For we are His workmanship
Ephesians 2:10 We are God’s work of art, and owe it to Him to pass along His love for us to others through good works.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10 NASB1995
After a brief stop two days ago in the Book of Malachi the prophet, we’re back to Ephesians. Paul has just finished telling the readers of this epistle that they have been saved by God’s grace, not by works. Yet here in verse 10, he’s telling them that good works are a “good thing”!
Exploring the first phrase, Paul reminds us that we are “His workmanship”. The ancient Greek word here is ποίημα (poiēma) — “that what has been made,” or “a work”. In the Jerusalem Bible, poiēma is translated as “work of art”. God has saved us from the wrath we deserve, but He also wants to make something beautiful of us. The next time you’re feeling down about yourself, remember that you’re God’s work of art!
Enduring Word says this about God’s love for us as His creation:
i. God’s love is a transforming love. It meets us right where we are at, but when we receive this love it always takes us where we should be going. The love of God that saves my soul will also change my life.
ii. We are His workmanship, His creation — something new He has made of us in Jesus Christ. “The spiritual life cannot come to us by development from our old nature. I have heard a great deal about evolution and development, but I am afraid that if any one of us were to be developed to our utmost, apart from the grace of God, we should come out worse than before the development began.” (Spurgeon)
iii. “Our new life is as truly created out of nothing as were the first heavens, and the first earth. This ought to be particularly noticed, for there are some who think that the grace of God improves the old nature into the new. It does nothing of the sort.” (Spurgeon)
As usual, Charles H. Spurgeon provides some excellent insight into the grace of God!
God has created us in Jesus for good works. It is part of His plan to make us active in performing good works, not to receive salvation, but to show that we are we are walking with Christ as one of the chosen of God. These good works are an integral part of God’s plan for us.
British theologian A. Skevington Wood said this of Ephesians 2:10 in his commentary on the epistle:
“Works play no part at all in securing salvation. But afterwards Christians will prove their faith by their works. Here Paul shows himself at one with James.”1
As the prophet Isaiah said,
“But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.”
Isaiah 64:8 NASB1995
We are God’s work of art, and owe it to Him to pass along His love for us to others through good works.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I praise Your name, knowing that I am your work of art. Thank You that I was saved by grace through faith in Jesus, and I pray my life is being lived to serve You in all of the works that You prepared me to do, to your praise and glory. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org.
Commentary from Enduring Word reprinted here with the author’s permission.
Wood, A. Skevington "Ephesians: The Expositor's Bible Commentary" Volume 11 (Ephesians-Philemon) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1978)