By grace are ye saved through faith;— He that reads St. Paul with attention, cannot but observe, that, speaking of the Gentiles, he calls their being brought back again from their apostacy into the kingdom of God, their being saved. Before they were thus brought to be the people of God again under the Messiah, they were, as they are here described, aliens,—enemies, —without hope,—without God,—dead in trespasses and sins; and therefore, when by faith in Christ they came to be reconciled, and to be in covenant again with God, and his subjects, and liege people, they were in the way of salvation; and, if they persevered, could not miss of attaining it, though they were not yet in actual possession. The Apostle, whose aim it is in this Epistle to give them a high sense of God's extraordinary grace and favour to them, and to raise their thoughts above the mean observances of the law, shews them that there was nothing in them, in their miserable state of nature, no deeds or works of theirs, nothing that they could do, to prepare and recommend themselves, which contributed aught to God's calling them into his kingdom under the gospel;that it was all purely the work of grace, for they were all by nature dead in trespasses and sins, and, without the Spirit of God, could not make one step, or the least motion towards it. Faith, which alone gained them admittance, and alone opened the kingdom of heaven to believers, was the gift of God. Men, by their natural faculties, could not attain to it: it is faith which is the source and beginning of this new life.—By a revelation of that, which they could never discover by their own natural faculties, God bestows on them the knowledge of the Messiah, and the faith of the gospel; which, as soon as they have received, they are in the kingdom of God, in a new state of life; and, being thus quickened by the Spirit, may, as men alive, work, if they will. Hence St. Paul says, Romans 10:17 that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; having in the foregoing verses declared, that there is no believing without hearing, and no hearing without a preacher, and no preacher unless he be sent; that is, the good tidings of salvation by the Messiah, and the doctrine of faith, was not, could not be known to any, but those to whom God communicated it by the preaching of his prophets and apostles, to whom he revealed it, and whom he sent on his errand with this discovery. And thus God now gave faith to the Ephesians and the other Gentiles, to whom he sent St. Paul and others his fellow-labourers, to bestow on them the knowledge of salvation, reconciliation, and restoration to the kingdom of the Messiah: to all which, though revealed by the Spirit of God in the writings of the Old Testament, yet the Gentile world were kept wholly strangers by the ceremonial law of Moses, which was the wall of partition that kept the Gentiles at a distance and aliens: this wall God, according to his gracious purpose before the erecting it, having now broken down, communicated to them the doctrine of faith, and admitted them, upon their acceptance of it, to all the advantages and privileges of this kingdom: all which was done of his free grace, without any merit or procurement of theirs;—He was found of them who sought him not, and was made manifest to them that asked not after him. He that would clearly understand this second chapter of the Ephesians, should read carefully with it Romans 10 and 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 where he will see, that faith is owing to the revelation of the Spirit of God, and the communication of that revelation by men sent by God, who attained this knowledge, not by the assistance of their own natural parts, but from the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Thus faith, we see, is the gift of God; and, with it, comes the Spirit of God, which brings life to the soul. GOD himself, by the gift of faith, creates them, that is, every genuine penitent, unto good works; but when by him they are made living creatures, in this new creation, it is then expected that, being quickened, they should act; and from henceforward works are required, not as the meritorious cause of salvation, but as a necessary indispensable qualification of the subjects of God's kingdom under his Son Jesus Christ; it being impossible that any one should at the same time be a rebel and a good subject too. And though none can be subjects of the kingdom of God, but those who, continuing in the faith which has once been bestowed on them, sincerely endeavour to conform themselves to the laws of their Lord and Master Jesus Christ; and though God gives eternal life to all those, and to those only, who do so; yet eternal life is the gift of God, the gift of free grace, as purchased solely by the blood of the covenant for every faithful saint
Now, that when God hath, by calling them into the kingdom of his son, and bestowing on them the gift of faith, thus quickened the penitent, and they are by his free grace created in Christ Jesus unto good works,—that then works are required of them, is hence evident—that they are called upon and pressed (1 Thessalonians 2:12.) to walk worthy of God, who hath called them to his kingdom and glory; and to the same purpose, ch. Ephesians 4:1.Philippians 3:17. Colossians 1:10-12. So that of those who are in the kingdom of God, who are actually under the covenant of grace, good works are strictly required, under penalty of the loss of eternal life. See Romans 6:11-13; Romans 8:13.
Indeed, this is the tenor of the whole New Testament; the apostate heathen world were dead, and were of themselves in that state not capable of doing any thing to procure their translation into the kingdom of God; that was purely the work of grace: but, when they received the gospel in sincerity, they were then made alive by faith, and by the Spirit of God; then they were in a state of life, and working and works were expected of them. Thus grace and works are consistent without any difficulty; and that whichhath caused the perplexity, and seeming contradiction, has been men's mistake concerning the kingdom of God. God, in the fulness of time, set up his kingdom in this world under his Son, into which he admitted all those who believed on him, and sincerely received Jesus the Messiah for their Lord. Thus by faith in Jesus Christ men became the people of God, and subjects of his kingdom, and were henceforth, during their continuance in the living faith and profession of the gospel, accounted saints,—the beloved of God,—the faithful in Christ Jesus,—the people of God, —saved, &c.—for in these terms and the like the Sacred Scripture speaks of them. And indeed, those who were thus translated into the kingdom of the Son of God, were no longer in the dead state of the Gentiles; but, havingpassed from death to life, were in the state of the living, in the way to eternal life, which they were sure to attain, if they persevered in that life which the gospel required, viz. faith and sincere obedience. But yet this was not an actual possession of eternal life in the kingdom of God in the world to come; for, by apostacy or disobedience, this, though sometimes called salvation, might be forfeited and lost; whereas he that is once possessed of the other, has actuallyan eternal inheritance in the heavens, which fadeth not away. These two considerations of the kingdom of heaven some men have confounded, and made one; so that a man being brought into the first of these wholly by grace without works (faith being all that was required to instate a man in it) they have concluded, that, for the attaining eternal life, or the kingdom of God in the world to come, faith alone, without good works, is required,—contrary to the express words of Scripture, and the whole tenor of the gospel. It is, however, by grace that we are made partakers of both these kingdoms; it is only into the kingdom of God in this world that we are admitted by faith alone without works; but for our admittance into the other, both faith and obedience are requisite,—internal holiness, and a sincere endeavour to perform all those duties,—all those good works which are incumbent upon us, and come in our way to be performed, from the time of our believing until the hour of death. See the Inferences and Reflections.