Video Clip: Will there be evidence of faith in the life of a believer?

 

 

 JTR

Book Note: Archaic or Accurate? The translation of scripture and how we address God in praise and prayer--Thou or You?

From X post:

In confessional Reformed circles we often bemoan the decline of reverence and sobriety in corporate worship. In response we rightly appeal to and advocate for a return to the Protestant teaching and practice of the Regulative Principle of worship.

In addition, among English speakers, one wonders what has been the impact of declining use of reverential pronouns in addressing God? How was this decline been another result of the downgrade of many modern translations? This shift has, in fact, only been relatively recent.

Is it possible that we English speakers might make reverential pronouns “great again” in our prayers and sung praise?

I’ve been reading this little book Archaic or Accurate? The translation of the scriptures, and how we address God in praise and prayer—Thou or You? and have found it helpful. It is a collection of short articles on this theme from the Bible League Quarterly, edited by John Thackway. I commend it.

Here are a few samples from "Archaic or Accurate?": the opening paragraph to the book’s Foreword and the opening paragraph plus from one of its best short articles on “The Use of Thee and Thou in Prayer.”

Subscription to the Bible League Quarterly is a bargain. You can get the online version for just 5 pounds (less that 7 dollars) per year. Great devotional resource for all Christians and helpful sermon resource for pastors.

https://bibleleaguetrust.org/the-quarterly/

JTR

Note: On the translation/interpretation of Ephesians 4:12

From X post:

Believe it or not, I only rarely ever address issues related to text or translation of the Bible from the pulpit in my regular Lord’s Day preaching (given our church’s uniformity of practice), but yesterday I did briefly address the translation/interpretation of Ephesians 4:12 (listen to the sermon here). My notes:

There is a major question about how to translate Ephesians 4:12, and a big part of that involves a single comma.

The older Protestant translations, like the AV, generally list three things that the pastor-teachers are supposed to do:

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

First, they are to labor at the “perfecting [maturing] of the saints.” Christ said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). In Colossians 1:28 Paul said the goal of his ministry was, “that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

Second, they are to do the work of ministry. What is the work of ministry? We get an idea of this from Acts 6:4 when the apostles said they wanted to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.

Third, they labor “for the edifying of the body of Christ.” They want to see the spiritual health, safety, and spiritual growth of God’s people.

In the 20^th century some translations removed the first comma and said Paul was saying the task of ministers was to equip all the saints for the work of ministry. Compare:

NIV: “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”

ESV: “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that I think the older translation is best. I think so for two reasons:

First, it reflects the grammar of the original Greek construction better. There are three distinct prepositional phrases (προς… εις… εις…).

Second, theologically and functionally it fits better the description elsewhere given of the special roles given to ministers.

The new translations reflect a modern egalitarian view. I remember growing up in SBC churches where the theme in many of those churches was “every member a minister.” To a certain degree that is true. All Christians are called to ministry. But not all are called to be pastors and teachers. See James 3:1: “My brethren, be not many master [teachers]….” And it is this special role that Paul is describing here.

JTR

The Vision (5.30.25): One Lord, one faith, one baptism

 

Image: "Knockout" roses, North Garden, Virginia, May 2025.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 4:1-6.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:5).

In Ephesians 4:1-3 the apostle Paul describes several marks of those who are “walking worthy of the vocation” to which they were called. In other words, these are marks of those who profess to be Christians and who then conduct themselves as Christians. One of those marks is “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3).

In Ephesians 4:4-6 Paul stresses the importance of unity among believers. He then uses the term “one” no less than seven times to emphasize the ground for Christian unity. We have one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all.

Let me focus on three of those “one”s which are listed in quick order in v. 5:

As Christians we have one Lord. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. There are not many Saviors and many Lords but one Lord. As Peter preached in Jerusalem, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

We have one faith. Here faith means not merely the personal trust in Christ, but one orthodox (right-believing) confession of faith. In Titus 1:4 Paul called Titus his own son, “after the common faith.” In Jude 3, that servant of Jesus Christ exhorted believers, “that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Orthodox doctrine does not divide. It unites faithful Christians.

