Editor’s Note: Click the links below to read previous articles in this series.
Saved by Grace Through Faith Alone: Part 1
Saved by Grace Through Faith Alone: Part 2
Spiritual Pride
If you’re a Christian, do you ever look at unbelievers with disdain? When you encounter sinful people, maybe your internal dialogue can sometimes be like this:
Wow—I would never do what they’re doing. How could they be so sinful? Don’t they understand how foolishly they are living? Why can’t they just figure this out?
If you’ve followed Christ for any period of time, you likely know how easy it is for spiritual pride to creep into your life. Jesus warned against this in in Luke 18:9-14:
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Would you say your attitude is more like the Pharisee or the tax collector? For those of us who believe in Christ, we have gone from spiritual death to spiritual life in Christ. However, do we have anything to be prideful about in our salvation?
Since we’ve turned to Jesus in faith, does that mean that we’re better than everyone else? Did we save ourselves? Did we figure it out on our own? Do we deserve any credit for our salvation? Nope. None whatsoever. In Ephesians 2:8-10, the apostle Paul destroys any shred of hope that we have anything to boast about in our salvation. He emphasizes the amazing truth that our salvation is a free gift of grace from God.
Saved by Grace Alone
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
verse 8
In Ephesians 2:1, Paul tells us that we are all born dead in our sin (see article 1 in this series). What is a dead person capable of? Absolutely nothing. That is how we are born spiritually. We have been made alive in Christ through God’s great love and mercy (see article 2 in this series). We didn’t do anything to merit our salvation. We are saved by grace. The Greek word for “grace” is charis and means favor or kindness. We receive the unmerited kindness of God through Christ.
All we provided to our salvation was the sin that God needed to forgive. We cannot earn our salvation through good works. We are saved by faith alone in Christ alone. But even that faith is a gift of God. He gives us that faith or else that would also be a work that we could do to be saved (Titus 3:3-7). God saved us by grace alone to display his great mercy and great love towards us (Rom 9:19-23; 1 John 4:9-10).
Nothing to Boast About
Paul says our salvation is:
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
verse 9
Christians should be the most humble people in the world. We have been given this amazing gift of salvation for no other reason than God is gracious and merciful. We have absolutely no reason to be prideful in our salvation (1 Cor 1:26-31). There’s no place for pride of any sort in the life of a believer (Luke 18:9-14).
Paul, who is one of the most mature believers who ever lived and who God used mightily to spread the gospel, could have been prideful. Here’s how he thought about himself:
I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
1 Tim 1:12-16
Paul closes his passage in Ephesians by saying that not only has God graciously saved us, but has prepared the spiritual fruit we will produce as well.
Created for Good Works
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
verse 10
Paul calls us the “workmanship” of God. The Greek word for “workmanship” is poiēma and it’s the root of our English word “poem.” A poem is an elegantly composed literary work of art. In the same way, believers are the beautiful work of the Master Creator/Artist. God has created us to be living works of art pointing to his glory. We are living examples of his limitless mercy and grace.
Paul says we were created in Jesus to do what? Once we’re saved, should we just live our lives however we want? We have a “get out of Hell free” card, so should we just live life on earth for our own pleasure now? No—he says we’ve been created to produce good works. While good works have no part in saving us, good works will absolutely flow out of the life of someone who has been saved. True believers should be living righteous, obedient lives.
God will use the fruit of our lives to accomplish his will on earth. Paul says God prepared these works of obedience for us beforehand. Not only did he choose to save us before the beginning of time, but he also planned out the spiritual acts of obedience we would produce to accomplish his ultimate purposes on earth. In light of that, Paul says we should walk in those good works. The direction of our lives should be rejecting sin and living in righteous obedience to God’s word. We’ve left our old way of life behind and should live according to our new identity in Christ (Col 1:21-22; 1 Peter 1:14-16).
Praise, Not Pride
As believers, pride has no place in our lives. We need to remember that we too were once spiritually dead. We were given a free gift of grace by God that we didn’t earn. While our lives should be marked by walking in good works after we’ve been saved, we need to realize our works played no part in our salvation.
Rather than looking at unbelievers with disdain, we should be moved with compassion for their lost state and pray for their salvation. Instead of pride, our lives should be marked by praise to God for his great mercy and grace in saving us. We have been brought from spiritual death to life through faith in Christ only by the grace of God.
