Introduction
"Within" the Christian faith, and I say within because we all at least claim to be Christian, there are many debates about how, exactly, salvation is received. Are we saved by grace alone, through faith alone, or are works involved? Hardly anyone, at least among nominal Christians, would suggest that works alone are sufficient. And it would be unbelievably easy to refute someone so foolish as to claim otherwise. Look no further than Hebrews 11:6: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." It really is that simple: You need faith to be saved.
But what about works? Do we need works to be saved? Do we need works to stay saved? Just as the Bible is clear that you need faith to be saved, it is also abundantly clear that faith is all you need to offer God, and indeed is all you could offer God. That we are saved by grace alone through faith alone is an indisputable fact, if only we would read the word of the Lord. Chief among the Scriptures demonstrating this is Ephesians 2:8-10, which, in any translation, leaves no room for interpretation. In this article, I intend to fully unpack this short extract, and demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that works, far from being required for salvation, are actually the natural result of it.
Establishing the subject of salvation
On the "other side" of this debate, you have the one verse in all of Scripture where the words "faith alone" are found: James 2:24. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." For proponents of works based "gospels", this is an open and shut case. Man is justified by works, and not faith only. But we need to notice the language in both of these key passages. In James 2:24, the subject is justification. The entire context of James 2, which I don't intend to dive too deep into in this article, reveals to us that justification is by works, and not faith alone. That is, faith, by nature, is rarely invisible. It certainly can be. If you come to faith while nailed to a cross, for example, you don't exactly have the opportunity to build 200 homeless shelters. But without getting too far ahead of ourselves, the idea that one can have faith, yet not show faith, is positively asinine. Therefore, James makes the case that if you're not showing your faith by your works, you probably don't have faith.
Our extract from Ephesians, however, has a clearly distinct subject. Let us first read the whole extract, then begin highlighting important words:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
At this point, merely by presenting the Scripture, I honestly believe my case has been made for me. Simply reading it should be enough to establish the point. But let us continue with the analysis nonetheless, and first highlight the key word "saved". Here, Paul does not say "by grace are ye justified". Rather, he says "...by grace are ye saved...". As opposed to the often misquoted James 2:24, which deals exclusively with justification before men, the word "saved" in Ephesians 2:8 firmly establishes salvation as the subject in view. Whatever Paul says now, he is talking not about how we prove our faith before human beings, but how we gain a restored relationship with God, having our sins forgiven, and how we will eventually come to live with God in eternity.
How is salvation offered?
Having established that salvation is the subject of this passage, and having made the absolutely necessary distinction between salvation and justification, the next question to ask is how is salvation offered? What must one do to receive salvation?
Ephesians 2:8 begins "For by grace are ye saved..." This, then, is where salvation begins. With grace. So, what is grace? Thankfully for us, the same Paul who wrote Ephesians also wrote the book of Romans. In this book, specifically chapter 11 verse 16, Paul actually defines grace for us. Observe: "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."
Now, in the interest of transparency, it must be pointed out that there is a textual variant on the field right now. I remind you that I am not a scholar, and have not done anywhere near enough research to weigh in on whether the disputed text is original or not. In the KJV, "otherwise work is no more work" is present, and it is likewise present in the NKJV. Its absence in other translations is notable. And now, of course, we have noted it. What is not disputed by any reputable translation, however, is that "if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace." That is right there, in Romans 11:6, solid as stone, and clear as day.
So here, Paul actually defines grace as the antithesis of works. You can no more be saved by grace and works than you can pay for a free sample. If you pay for it, it's not free. If it's free, you pay nothing. This concept is unbelievably simple.
Now, at this point, a merit monger might reply by pointing out that Romans 11 isn't actually talking about salvation, at least not directly, but rather about the grafting of the Gentiles into the blessings of Israel. To this, we could actually go off on a second dissection, showing how actually, Romans 11 as a whole is another very powerful passage in favor of faith alone. But we won't do that, at least not in this article. Let us instead simply ask for justification of the distinction. If Paul so firmly says that "if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace" in Romans 11, why would he use such a radically different definition of grace in Ephesians 2? Indeed, can you justify any use of the term "grace" that is not mutually exclusive to works? Anywhere in Scripture, bring your passage, and show how, whereas grace ceases to be grace because of works in Romans 11, it doesn't cease to be grace because of works elsewhere. You cannot do it, because grace, by all biblical definitions, is the antithesis of works, and as we continue our analysis of Ephesians 2:8-10, this will become considerably more clear.
How is salvation received?
Having seen that salvation is offered by grace, our next question must be how is it received? Paul continues: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God". Here we see, once again, that faith is the criteria for receiving salvation. We are saved by grace through faith, and this is a gift from God.
I can imagine most of my readers have given gifts to someone at some point in their lives. Friends, family, romantic interests, even if you've only given a toy to a dog out of the kindness of your heart, who among you has never given a gift? Tell me, friends, what is a gift? What did the recipient do to earn your gift? You could be cheeky at this point and say "well, if my mother hadn't given me that 5 dollars when I was 8 years old, I couldn't have given her the scented candle". But consider a more realistic, adult scenario.
Let's just make one up. Imagine, your friend is going through a rough time, and you decide you want to make them happy. So, you find out their favorite color, you go to your nearest store, and you pick them out a nice fluffy blanket in that color. When they open it up, they're overjoyed. Tell me, how did they get that blanket? Did they work for it? Did they earn it? It would be beyond arrogant of them to act like they did! Their works have nothing to do with your gift to them.