And there is one baptism. Not only was Paul saying that baptism, when rightly ordered, should happen just once in the believer’s life, but also that true baptism (by the Spirit and then by water) comes to those who hear the preaching of the gospel, repent of their sins and believe in Christ. The one baptism is that experienced by those who have been born again.

May the Lord grant us unity, upon the basis of these marks, within our particular local church and with believers around the world.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

R. L. Dabney on those who delight in criticizing and amending "the received English version"

 

From X post:

R. L. Dabney warns against those who delight in criticizing and amending “the received English version” “this precious work of our ancestors”:

"The most reprehensible pedantry of all is that which delights in criticizing and amending the received English version. Instead of seeking for opportunities to point out errors in this precious work of our ancestors, its credit should be carefully sustained before the people, whenever this can be done without an actual sacrifice of our integrity and of the truth of the text. The general excellence of the translation merits this treatment. Such were the learning and labour of its authors, that he who is most deeply acquainted with sacred criticism will be found most modest in assailing their accuracy in any point. But it is far more important to remark, that this version is practically the Bible of the common people—the only one to which they can have familiar access. If their confidence in its fidelity is overthrown, they are virtually robbed of the written word of God…. Thus let the confidence of your hearers in their English Bibles be preserved and fortified."

-Evangelical Eloquence, 162-163.

WM 329: Scrivener Series.Part 3 of 3: Did Scrivener "Back Translate" his Greek NT from the KJV?

 

JTR

The Vision (5.23.25): Unto him be glory in the church

 

Image: Roses, North Garden, Virginia, May 2025.

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 3:14-21.

Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen (Ephesians 3:21).

The third chapter of Ephesians ends with a prayer by the apostle Paul. It begins in v. 14, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Kneeling is not the only Biblically sanctioned posture for prayer. The reference to Paul‘s kneeling reflects his humility before the Lord in worship.

Paul was a man of prayer. He urged believers to engage in constant prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We talk about something bursting into flames. Paul would sometimes burst into spontaneous prayer! Here it is in writing. If he did this in writing one can only imagine how he must have done so in normal conversation.

We can notice a prayer pattern. Paul first worships the Lord (vv. 14-15), bending the knee before him. He then petitions the Lord (vv. 16-19). He asks the Lord, according to his riches in glory, to strengthen the believers in the inner man (v. 16). We tend to think first of needs of the outer man, the external condition. But Paul teaches in this prayer another priority. He pleads for the strengthening of the inward condition of believers.

He further asks that Christ “may dwell in your hearts by faith” (v. 17a). R. C. Sproul points out, despite the popularity among evangelicals of this image of Christ dwelling in the believer’s heart, that this is “the only place in the whole Bible that mentions Christ dwelling in our hearts” (Ephesians, p. 87).

In v. 17b Paul mixes metaphors of agriculture and masonry, asking that believers might be rooted (an organic, agricultural image) and grounded (a structural image, cf. 2:20-21) in love.

To what end? That we might be able to comprehend the vast greatness of God in Christ (v. 18). That we might know “with all saints” the breadth (the wideness, the thickness) and the length, and depth, and height of God. The theologians remind us that the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. We cannot know all of God, or we would be God. But to some limited degree he allows us to comprehend his magnitude and his vast greatness.

Paul petitions, in particular, that the Ephesian believers might know “the love of Christ” and fill them “with all the fullness of God” (v. 19).

Finally, Paul concludes with doxology and adoration (vv. 20-21). He ascribes glory to the one who is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine (v. 20).

His final petition is that God might be given glory “in the church” (v. 21). In answer to the question as to man’s chief end, the Catechism teaches, “To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”

God gets glory in his creation and through the lives of individual believers, but here Paul reminds us that God also gets glory in the church. This includes the invisible (mystical) church of all times and places, and the concrete, visible, and local church.

