I am honored gain to share with you my good friend Henry thoughts today. Henry Neufeld or @hneufeld is a book publisher and Methodist Theologian. He has honored us with thoughts today on the subject of Grace. Though I could not have predicted better timing, of course God could. Last week I started a series on eternal security. While mentioning that Henry would be posting this week. What I did not expect was Henry to write a post that would tie in and fit so beautifully with this series. Take time to follow Henry or read his blog. Henry’s company is also running a contest you may be interested in; in which he is asking for essays on What should a congregation following Jesus Christ in ministry look like? Some great judges and good prizes lined up.
So thanks God!!!
You Are Totally Dependent
8For you have been saved by grace through faith, and this was not from yourselves. It is God’s gift. 9It is not from 
works, so no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship or to paraphrase - produced by God’s working] created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life [Lit. - so we might walk in them] – Ephesians 2:8-10, my translation
This is an extremely precious passage of scripture, and at the same time it encapsulates many of the controversies of modern Christian theology. As I almost always discover about controversial passages, we very often don’t read the whole thing. In this case, we normally quote Ephesians 2:8, occasionally we add verse 9, but rarely do we add verse 10.
Did Paul Really write Ephesians
When someone wants to counteract this verse by emphasizing the importance of good works, they are most likely to quote something starting with Ephesians 4:17, or even move to another book. Some people even put Paul up against Jesus. You know, Paul talked about grace and Jesus talked about works.
Now I’m going to touch briefly on one thing that some may question. Yes, I’m treating Ephesians as though it is written by Paul. If you aren’t aware of the controversy, don’t worry, but there is one. In my view the method we use to date these letters is a bit skewed, because we assume some sort of progression in Paul’s theology. Ephesians (and the pastoral epistles) deals with certain issues a bit differently than Romans, Galatians, or Philippians, so perhaps it is later, and perhaps written by a disciple of Paul, rather than Paul himself.
I think that this basic idea ignores simple differences between churches. Paul talks differently about the law in Romans than in Galatians. Why? Because there were different issues he needed to address. Paul talks more about church life in writing to the Ephesian church. Why? Because I think he knew what they needed to hear.
So yes, I think Paul wrote Ephesians. That’s a horribly simplistic summary of my reasons, but now let’s get back to the passage.
Was Paul Just Concerned with Grace
When someone says that Paul is all about grace and not about works, I have to wonder just whose epistles they have been reading. Now I do know we tend to read the heart of Paul’s letters and miss some of the end, but we really aren’t doing justice to Paul at all by this statement. Paul is indeed all about grace, and he puts works in their place. But he has a lot to say about works—in their place—as well.
When people pit Jesus against Paul on this issue, I have to wonder again. When Jesus says that the “poor in spirit” are blessed, is he talking about earning God’s favor, or about God’s favor falling on those who, by any standards of the world, do not deserve it? In fact, one known theme of Jesus’ teaching is the reversal. Those who think they are “in” really aren’t. Those who think they are “out” are often “in.”
If you keep your eyes open, you will see both Jesus and Paul talking about grace. Paul, of course, is talking about the grace of God through Jesus Christ. You will see them both talking about works as well.
But to many modern Christians, Ephesians 2:8-10 is jarring. Either we can’t see how we are saved by grace. Surely God is going to save “good” people. On the other hand, right after Paul tells us we’re saved by grace and it doesn’t come from works, he turns around and tells us that God has prepared good works for us to have as our lifestyle. “Brother Paul,” we say, “How can this be?”
How Do We Apply It 
Let me try a couple of analogies. Now remember that analogies are always imperfect. They will illustrate one thing well, while often doing very poorly with something else.
My first analogy is the gift of a toolkit. Suppose my son (who is the one who would think of such things) gives me a set of car repair tools for my birthday. I have received a gift of tools, they are nice and shiny, and potentially very useful.
I have two options. First, I can go out to the car, take out the tools, and in my case a manual, and get to work on my car. Provided I follow the manual, in this scenario I will probably get somewhere. On the other hand, I might place the shiny set of tools on my shelf. I did not earn them. I did nothing to make them mine. They just showed up. I am blessed. I have tools.
In which case do the tools do me some good?
Now there are a number of weaknesses in that analogy, but I think it’s a start. The main weakness is that in the case of salvation it is God who empowers any good work that we may do. We might quite properly say that we don’t do any good works, but rather that God does the good works in us. Notice “in Christ” in verse nine. We were created “in Christ” to do the good works.
Let’s consider a second analogy. Suppose there is a boy who is homeless and lives under a bridge. A family finds him and determines to adopt him. After much paperwork and effort they manage this adoption. They decorate and furnish a room in their house. They hope that the boy will move in. Once the adoption is accomplished, he becomes part of the family. (In reality, one would hope he could move in before the paperwork was completed, but bear with me.)
Whether he is living in the room or not, he is part of the family. Yet if he moves out and lives under the bridge again, he doesn’t get the benefits of being part of the family.
If I might summarize what I hear Paul saying on this, I would say that God by grace invites us to be part of his family, and thus we should live as though we are part of God’s family, because God makes that possible.
Why is Grace so Hard For Us
Why is this so hard for us? I think we first dislike grace because it makes us so dependent. We like to have our stuff, our lives, our families, our ideas, and be independent, because nobody else had anything to do with it. But if we look again at Ephesians 2:10, we will see the word “creation.” One thing that creation means is this: You aren’t on your own, even if you are in complete rebellion against God. Nothing in creation is independent about God.
Consider Psalm 104:27-30 -
(27) All of them look to you,
To give them their food on time.
(28) You give to them, so they may gather;
You open your hand, so they may be satisfied with good.
(29) You hide your face, and they are disturbed;
You bring their breath to an end,
And they return to their dust.
(30) You send forth your breath, and they are created;
So you renew the face of the ground. [My translation, from Psalm 104: God, Creator and Sustainer]
I call Psalm 104 the Biblical antidote to deism. Go read the whole thing. The point I am trying to make is that you get a choice, but it’s not between being dependent on God or not. Your choice is whether you are going to pretend that you are not dependent on God. Even the most hardened rebel can’t take his next breath unless God so ordains it.
We Really are Dependent
So if you don’t like being dependent, get over it!
The second part, however, is that we have a hard time understanding why we should do good works when salvation is a gift. But this is just another manifestation of how far we are from the way God sees the world. For some reason, I suspect God sees the world, and us, more clearly than we do.
You see, we may see our lives as wonderful and wonder why we should give them up in order to live for God. God, however, sees our wonderful lives as miserable and in need of repairs. Just like my tools on the shelf, God’s salvation is intended to start right here and now, to start making you a disciple, to start you on the wonderful path of living that life of good works that God—remember it’s God and not you—has prepared.
Let me make a suggestion. Meditate on Ephesians 2:8-10 during the coming week. Read it a number of times. Perhaps you could memorize it. Read the whole book of Ephesians as well, and see if you don’t think Paul has summed things up pretty thoroughly right here.
Go ahead and be God’s dependent. You are anyhow.
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