiplication, with truth producing overflowing gratitude and deep humility that gives God rather than self the glory.

People as God's workmanship are responsible for faithfully doing the work He entrusts to them, while honoring fellow workers. Those seeking God's approval must overcome difficulties and live pure, holy lives in obedience to His commandments. Human beings are finite before a holy God, so self-exaltation is false and does not count as righteousness in heaven's books.