Why does our particular church, or any other church, exist? To give glory to God.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (5.16.25): The Mystery of Christ

 

Image: Red Hot Poker (Torch Lily), North Garden, Virginia, May 2025.

Note: Devotion based on sermon on May 11, 2025 on Ephesians 3:1-13.

In Ephesians 3:4 Paul speak of “the mystery of Christ,” and in v. 5 he notes the unprecedented revelation of the knowledge of this mystery that was being made known to believers in their own day, “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.”

This conveys the privileges that are given to all believers who live in the gospel age. Peter said something similar in 1 Peter 1:12 when he noted that the gospel now revealed includes things which “the angels desire to look into.” The humblest believer in this age knows things the angels desired to know and that Moses and Isaiah did not yet see clearly.

And what is this mystery now revealed? See Ephesians 3:6: “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”

Notice the three descriptions:

First, the Gentiles are “fellowheirs.” In Romans 8:17 Paul calls believers “joint heirs with Christ.” But Paul’s point here is that we Gentile believers are fellowheirs with Jewish believers like Peter and Paul. We have received an inheritance that was not ours. We were “written into the will” as it were, even though we are outsiders!

Second, they are “of the same body.” See Ephesians 2:16: We were reconciled unto God “in one body by the cross.”

Third, they are partakers of his promise in Christ. All the promises given to the Old Testament saints are now given to us: That God would be our God, and we would be his people. That he would redeem us and dwell with us. That he would give to us the heavenly country.

We are co-heirs, co-bodied, and co-partakers. All this is “by the gospel.” By the good news of what God has accomplished in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Mark Sweetnam: Imagine trying to live the Christian life without access to Paul's epistles

From X post:

Imagine trying to live the Christian life without access to Paul's epistles.

Interesting thought from Mark Sweetnam in his commentary on 2 Timothy 2:10 on the significance of the apostle Paul:

2 Timothy 2:10 “Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

Commentary:

“The goal of [Paul’s] service was our eternal glory. Today, we are the beneficiaries of that service largely through what he wrote. They have a crucial role in ensuring our eternal glory. If you doubt this, just imagine trying to live a Christian life without having access to Paul’s epistles. How would you understand the gospel, the believer’s relationship to the law, or how a local church should operate and be ordered? So much of what we know about living for and faithfully serving God, we know because of the patient endurance of the Apostle Paul” (p. 88).

JTR

WM 328: Scrivener Series.Part 2 of 3: Scrivener's Greek New Testament

 

JTR

The Vision (5.9.25): The Chief Corner Stone

 

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 2:17-22.

“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20).

Paul is saying here that the church is like a building. How is it like a building? It is built or constructed upon a sure foundation. Get the foundation wrong and the building is structurally unsound and will not pass code and may collapse and injure many.

Paul says first that assemblies of authentic believers are “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” In 3:5 he speaks of revelations of mysteries concerning Christ having been revealed to apostles and prophets.

By “apostles” Paul is speaking of those who held the extra-ordinary office of leadership, having been chosen to be among the twelve. Beyond the twelve, Matthias took the place of Judas (Acts 1) and Paul was added to this group by direct commission by the risen Lord himself (Acts 9). All were eyewitnesses of the risen Lord.

By “prophets” Paul might have been speaking of the OT prophets, like Moses and Isaiah, who spoke of Christ in prophecy, but also of NT prophets like Agabus.

Believers have their faith established by resting on the authoritative teaching of the apostles and prophets. In Acts 2:42 Luke says the church at Jerusalem continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. See Jude 1:17, “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

To be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets is to be grounded in the inspired writings and teachings of the apostles and prophets.

But notice Paul does not stop there. This foundation is not laid upon mere men alone, but, “Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” This comes from the prophecy of Psalm 118:22-23.