Likewise, Paul tells us most emphatically that our works have nothing to do with God's gift of salvation: "and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Now, I don't like to talk down to my audience. I prefer to assume that even those who disagree with me are at least as capable of intelligent thought as I am, maybe even more so. But when I hear "not of works", and someone comes along and says "well actually, works have a lot to do with it", I do tend to wonder what's going on in that person's head. After twice telling us "not of yourselves", and "not of works", Paul even follows up with "lest any man should boast".
I want you to imagine a works based system. We'll keep faith in the picture, but we'll ignore grace and add works instead. You have two Christians, both die, both get judged, only one of them makes it. Why? Because the other's works weren't good enough. What can the survivor now say? "My works were good enough." That seems like a pretty valid boast, too. You have a bad Christian in Hell, you're in Heaven because you were a good Christian, you're actually better than the guy who didn't make it. You have cause to boast. You have cause to boast in this life because you're being good enough to get to Heaven, you have cause to boast in the next life because you made it and your inferiors in the faith didn't. But no, God instructed Paul to tell us that it is not of ourselves, that it is not of works, lest any man should boast.
Which works?
So we don't get to boast in our works after all, but there is one way in which works apologists might be able to worm their theology into Ephesians. Is Paul talking about all works here, or only about the works of the law?
The first problem with this response is that it isn't justified by anything in the passage at hand. Scripture does, at times, single out the works of the law. We see, for example, in Romans 9:32: "Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone." (Emphasis added). But we see no such specification in the entirety of Ephesians.
But a further problem is that when Scripture does speak of works, it often speaks of people who could not have been under it. Abraham, for example. Let us return to James 2, specifically verses 20-21: "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?"
See how this wraps around and strangles the works-based gospel's own case? Abraham, of course, was long dead before the law came through Moses, and to add to that, offering one's own child is actually firmly against the law. Yet, Abraham was justified by his works. Not the works of the law, but the simple works of hearing God's command, and in faith, obeying it.
From here, we could even go deeper and show that even Abraham faltered. While he was declared righteous before God (through faith), his works were certainly nothing to brag about. The way he treated Hagar, betraying his wife Sarah, leading to the birth of Ishmael, was pure sin. If Abraham was justified by works, one might argue there was a time in his life between his faith in God's promise and his offering of Isaac when Abraham was certainly not justified. It would be a failed argument, for none can charge a man acquitted by the Lord Himself, but Abraham, just like us, was saved by faith, alone, for his works were filthy rags, offered with unclean hands.
The beauty of verse 10
And so we see that our works contribute nothing to our salvation. You can't add works to grace, because then you lose grace. Paul even says as much in his epistle to the Galatians, who at that time had begun merging works of the law (and extra works besides) to grace. He warns them "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." Ye are fallen from grace! Christ is become of no effect unto you! These are terrifying statements, overshadowed only by his words in Galatians 1:8-9: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Scripture makes it abundantly clear: You can have grace, or you can have works, but you can't have both. When you add works to grace, you lose grace, and so all you have is works. But you cannot be saved with those.
But if works play no part in our salvation, what part do they play? This, in my personal opinion, is the beautiful thing about verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
When we think about receiving salvation, we need to consider this: We can't have salvation unless there is something we are being saved from. And it is no salvation at all if we are not also saved to something. What we are saved from is obvious: Sin. In other words, we are saved from the bad works. Not just the consequences of them, but from the works themselves. The greed, the lust, the unjust anger, the pride, the envy, these are sins with a consequence: Death. Separation from God in the spirit and the flesh. What good would it be to spare us the consequences of sin, but not the sins themselves? That's like giving a gambling addict an infinite credit card. You're not saving him, you're enabling him!
But we're not just saved from the bad works. Paul tells us that, far greater than that, Christ is actually working on us! We aren't saved by good works, but for good works! God ordained that we, when we get saved, will walk in His good works. In other words, our good works are proof that our salvation is working. When we put off our old sinner and instead wear the garments given to us by our redeemer, we will do good works. It is stupid to suggest otherwise. How can a man, believing he was snatched from the jaws of death, be content to jump right back in? "Thank you for saving me from death, Jesus. Allow me to show my gratitude by attempting suicide." Do you see the folly?
Conclusion
And so we see, just from these 3 little verses, of course taken in context and aligned with the rest of Scripture, that there is no place for works in salvation. Salvation is by grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Note how even in my conclusion, I need not do much more than re-state the verse. It's that clear; this article would be redundant, were it not for the existence of audacious heresies which seek to add works to salvation. The reality is that good works are what we are saved for, not by. We are saved by faith alone, but that faith will never be alone, for those who are saved by faith will live by faith. It is repugnant to suggest that because we are saved by faith alone, therefore we don't need works at all. In the flesh, few people would live such a minimalistic lifestyle. You don't need a haircut, you don't need to wash regularly, you don't need to brush your teeth, you don't need to exercise. These are just a few examples of things you don't need to live, yet you certainly need them in your life. How, then, can a faithful Christian justify doing the bare minimum good works? Folly of follies! As Christians, we are saved by grace, we receive that salvation through faith alone, and that salvation produces within us a fountain of living water. We hunger and thirst for righteousness, not to get saved, but precisely because we are saved. It really is that simple, and biblically speaking, it is 100% irrefutable.