Ephesians 2:9

Not of works, lest any man should boast. NOT OF WORKS. This clause stands in contrast to "by grace" (Romans 4:4; ). LEST - Greek, 'that no man should boast' (; )....

9._Not of works. _Instead of what he had said, that their salvation is of grace, he now affirms, that “it is the gift of God.” (124) Instead of what he had said, _“ _Not of yourselves,_” _he now says, _“ _Not of works._” _Hence we see, that the apostle leaves nothing to men in procuring salvation. In these three phrases, — _not of yourselves, _— _it is the gift of God, _— _not of works, _— he embraces the substance of his long argument in the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians, that righteousness comes to us from the mercy of God alone, — is offered to us in Christ by the gospel, — and is received by faith alone, without the merit of works. This passage affords an easy refutation of the idle cavil by which Papists attempt to evade the argument, that we are justified without works. Paul, they tell us, is speaking about ceremonies. But the present question is no

1-10 Sin is the death of the soul. A man dead in trespasses and sins has no desire for spiritual pleasures. When we look upon a corpse, it gives an awful feeling. A never-dying spirit is now fled, and has left nothing but the ruins of a man. But if we viewed things aright, we should be far more affected by the thought of a dead soul, a lost, fallen spirit. A state of sin is a state of conformity to this world. Wicked men are slaves to Satan. Satan is the author of that proud, carnal disposition which there is in ungodly men; he rules in the hearts of men. From Scripture it is clear, that whether men have been most prone to sensual or to spiritual wickedness, all men, being naturally children of disobedience, are also by nature children of wrath. What reason have sinners, then, to seek earnestly for that grace which will make them, of children of wrath, children of God and heirs of glory...

NOT OF WORKS - see the notes at Romans 3:20, Romans 3:27....

EXPOSITION EPHESIANS 2:1 SPIRITUAL HISTORY OF THE EPHESIANS. This passage corresponds to Genesis 1:1. It is a history of creation, and we note the same great stages. 1. Chaos (Genesis 1:1). 2. The dawn—the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters (Genesis 1:4). 3. The work of creation—in successive stages (Genesis 1:4-1)....

NOT OF WORKS,.... Of any kind, moral or ceremonial, before or after conversion, done without faith or in it, nor of these in any sense; works are neither the moving causes, nor the procuring causes, nor the helping causes, nor "causa sine qua non", or conditions of salvation; the best works that are done by men, are not done of themselves, but by the grace of God, and therefore can never merit at his hand: and salvation is put upon such a foot, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST; of his works before God, and unto men; wherefore he has denied works any place in justification and salvation, in order to exclude all boasting in man; and has fixed it in a way of grace, and has chosen and called poor sinful worthless creatures to enjoy it, that whoever glories, may glory in the Lord....

Ephesians 2:1. _And you he hath quickened._ Is it so? Could the apostle say that to you, and to me? Ephesians 2:1. _Who were dead in trespasses and sins;_ Look back to what you used to be, to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged: «You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:2. _Wherein in time past ye walked_ With a terrible activity of spiritual death; Ephesians 2:2. According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

2. THE PRODUCTION OF THE MASTERWORK AND ITS DESTINY CHAPTER 2:1-10 _ 1. What we are by nature (Ephesians 2:1)_ 2. What God does--rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4) 3. The destiny of the masterwork (Ephesians 2:7) 4. Saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8) After the great revelation of the first chapter and the prayer which followed, the production of the masterpiece itself is now brought more fully into view. We have before us a revelation concerning our state by nature and how God takes us up and produces out of such material His masterpiece. The first ten verses of this chapter give us this story. They

CHRISTIANS ARE RAISED AND EXALTED IN THE RISEN AND EXALTED CHRIST BY GOD'S FREE GRACE AND GIFT. The recipients of the letter, like other people, had been (spiritually) dead by reason of the sins and trespasses in which they formerly walked in accordance with the course of the existing world-order, as subjects of the ruler who has power over the air and over the spirit operating in disobedient hearts (Ephesians 2:1 f.); the writer in like manner, and those for whom he speaks, had all lived formerly in the lusts of their flesh, following the impulses of the flesh and of the mind, and were in themselves as much the objects of Divine wrath as other people (Ephesians 2:3)_;_ the wealth, however, of the Divine mercy and the greatness of the Divine love had brought them to life with the bringing to life of Ch

When you were dead in your sins and trespasses, those sins and trespasses in which once you walked, living life in the way in which this present age of this world lives it, living life as the ruler of the power of the air dictates it, that spirit who now operates in the children of disobedience--and once all we too lived the same kind of life as these children of disobedience do, a life in which we were at the mercy of the desires of our lower nature, a life in which we followed the wishes of our lower nature and of our own designs, a life in which, so far as human nature goes, we deserved nothing but the wrath of God, as the others do--although we were all like that, I say, God, because he is rich in mercy, and because of his great love with which he has loved us, made us alive in Christ Jesus, even when we were dead in trespasses (it is by grace you have been saved), and raised us up w...