R. C. Sproul observed that the stone described here “has its roots in ancient masonry. It was the brick by which the builder lined up the whole building. Often it was the first brick to be laid. It was the keystone for the whole building—pull this brick out and everything falls. So the foundation was laid in and upon the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians, 71-72).

This is a timely passage today, as our Roman Catholic friends will soon recognize a new Pope as head of their church. They claim that the church is built upon Peter, as the rock. We say that the church is built upon Peter’s confession that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:15-28). The Pope is not the head of the church; that role is already taken by Christ himself, and he will suffer no pretenders to this position.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

A very short book review: Dear Preacher, Letters on Preaching (2025)

 

From my X:

A very short book review: Dear Preacher, Letters on Preaching (2025).

I got this book in the mail over the weekend written by my friend Bryant Rueda.

The book is a series of 50 short, pithy, devotional essays (1-2 pages each in large font) presented as letters from an older preacher (PulpitTape) to his younger self, covering various topics (e.g., “Preaching as a Means of Grace,” “Preaching as Leadership,” “Preaching as Prayer,” etc.), liberally sprinkled with quotations from various preachers on the task of preaching (from Edmund Clowney to Al Martin to Fred Craddock, et al.).

Preachers might find it a helpful devotional read. One thing: When I read in the preface that the author was following the epistolary format of Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, I at first thought the voice of PreachTape was going to be a demon giving “anti-advice” for preaching, rather than a more angelic older self. That first thought might be a good idea for a sequel.

JTR

WM 327: Scrivener Series.Part 1 of 3: Life of F. H. A. Scrivener (1813-1891)

 

JTR

The Vision (5.2.25): Before and After

 

Image: Rhododendron, North Garden, Virginia, May 2025.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 2:11-16.

Ephesians 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

In Ephesians 2, Paul continues to draw a contrast for the Ephesians between their unregenerate and regenerate states. It is a before and after contrast. Think of a fitness channel on social media. This was the before (fat and flabby), and here is the after (lean and fit).

In v. 12 Paul offers three descriptions of the Ephesians in their unregenerate state:

First, there were “without Christ.” How sad it is to live a Christ-less existence, yet so many do. He ties this to their apartness from “the commonwealth of Israel” and “the covenants of promise.” They had not known all the shadowy covenants that had pointed to the New Covenant through the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter will say that such were “in time past not a people, but are now the people of God” (1 Peter 2:10).

Second, they were hopeless: “having no hope.” Many people live in this world without hope. I recently read an online story about a 10 year-old girl who took her own life. I saw the scars of hopelessness firsthand while living in a post-communist nation.

Take God away and what hope is there? Hope in yourself? In sport or entertainment? In money or power? In science or knowledge? Of course, Paul is also saying here that they were without the ultimate blessed hope of Christ’s second coming.

Third, they were “without God (atheoi) in this world.” This is the spirit of atheism (cf. Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1). One of the worst and most deceptive songs ever written was John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and it is sung over and over again, even recently at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral. It has a diabolical message. Take away belief in God and create an earthly paradise! Have they never seen what happened in communist Soviet Union or on the killing fields of Cambodia when nations tried to live without God?

The contrast comes in v. 13: “But now in Christ Jesus….” This parallels the “But God…” in v. 4. Those who were far off have been brought nigh (close) by the blood of Christ. Paul takes the Ephesians back to the foundational work of the cross, and especially to the blood of Christ. Already in Ephesians 1:7 Paul had affirmed, “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Later in this chapter he will say, believers have been reconciled “in one body by the cross” (2:16).

The key to the transformation from the unregenerate to the regenerate state is the cross of Christ. Now, we have Christ; we have hope; and we are not without God in this world.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (4.25.25): Resurrection Appearances (Luke 24)

 

Image: Azaleas, North Garden, Virginia, April 2025.

Note: Devotion taken from morning and afternoon sermons last Sunday on Luke 24.

