One of the great issues debated in our Christian faith is salvation. The church has struggled with this for centuries, since have been mantained two positions that have affected to many, one is salvation by works, but the other is salvation by faith or by grace. Thanks to God that the Bible speaks to us about this and that is why the Sacred Scriptures should be our main focus or our only point to know what is right.
The apostle Paul said:
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
Verse 8 is of the utmost importance for us to understand salvation through faith. The first thing is that we are saved by faith, by the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross, by which we are justified, our debts are paid and we are new creatures. We have done nothing but be sinners to be saved, all the merit is carried by Christ on the cross, by His merits we are saved, His triumph on the cross and His resurrection is the central axis of the whole history of Christianity and the salvation in God.
The final part of verse eight reminds us of something of the utmost importance: “and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”. A gift is not something we necessarily deserve, and the Word of God will always talk about salvation as a gift from God, not something that comes from us, that we have earned or that we deserve, No! it is something that God gives us for His immense mercy and for His infinite grace.
“Not by works, so that no one can boast”. And a verse from the Bible that corroborates a lot with this:
23 This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
24 but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 9:23-24
Everything we are and what we have is by the mercy of God and that includes salvation.
And verse ten ends by telling us that we are God’s creation and that we have been created to do good works. Let’s not faint in doing what we should do: “Show Christ through our lives”.
