Ephesians 2:1-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

“4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

“8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.”

Jesus’ Purpose

When we are born into this world, we are born with sin natures, in the image of Adam, separate from God, and unable within ourselves to be acceptable to God. So God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to the earth to be born as a human baby to a virgin woman, conceived of the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus walked this earth He was fully God and fully human (God incarnate). And at the age of 33, I believe it was, those who hated Him for the good that He did, they plotted out and had carried out His death on a cross.

But when Jesus Christ, the second person of our triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), was put to death on that cross, it was to put our sins to death with Him so that by faith in Him we will now die to sin and obey God and His New Covenant commands in life practice. For Jesus gave His life up for us, not just to forgive us our sins and to give us eternal life with God, but He died and rose from the dead in order to transform us and to conform us to the likeness of Christ Jesus so we will live holy lives pleasing to God.

Past and Present

When we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, although outside of faith we were dead in our sins, if our faith in Him is true biblical faith, we are made alive spiritually in Christ by faith in Christ. The sins which we used to walk in, we no longer walk in (live by) in life practice. No longer are we conformed to the ways of this sinful world living to fulfill the sinful cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. And this is not to say that we become instantly perfect, but sin should be put to death.

By God’s Grace

It is by God’s grace that we are saved, and this not of ourselves. But His grace, which is bringing us salvation, is not a free ride into heaven based off lip service only. His grace to us is not carte blanche (absolute freedom) to keep on in our sins while claiming God’s grace covered it all. His grace, instead, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and desires, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives during our time on this earth while we long await the return of our Lord for His faithful bride.

And the faith to believe in Jesus Christ is not of ourselves, but it comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, and it is persuaded of God as to His righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need (and God’s requirement) that we now die to sin and obey God and His commands to us in life practice. Yes, we are not saved by our own fleshly works. We can do nothing in our own human flesh to earn or to deserve our own salvation. And we can never be good enough in our own flesh to be right with God.

Works Required by God

But faith in Jesus Christ is not absent of all works. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. All throughout the New Testament writings we are instructed in the ways of holiness and of righteousness in the things which must be put out of our lives and in the things which we must be putting on in our lives. We must die to sin and obey God or we don’t know God.

Sadly, there are many “wolves in sheep’s clothing” among us who serve as pastors, elders, missionaries, and evangelists, as well as Christian authors, who are teaching lies to the people. So they take Scriptures such as this, and they remove them from their appropriate context, and they twist them to say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context. So many are teaching “no works” salvation based off this passage because they teach verses 8-9 absent of the other surrounding Bible verses. But those are lies.

The Gospel

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to Him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) Him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in His power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Don’t Believe The Lies!
An Original Work / September 13, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.