“And they said one to another, Did not out heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).

“And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (Luke 24:36).

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Paul summarized the key four historical facts that were essential to his preaching of the gospel or good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those four basic facts: (1) Christ’s atoning death; (2) his burial; (3) his resurrection on the third day; and (4) his resurrection appearances.

The second and fourth of those points affirm or prove the first and third point points. We know that Christ truly died on the cross, because his lifeless body was placed in the tomb. We know that Christ was truly raised again from the dead, because he appeared to his disciples in his resurrection body.

All four of the canonical gospels reach their climax with these four points. One German scholar from years ago said that the Gospels were “passion narratives with extended introductions.”

Luke 24 presents an inspired narrative of Christ’s resurrection appearances on the first Lord’s Day,  to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (24:13-32) and then to the twelve in Jerusalem (24:36-48).

Aside from providing the true historical details on what transpired that day, Luke, driven along by the Holy Spirit, also provides a template for what will continue to happen when the saints gather on the Lord’s Day. The risen Lord Jesus Christ will make himself present and known to us. This happens now by the Spirit since Christ has ascended and is seated at God’s right hand till he comes again with power and glory.

When meeting with him we will say, as the disciples of old did, “Did not our heart burn within us… while he opened to us the scriptures?” (24:32). The risen Lord Jesus himself will stand “in the midst” and say to us, “Peace be unto you” (24:36). He will extend his pastoral care to us, asking, “Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts?” (24:38).

Let us continue to gather each Lord’s Day to meet with the one who died on the cross for our sins, was buried, rose again the third day, and appeared to his disciples.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Old English Riddle: Holy Book

 From Burton Raffel, Poems from the Old English (University of Nebraska Press, 1964), a riddle on a Biblical or sacred writing manuscript:

JTR

Duffy on "creeping to the cross"

Historian Eamon Duffy describes the late Medieval Good Friday tradition of “creeping to the cross” in English churches and how the Protestant Reformers sought to discourage it:

“Good Friday in the late Middle Ages was a day of deepest mourning. No mass was celebrated, and the main liturgical celebration of the day was a solemn and penitential commemoration of the Passion. The whole of the narrative of St. John’s Gospel was read, with a small dramatic embellishment: at the words ‘They parted my garments among them’ the clerks parted and removed two linen cloths which had been specially placed for the purpose on the otherwise bare altar….”

Later, “The cross was unveiled in three stages….”

“Clergy and people then crept barefoot and on their knees to kiss the foot of the cross, held by two ministers.”

“Creeping to the cross was one of the most frequent targets of Protestant reformers from the 1530s onwards, and there can be no doubt of the place it held in lay piety: well into the Elizabethan period Bishop Grindal would complain on Good Friday ‘some certeyn persons go barefooted and barelegged to the churche, to creepe to the crosse.’”

-The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580, p. 29.

The Vision (4.18.25): Stewards of the Mysteries of God

 

Image: Laying on of hands and prayer during Elder ordination at CRBC (4.13.25)

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, which included an Elder ordination and installation.

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1).

What did Paul mean when he declared that ministers of Christ (referring both to extraordinary ministers, like apostles, and ordinary ministers, like elders) are “stewards of the mysteries of God”? What are these mysteries?

There is no doubt as to what our Particular Baptist forefathers thought. They cite this passage as a key prooftext in Confession 28:2 “Of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper,” where it teaches who should administer these ordinances: “These holy appointments are to be administered by those only who are qualified and thereunto called, according to the commission of Christ.”

Stewardship of the mysteries of Christ means stewardship of the ordinances (sacraments) of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. But when the old men spoke of ordinance they also spoke first of the ordinance of preaching and teaching the Word.

Paul ordered Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2).

The old Puritan exegete Matthew Poole (1624-1679) explains in his commentary:

“The apostle here gives us the right notion of the preachers of the gospel; they are but ministers, that is servants, so as the honour that is proper to the Master… belongeth not to them.” Their “primary obligation [is] to preach Christ and his gospel unto the people.”

