How God Saves Sinners

Check out one of the best, shortest explanations of the gospel by John Stott (1921-2011) in his classic, highly recommended book The Cross of Christ:

"The biblical gospel of atonement is of God satisfying himself by substituting himself for us. The concept of substitution may be said, then, to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives that belong to God alone; God accepts penalties that belong to man alone."

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as 'God on the cross.' In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering. 'The cross of Christ ... is God’s only self-justification in such a world” as ours...."

 

Ephesians 2: From Amazing Grace to Amazing Work

We gospel Christians have had a sacrificial, selfless act modeled for us. Our lives have been changed by Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. Our response has nothing to do with sentimental emotions; it requires a practical, rubber-meets-the-road reaction of good deeds. Read Ephesians 2:10 in its context:  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:8-10). 

While we are not saved by works, we were created for good works. Like the God in whose image we were created, we were designed to work, to create. Good deeds are the redeemed heart’s response of gratitude for the gift of God’s grace. Good deeds are not an option for Christians. We cannot fail to follow Christ’s example. Good deeds are our way of life. 

The remarkable flow of thought in the second chapter of Ephesians goes from amazing grace to amazing work. First, the good news of salvation defines us as human beings: We are his workmanship! The best translation of that word workmanship is given by F. F. Bruce: “His work of art, his masterpiece.’’¹ We are God’s works of art. We were created in his image. Then, even better, we were recreated in Christ Jesus! Paul describes it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17). 

Perhaps you don’t feel like a masterpiece because of difficult and painful experiences that have made you question your own worth. Don’t overlook this beautiful truth of Scripture: You are his “workmanship”—his masterwork of art. 

Ephesians 2:10 points to the purpose of our creation and recreation—good deeds. The Gospel defines us and then explains what we are supposed to do. Paul’s great statement here capsulizes God’s role in our salvation and our responsibility to God. So what does the privileged position of masterpiece require of us? Once we have been saved by his grace, we must work. Works are a sign that we are his workmanship! “No one more wholeheartedly than Paul rejected good works as a ground of salvation; no one more strongly insisted on good works as a fruit of salvation.”² Authentic believers, in response to God’s grace, work for Him.

Think of it! In God’s great plan, there are good works prepared before the foundation of the world, waiting for you and for me to carry out. They have been prepared for us by design. And we unique individuals have been designed with these specific tasks in view.

1.  F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians(London: Pickering & Inglis, 1973), p. 52.
2.  Ibid.