Salvation Apart from Works?

The Apostle Paul wrote in his second letter to the Ephesians:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. –Eph. 2:8-9 (NASB)

Wait a minute…saved not as a result of works? Many have used this verse to show that we are saved by “faith alone,” i.e., separate and apart from any action that we take. Such a doctrine removes the essentiality of baptism, and in fact, relieves individuals of any moral obligation apart from believing that Jesus is the Son of God (Jn. 3:16).

But is that what these verses really say? No. Let us add the next verse, 2:10, to the equation:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Notice the use of works in these three verses.

• Paul says that we are not saved by our own works. That is, there is nothing we can do to “earn” salvation or to be “owed” salvation in any way that would allow us to say that we saved ourselves. There is nothing so commendable about our good works that God owes us salvation.
• We are God’s workmanship. Even if we do something truly commendable, we still have no room to boast because we were created by God. He gave us the ability to do those things.
• We are created for good works. So many believe that man is predisposed to sin (some versions of the Bible even translate “flesh” as “sinful nature”). This text says that if anything, we are predisposed to righteousness. Our God is righteous. His creation is likewise righteous. When we sin, we go against what God has put in us. So, any good works that we do are nothing more than us accomplishing what God created us to do anyway.

Thus, Paul is not saying that works are not a part of our salvation. Rather, we have no room to say that we have done some great thing to obtain our salvation. The only thing we can do is obey God’s will, something we should be doing anyway! Should someone be put up on a pedestal because they met God’s minimum requirements?

God has specified certain actions, or works, that we are to do to obtain salvation:

• God expects us to abandon our former way of living and walk according to His will. This is repentance.
• God expects us to confess our faith in Jesus Christ as His Son. This is not something we do once for all time, but rather something we do on a daily basis.
• God expects us to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of our sins. There is nothing special about the water. This is simply the action God requires of us to obtain salvation.
• God expects us to continue walking according to His will. We do not stop with repentance; we must always follow after God’s path of righteousness.

We cannot boast in these works, but we must do them. Have you?