“They are also stewards of the mysteries of God, such to whom God has committed his word and sacraments to dispense to his church.” The term mystery signifies that which is secret, “represented by signs and figures.”

Poole’s commentary concludes, “Ministers are the stewards of the mysterious doctrines and institutions of Christ, which are usually comprehended under the terms word and sacrament.”

Paul told Timothy that he was to be “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

And in 1 Corinthians 14:40 he told the church (especially her officers), “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

The first thing our church should expect from its Elders is that we rightly preach Christ and the gospel to you and that we rightly administer baptism and the Lord’s Supper so that the things that are secret or hidden in them are made known.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Audio and Video Resources: 2025 Presbyterion (Reformed Baptist Fellowship of Virginia Spring Pastors' Fraternal)

 

Session 1 (X post version): On The Civil Magistrate:

Session 2 (X post version): The Case for Christian Nationalism: A 1689 Reaction:

Session 3 (X post version): "Communion" Among Churches:

JTR

Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795) Hymn: Father of Mercies, Bow Thine Ear

Note: From X post:

Make old hymns great again! We enjoyed singing this hymn by Particular Baptist Pastor Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795) in our Elder ordination service last Sunday (to the HAMBURG tune, "When I Survey"):

Father of mercies, bow Thine ear, Attentive to our earnest prayer; We plead for those who plead for Thee; Successful pleaders may they be. Clothe Thou with energy divine Their words, and let those words be Thine; To them Thy sacred truth reveal, Suppress their fear, inflame their zeal. Teach them aright to sow the seed: Teach them thy chosen flock to feed; Teach them immortal souls to gain, Nor let them labor, Lord, in vain. Let thronging multitudes around Hear from their lips the joyful sound, In humble strains Thy grace adore, And feel Thy new-creating power.

The Vision (4.11.25): Created in Christ Jesus Unto Good Works

 

Image: Climbers ascending Mount Everest.

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 2:8-10.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

Ephesians 2:8-9 might rightly be called the Mount Everest of the Biblical doctrine of salvation. It teaches that salvation is the gift of God.

Paul, however, does not stop there. He proceeds in v. 10 to describe the life that should flow from the person who has been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and the conduct that should characterize him.

In his commentary on this letter R. C. Sproul notes: “There is another formula of the Reformation: justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. What does this mean: not by a faith that is alone? It means that true faith will inevitably manifest itself in the performance of works of obedience” (Ephesians, 58).

Paul explains this in v. 10, “For we [notice again that he includes himself as an apostle, alongside the Ephesian believers] are his workmanship [the noun here poiēma means something made, piece of handiwork, a creation] created in Christ Jesus unto good works….”

We are not saved by works, lest any man should boast, but once we are saved, one of the evidences of that is that good works (service to God and man that is pleasing to God) should flow out of our lives.

Good works are stressed over and over again in Scripture as a vital part of the Christian life. See Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (compare also 2 Timothy 3:17; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:12).

“Good works” is not a dirty term for Bible-believing Christian. As we often say, “It is not the root of our faith, but it is the fruit of our faith.” We have an entire chapter in our 1689 Baptist confession dedicated to the topic, “Of Good Works” (chapter 16).

Notice also the last phrase in v. 10, “which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Not only are we chosen for salvation in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), but also our good works have been foreordained. The all-sovereign, all-wise, all-knowing God has set each one of his saints apart for particular and peculiar good works to be done to his glory and honor.

It might be there in the godly raising of your children, in the prayers you offer up to the Lord, in the care you extend to the orphans and widows, in the generous giving you offer to support the church and its mission across the world,  in the visiting and comforting the sick and the aged, the infirmed and the weak, and a thousand other things that the Lord has set out for you do to bless his name and to bless your fellow men.

We have indeed been created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle