Salvation is by grace through faith, not from human selves and not from works, but the gift of God, so no one can boast of achieving or procuring it. No good work, merit, righteousness, or human quality can earn salvation, justify a person, or put God under obligation, for even all human righteous deeds are unstable and human working cannot make a single virtue in self. There are only two kinds of religion, those men have invented in which man saves himself by ceremonies and good works, and the one religion of the Bible in which man looks solely to the free grace of God in Christ whose blood alone atones. Those saved are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, so good works are the purpose and fruit of the new life and its evidence, not its cause or basis. Boasting and self-exaltation are therefore excluded from the Christian life, for every ability and good is received and makes us debtors to Christ, leaving lowliness at the cross instead of claims to superiority.
Salvation Is God's Gift
Salvation is by grace through faith, not from human selves and not from works, but the gift of God, so no one can boast of having achieved or procured it. Those who were dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air and living in the lusts of the flesh and mind as children of wrath by nature, were made alive together with Christ because of God's rich mercy and great love. They were raised up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come God might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward them through Jesus Christ. Those saved are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, so good works are the purpose and fruit of the new life rather than its cause or basis. Through Christ true believers are built together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as chief cornerstone into a holy temple in the Lord, no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints of the household of God, an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Grace is God's favor shown to undeserving human beings, which could only be known after man fell by disobedience under condemnation of the law. Sinless angels who obey all His commands and have never sinned do not receive it and know nothing of it because they have never needed it. Sinners did not seek grace, but grace was sent in search of them. God rejoices to bestow it on everyone who hungers for it, not because they are worthy but because they are utterly unworthy, and their need is the qualification that gives assurance of receiving the gift.
There is no condition for the sinner whom God is calling and drawing by the invitation of Christ except to simply come and view Christ lifted up on the cross of Calvary. The condition after coming is that by living faith the sinner lays hold wholly and entirely upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour, looking to the righteousness of Christ as the only thing that can cleanse from sins and transgressions. Human working to the very best ability cannot make a single virtue in self; it is the righteousness of Christ alone that does it. When clothed with the righteousness of Christ, power and strength are imparted, Christ works with and by the believer to work the works of righteousness, so the believer will not want to sin, and though mistakes and errors may still be made, the sins that caused the suffering of the Son of God as transgressor of the law of God will be hated.
The blessings of heaven are received not because people are worthy or because of their works, but because of the worthiness of Christ, through acceptance by faith in Him of God's abounding grace. Entrance into heaven is not a reward earned by merit or works but God's gift, leaving no ground for human boasting. Salvation is received through faith in Christ, and faith rests on God's Word and on experience gained in accordance with it. This requires moving steadily forward in doing God's work with unselfishness and humble dependence on Him, committing present and future to His wise providence and holding the beginning of confidence firm unto the end.
The eternal weight of glory just ahead was earned by Jesus and is a free gift, not given for any righteousness and goodness of one's own. The reward of the faithful will be theirs at last, and the few probationary hours left are to be spent walking humbly with God and doing faithfully the work He has committed. God's blessings are not earned by any goodness in us, so there is no ground to claim the glory or credit for them; they come from God's mercy and loving-kindness.
Human reason, inventions, learning, and effort contribute nothing to earning salvation, and the gospel that saves is the power of God and the wisdom of God revealing divinity in Christ. The Word containing this truth is to be respected and obeyed as the voice of God to men, the source of all wisdom, all truth, all higher education and strength, made the study and teacher and guide above all human books and productions. It is to be searched diligently as food eaten and digested, and obeyed because it is the wisdom of God, making the one who studies and obeys it wise unto salvation and meeting the wants of the soul. The promise stands joined to it that in the ages to come God will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness through Jesus Christ, an unfolding eternal history of heights and depths, and to the life created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained to walk in.
There is not a thread of human legality in the salvation of the soul that has any value or gives any ground for boasting, for the righteousness of Christ must be accepted by all as a free gift because all are undeserving and it cannot be bought. Salvation is by grace, received through a heart melted and subdued by the love of Christ and offered as a willing offering, and keeping the heart in the love of God keeps the world out of the heart. That life is a building up in most holy faith under Christ as the Author and Finisher of faith, with steady continual progressing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ until reaching the full stature of spiritual growth in Christ Jesus. No human agent can claim credit for salvation or for the work God accomplishes, for the sinner is redeemed by the blood of Christ, whose sacrifice makes return to obedience possible. Human messengers point people to Christ and then step aside so that God alone receives glory.
All people are helpless and equally indebted to God; Christ's grace saves them, and what is good in anyone's character comes through faith in Jesus and acceptance of His sacrifice. No person can save or regenerate self, for only God can subdue the pride of the human heart. Justification by faith is God's work of laying human glory in the dust and doing for people what they have no power to do for themselves, and regeneration reveals to people their real nature that in themselves they are nothing and worthless. When people see their own nothingness they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, to praise and exalt God all day long, and by beholding Him to be changed into the same image. In heaven no song will give glory and honor, blessing and praise to self for loving, washing, and redeeming self, while many on earth make that self-exalting song their keynote because they do not know and do not want to know what it means to be meek and lowly in heart; the whole gospel is learning Christ's meekness and lowliness.
Well-doing is possible only through grace imparted by God, for human wisdom is foolishness with God, and no one can advance or gain success by own wisdom or own strength. Safety lies only in daily repentance unto eternal life, daily refusal to deviate from clean, pure principles, following where Christ leads, and entire surrender to Him. Saving power comes through God's grace, so human effort or personal ability cannot earn salvation or give grounds for boasting. Human abilities and earnest effort are useful, but accomplish nothing without God's work and grace. Being kept is by the power of God through faith, not from ourselves but as the gift of God. The presence and sustaining grace of Christ are the secret of all light and life, for Christ Himself walks from church to church, congregation to congregation, and soul to soul with unwearied vigilance, keeping His people even when human shepherds sleep or are occupied with small matters.
Salvation is provided through Christ's grace, and those who accept Christ's virtues and rely on the merits of His life are precious to God, while sincere, uncorrupted faith is evidence of trust in Him as the promised Messiah. True religion is to depend entirely upon Christ's righteousness and not upon works of merit, and long ignorance of this leaves people ignorant of what constitutes true religion and is cause for regret and sorrow when the enlightenment comes. No good work or creature merit can earn salvation, justify a person, or put God under obligation to give favor; salvation and justification are wholly gifts of grace, received by believing in Jesus. Even giving possessions to God cannot merit His favor, since those possessions are already His. Salvation does not rest on human works or righteousness, for even all our own righteous deeds are unstable and cannot support us; it rests on God's mercy and love. Christ's blood alone atones for transgression, and His righteousness is received through living faith, depending on Him and abiding in Him, and this continual dependence removes self-sufficiency, pride, and vanity.
Raised From Death to Life
Before grace reached them, people were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world and under the prince of the power of the air, living in the lusts of the flesh and of the mind as children of wrath by nature. That dead condition is the setting in which salvation is by grace through faith as the gift of God and not of human works, so no one can boast. The change required is an inward quickening of the heart, where those so dead are made alive together with Christ.
God, who is rich in mercy, loved them with great love even when they were dead in sins, quickened them together with Christ, raised them up and made them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. His purpose in this is that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward them through Christ Jesus. Those thus raised are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand that they should walk in them, called away from the disloyalty of the world to build character in obedience as laborers together with God. That kindness received in salvation is to be shown to the world and brought into dealings with one another.
God has a purpose for each person, and these words show what people may become by striving to fulfil God's purpose for them. Gentiles who were once far from God, strangers to the covenant, without Christ and without hope, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Christ Himself is peace, breaking down the middle wall of partition to make of two one new man and to reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross. This grace that brings the far-off near also makes salvation entirely God's gift received through faith, not earned by works, with good works following as its result rather than its basis.
Those saved are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. They are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as chief cornerstone, fitly framed together growing into a holy temple in the Lord, an habitation of God through the Spirit. In that building every worker has a God-given place just as essential as any other, so there is no striving to be first and no looking to one another to know duty, but each looks to the Lord and all build together unitedly under Christ rather than separately in a spirit of self. Rooted and grounded in love in this habitation, with Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, believers are able to comprehend the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of God which passes knowledge, cleansed from moral impurity to ennoble and sanctify the whole nature as a temple for the Holy Spirit.
Good Works Follow Grace
Salvation is the gift of God received through faith by grace, not earned by human works, so no one has grounds to boast of having achieved or procured it. Those who were dead in sin are made alive together with Christ by God's rich mercy and great love, raised up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come He may show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward them through Jesus Christ. Those thus saved are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, and this does not exclude good works but shows them to be the purpose and fruit of the new life rather than its cause or basis. Through Christ true believers are built together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as the chief cornerstone into a holy temple in the Lord, no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints of the household of God, an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Human boasting and self-exaltation reveal weakness, and a person's fruit can expose a wrong estimate of ability. The change in a sinner's life and the good works that follow come through Christ and not through human goodness, so no one should claim credit for them. Good works do not earn God's love or provide grounds for boasting; obedience instead reveals that love has been received as a free gift, springing from a will surrendered to God out of love rather than from effort to earn His love. Salvation cannot be bought by good works, yet good works are essential as evidence of genuine faith, a faith that works through love and purifies the soul.
No one is saved by good works and no one can depend upon good works for salvation, yet no one will be saved without them. Salvation requires a living dependence upon a living God, with Christ abiding in the heart by living faith, so that the person works Christ's works, speaks His words, and reveals His character. Faith must be shown by works through cooperating with the saving agencies, turning from sin to obedience and appreciating and using the helps God has provided in His Son as propitiation for sin, the light of truth, the way of life, with facilities, ordinances, privileges, and all divine requirements believed and obeyed. As Israel before freedom had to show faith by obedience in placing the token of blood on the houses, separating from the Egyptians, and remaining inside, so sincerity without heeding the Lord's directions does not save, and Christ alone can redeem from the penalty of transgression.
Good works do not earn justification but result from justification by faith as the fruit of genuine faith, and works are nevertheless tested in the final judgment where they distinguish the two classes. All good works depend on a power outside ourselves to purify and elevate the soul for the ordained works, with thoughts of self-exaltation to be subdued and cut away, while earthly attractions diverting the mind counterwork Christ's purpose. Christians should still use every precious moment to do good and crowd all possible good deeds into life as a store laid up in heaven, not to earn salvation but to imitate the life of Christ. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, with the Scriptures as the great agency of transformation and sanctification through the truth, so the true Christian is born of God and his works testify of it.
The gift of Jesus brings abundant grace, and by faith in Him people receive forgiveness and His righteousness, leading to a changed life of service and growth as response to God's gifts and not as grounds for boasting. The kindness shown in salvation is to be shown to the world and brought into dealings with one another by those called away from worldly disloyalty to build character in obedience as laborers together with God. The cross of Calvary is the great center where by sacrifice reconciliation for iniquity and everlasting righteousness were brought in, and that deliverance becomes effectual for those who walk separated from the world, endure to the end, and hold confidence firm unto the end.
Christ Alone Gives Salvation
There are only two kinds of religion: those men have invented in which man saves himself by ceremonies and good works, and the one religion revealed in the Bible in which man looks for salvation solely to the free grace of God. The mediation of saints, good works, the ceremonies of the church, confession, and penance are all powerless to atone for sin or reconcile the soul with God before a holy and just Judge, leaving the sinner without an intercessor and with nothing but eternal despair. Salvation and peace and forgiveness come only through the merits of Jesus, whose sacrifice appeases wrath, whose blood washes away impurity, whose cross bears the curse, and whose death makes atonement, so all other merits save those of Jesus are to be held in abomination.
Sin is offensive, and no man by his own works can lessen its guilt or evade its punishment. Humiliation, penance, and purchased pardon are vain for securing salvation, and the grace of Christ cannot be purchased but is a free gift. Salvation comes only by repentance toward God and faith in Christ, by looking away from self in faith to a crucified Redeemer and believing in Him, which gives peace and joy. God's grace cannot be won by long wearisome striving, rigorous self-denial, reproach, humiliation, prayers, fasts, almsdeeds, or self-abnegation, but is without money and without price. Strict and self-denying living still continues, not as the ground of faith and holiness but as the result and fruit of them, with the grace of God in Christ as the foundation of hope manifested in obedience through faith in the atoning blood joined to the Spirit's renewing power bringing forth a life conformed to Christ, a glorious gospel of free grace to be spread everywhere to all willing to hear.
Pardon of sin and remission of its penalty were never committed to the pope or to any other man, and cannot be bought or earned by works. The whole traffic in indulgences to extort money by playing upon superstition is a farce and lying pretense, a device of Satan to destroy the souls of all who trust in it. The gospel of Christ is the most valuable treasure of the church, and the grace of God revealed in it is freely bestowed upon all who seek it by repentance and faith. No human achievement or personal quality — birth, reputation, wealth, talents, virtue, piety, philanthropy, or standing in the church — can earn salvation, give ground to boast, or unite a person to Christ. Union with Christ requires recognizing one's sinfulness and helplessness, believing in Christ and not merely knowing about Him, and relying wholly on His saving grace, for any good in a person comes from the Saviour's mercy.
Trusting in one's own good works to earn heaven is self-reliance and not reliance on Christ, for sinners are to depend on the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour. Everlasting life is not found by human wisdom nor gained by human effort, for philosophers, doctors, and writers failed, but God accomplished salvation by raising the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead to destroy death, expiate and extirpate sin, and shut the gates of hell. Christ has vanquished, and sinners are saved by His work and not their own, ransomed and given peace because He alone took away sin. True faith is manifested by a holy life ordered to be acceptable to God, with those whom God has saved using riches to supply the poor and using service and labor to benefit others, since labor useful to self alone makes profession of service to God a lie, and Christ as Redeemer stands above popes, legates, emperors, and kings.
No one can be saved by morality, personal goodness, sincerity, or outward right conduct, even a tolerably moral life free from criminal action. Every sinner is utterly ruined and lost and must openly acknowledge Jesus as the only hope, coming with repentance, relying wholly on the merits of His blood as all-sufficient, and receiving from Christ alone a new nature and new purpose. Human works and merits do not earn God's favor or give ground to boast, for salvation depends on the atonement made through the crucified and risen Saviour and not on people's own goodness. Humanity stands condemned under the broken law with no way to pay its debt, but Christ gave His life for sinners and freely offers pardon on the basis of His mercy and redemption, so those who have freely received forgiveness should show compassion and love to others and give freely.
A man's best endeavors to serve God are no sufficient ground of hope for eternal life, for to rest hope on them leaves nothing else to trust but self. That darkness hides the atonement, robs Christ of His glory, and turns the mind from the only hope of salvation, the blood of the crucified Redeemer. No acts of penance, adoration of saints, worship at altars, gifts at shrines, or zeal for the church can banish conviction of sin or bring peace of soul. Salvation comes through the cross of Christ alone, which alone opens the gates of heaven and shuts the gates of hell, in the unspeakable exchange in which the Sinless, the Blessing, the Life, and the Glory are condemned, bear the curse, die, and are whelmed in darkness, that the guilty, the cursed, the dead, and the shamed may go free, live, be blessed, and be clothed with glory. The glory of salvation belongs solely to God as righteousness justifying to eternal life given by faith by grace alone, yet the duty of obedience still belongs to man, for members of Christ's church and body partake of the divine nature and should live purely, chastely, and holily and count worldly glory contemptible, with this truth joyfully accepted turning them from bondage of tradition to liberty of God's sons.
People are justified by God's grace through faith and not by works, through the imputation of Christ's righteousness, and salvation is God's gift through Jesus Christ, so no one can boast. God's favor is not obtained through works, as Luther proved who tried to win it by his own efforts but found peace when he trusted instead in Christ's merits and blood. God's free grace, that the death of Christ is the sinner's only ransom, is of infinitely greater worth than the theories of schoolmen and philosophers, like the first ray of light that precedes the dawn. Making people their own saviors denies the need for the atonement and places trust in human power, which is worthless without God, so no one can claim credit for saving self.
Good works cannot make an unclean sinner righteous or cleanse the soul and so cannot be ground for boasting, for even people with great light and some good works remain unclean if they refuse God's way of salvation. A person becomes holy and acceptable to God only when Christ's grace cleanses the heart, received through faith and expressed in obedience to truth. Righteousness springing from self alone and founded on self is pharisaical and false and cannot save. Trusting in own good and meritorious works to buy heaven, including rigorous self-imposed fasting and prayer and other religious acts carried to injury of health, is self-deception God has not required and has nothing to do with. Every sinner must rely alone upon the merits and blood of the crucified and risen Saviour, and Christ's righteousness received by faith is true godliness giving health to the body and strength to the soul.
Salvation is a free gift that cannot be purchased and must be received by believing in the merits of the blood of Christ and clinging to Jesus as Saviour, with rebellion against God's plans arising from unwillingness to accept that it is free. It must be accepted with a sense of inability to save self by personal righteousness, because human righteousness and human standards of goodness are pitiful and no better than any poor sinner's. Each person must believe for self, accept the doctrine the mind is convinced of, receive every ray of light Heaven gives, and not make what others accept or reject the criterion. When from the heart with empty hand clinging only to the cross, a person has learned the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
History Confirms Free Grace
Salvation through faith in Christ is a distinctive doctrine of Protestantism set against papal dogmas, appealing to reason to arouse people from passive submission. Wycliffe taught it, and his preachers circulated it together with the Bible and the Reformer's writings until nearly half the people of England accepted the new faith. When the Bible existed only in the ancient languages, men of learning studied it and found there the great truth of God's free grace. They spread knowledge of it in their teachings and led others to turn to the Living Oracles, and this prepared the way for Wycliffe's future work as a Reformer.
Pardon for sin cannot be gained by afflicting the body for the sin of the soul, and salvation cannot come from trusting in good works. Under the guidance of pope and priests, looking to self and dwelling on the sinful condition as exposed to the wrath of God, while afflicting soul and body to earn pardon, brings no relief and binds conscientious souls. Abandoning friends and kindred for convent cells, repeated fasts and cruel scourgings, midnight vigils, prostration for weary hours upon cold damp stones, long pilgrimages, humiliating penance and fearful torture all vainly seek peace of conscience. Oppressed with a sense of sin and haunted with fear of God's avenging wrath, those who follow this way suffer on until exhausted nature gives way and they sink into the tomb without one ray of light or hope.
In Bohemia before the days of Huss salvation by faith in the crucified Saviour was taught openly against corruption in the church and profligacy of the people. That teaching excited widespread interest and roused the fears of the hierarchy. Its disciples were therefore persecuted, driven to worship in forests and mountains, hunted, burned and put to death, yet while yielding up their lives they looked forward to the triumph of their cause.
Living Without Any Boasting
Boasting and bravado are excluded from the Christian life, for salvation is God's gift received through faith and not earned by human works, so no one has grounds to boast. Human boasting and self-exaltation reveal weakness, and a person's fruit can expose a wrong estimate of ability. The change in a sinner's life and the good works that follow come through Christ and not human goodness, so no one should claim credit for them.
Salvation by grace through faith as God's gift leaves no ground for seeking faults in others to claim superiority or for self-exaltation, and calls for genuine conversion. Good works are the outcome of being created in Christ and not the basis for salvation, for God prepared them beforehand for believers to live in. Thoughts of self-exaltation must be subdued and cut away from religious experience by those who seek the Lord while He may be found, forsake wicked ways and thoughts, and return to receive abundant pardon. Such are quickened from death in trespasses and sins, raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ to show the exceeding riches of grace. All good works depend on a power outside ourselves, while earthly attractions diverting the mind counterwork Christ's purpose of purifying and elevating the soul for the ordained works.
No one should strive to be first or look to one another to know duty, but each must look to the Lord for what he himself must do in service for God. Believers are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works ordained beforehand to be walked in, not from selves and not from works so no one can boast for position or credit. The spirit of self leaves no room for others, but all must build together unitedly and not separately under Jesus Christ as chief cornerstone, fitly framed together growing into a holy temple in the Lord as fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God built on the apostles and prophets. Every worker has a God-given place and work just as essential as any other, with brethren and sisters having an equal share, and if any work is neglected a complete habitation of God through the Spirit will not be built. The verse is an instructive lesson for workers not in harmony, calling them from envy, strife and boasting to lowliness, since all were dead in sins but are quickened together with Christ by rich mercy and great love, raised to sit in heavenly places, created as His workmanship unto ordained good works. Once Gentiles without Christ and without hope but now made nigh by Christ's blood, with Christ as peace breaking down the middle wall of partition to make of two one new man and reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, believers are no more strangers but fellow citizens built upon apostles and prophets with Christ as chief cornerstone into a holy temple for God's habitation through the Spirit.
These words need close study by those in charge of institutions, who must change in heart and character. They must yoke with Christ to learn meekness and lowliness, open the heart to the Saviour's love so it flows in pure rich currents of tenderness, courtesy and kindly deeds, speedily unlock the heart for Christ the light and life of men to take possession, seek reformation in soul and determination to obey His injunctions, or they will lose the attributes He came to give. The power to work comes from God, for believers quickened together with Christ when dead in sins by rich mercy and great love and raised to sit in heavenly places are His workmanship created unto ordained good works. God weighs characters, actions, motives, purposes, thoughts, paths and spirits, reading every motive, purpose and thought of the heart. What is needed is not increase of light but surrender of the soul to God, that by the power of His grace the light given becomes a living principle of action. Those who turn aside through self-confidence and whose deeds hedge up the work of salvation are weighed in the balances and found wanting.
Even a splendid temple is worthless if the heart is not right, for outward religious works or surroundings cannot take the place of a sound spiritual condition. Moral worth, respectable position, and keeping the Sabbath from childhood do not save. Those trusting in such good works while not bearing Christ's cross are still lost without Christ and must be shaken from that trust until they feel their lost condition and turn fully to Christ. Of ourselves there is nothing of which to boast, for every ability, every grace, every good thought and every proper action is received and makes us debtors to Christ. This means lowliness and humility at the foot of the cross, with words and acts reaching out to those counted hopeless to win them and not drive them farther away. People have no grounds for boasting before God, and the church must walk humbly recognizing its failures and its failure to value privileges and opportunities. Harsh unchristlike conduct is no cause for pride, for believers need to become complete in Christ.
Grace is given to those in whom Christ dwells in the heart by faith as they contemplate, behold and cherish Him as best and honored Friend whom they would not grieve or offend, given to comfort the depressed and doubting. Faith must not stagger when the hellish shadow of Satan is cast athwart the pathway to obstruct faith and eclipse light from Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, but must cleave through that shadow resting not in feeling but in truth. Those rooted and grounded in love are built upon apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone, made a habitation of God through the Spirit, able to comprehend breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of God which passes knowledge, with the Saviour dwelling in the heart cleansed from moral impurity to ennoble and sanctify the whole nature as a temple for the Holy Spirit. Christian mothers as God's agents must constantly teach in the home that children are saved by grace alone through faith as God's gift, to Christianize the family. They must exemplify Bible religion showing how its influence controls everyday duties and pleasures, teaching what Christ is to them with His love, goodness and mercy revealed in the great plan of redemption, to aid children in building symmetrical character and to make a hallowed sacred impress on the heart.
No one must think everything depends on human ability, for all need increased faith, since salvation is by God's power through faith and not of selves but God's gift. Taking Christ as Priest and Advocate to represent fallen humanity to the Father and to receive and pardon transgressions, and taking Him as King by enlisting in His service, seeking to know and do His will, and looking to and believing on Christ Jesus in all His completeness, makes one His follower and a Christian indeed. Such follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes, belonging to His kingdom as His subjects with Him as King. Spiritual life must be a living active principle through communion with the living God, applicable to those associated together in work who are entreated to read and study the whole chapter. Heaven's blessings are received not because of human worthiness but because of Christ's worthiness, through acceptance by faith of God's abounding grace. This requires moving steadily forward in God's work with unselfishness and humble dependence, committing present and future to wise providence and holding the beginning of confidence firm unto the end. Works and joyful feelings cannot serve as proof that a person is chosen, for the elect are chosen through Christ and acceptance with God comes through faith and grace, not merit or works.
Salvation is by grace through faith, not from human selves and not from works, but the gift of God, so no one can boast of achieving or procuring it. No good work, merit, righteousness, or human quality can earn salvation, justify a person, or put God under obligation, for even all human righteous deeds are unstable and human working cannot make a single virtue in self. There are only two kinds of religion, those men have invented in which man saves himself by ceremonies and good works, and the one religion of the Bible in which man looks solely to the free grace of God in Christ whose blood alone atones. Those saved are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, so good works are the purpose and fruit of the new life and its evidence, not its cause or basis. Boasting and self-exaltation are therefore excluded from the Christian life, for every ability and good is received and makes us debtors to Christ, leaving lowliness at the cross instead of claims to superiority.
Salvation Is God's Gift
Salvation is by grace through faith, not from human selves and not from works, but the gift of God, so no one can boast of having achieved or procured it. Those who were dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air and living in the lusts of the flesh and mind as children of wrath by nature, were made alive together with Christ because of God's rich mercy and great love. They were raised up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come God might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward them through Jesus Christ. Those saved are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, so good works are the purpose and fruit of the new life rather than its cause or basis. Through Christ true believers are built together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as chief cornerstone into a holy temple in the Lord, no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints of the household of God, an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Grace is God's favor shown to undeserving human beings, which could only be known after man fell by disobedience under condemnation of the law. Sinless angels who obey all His commands and have never sinned do not receive it and know nothing of it because they have never needed it. Sinners did not seek grace, but grace was sent in search of them. God rejoices to bestow it on everyone who hungers for it, not because they are worthy but because they are utterly unworthy, and their need is the qualification that gives assurance of receiving the gift.
There is no condition for the sinner whom God is calling and drawing by the invitation of Christ except to simply come and view Christ lifted up on the cross of Calvary. The condition after coming is that by living faith the sinner lays hold wholly and entirely upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour, looking to the righteousness of Christ as the only thing that can cleanse from sins and transgressions. Human working to the very best ability cannot make a single virtue in self; it is the righteousness of Christ alone that does it. When clothed with the righteousness of Christ, power and strength are imparted, Christ works with and by the believer to work the works of righteousness, so the believer will not want to sin, and though mistakes and errors may still be made, the sins that caused the suffering of the Son of God as transgressor of the law of God will be hated.
The blessings of heaven are received not because people are worthy or because of their works, but because of the worthiness of Christ, through acceptance by faith in Him of God's abounding grace. Entrance into heaven is not a reward earned by merit or works but God's gift, leaving no ground for human boasting. Salvation is received through faith in Christ, and faith rests on God's Word and on experience gained in accordance with it. This requires moving steadily forward in doing God's work with unselfishness and humble dependence on Him, committing present and future to His wise providence and holding the beginning of confidence firm unto the end.
The eternal weight of glory just ahead was earned by Jesus and is a free gift, not given for any righteousness and goodness of one's own. The reward of the faithful will be theirs at last, and the few probationary hours left are to be spent walking humbly with God and doing faithfully the work He has committed. God's blessings are not earned by any goodness in us, so there is no ground to claim the glory or credit for them; they come from God's mercy and loving-kindness.
Human reason, inventions, learning, and effort contribute nothing to earning salvation, and the gospel that saves is the power of God and the wisdom of God revealing divinity in Christ. The Word containing this truth is to be respected and obeyed as the voice of God to men, the source of all wisdom, all truth, all higher education and strength, made the study and teacher and guide above all human books and productions. It is to be searched diligently as food eaten and digested, and obeyed because it is the wisdom of God, making the one who studies and obeys it wise unto salvation and meeting the wants of the soul. The promise stands joined to it that in the ages to come God will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness through Jesus Christ, an unfolding eternal history of heights and depths, and to the life created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained to walk in.
There is not a thread of human legality in the salvation of the soul that has any value or gives any ground for boasting, for the righteousness of Christ must be accepted by all as a free gift because all are undeserving and it cannot be bought. Salvation is by grace, received through a heart melted and subdued by the love of Christ and offered as a willing offering, and keeping the heart in the love of God keeps the world out of the heart. That life is a building up in most holy faith under Christ as the Author and Finisher of faith, with steady continual progressing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ until reaching the full stature of spiritual growth in Christ Jesus. No human agent can claim credit for salvation or for the work God accomplishes, for the sinner is redeemed by the blood of Christ, whose sacrifice makes return to obedience possible. Human messengers point people to Christ and then step aside so that God alone receives glory.
All people are helpless and equally indebted to God; Christ's grace saves them, and what is good in anyone's character comes through faith in Jesus and acceptance of His sacrifice. No person can save or regenerate self, for only God can subdue the pride of the human heart. Justification by faith is God's work of laying human glory in the dust and doing for people what they have no power to do for themselves, and regeneration reveals to people their real nature that in themselves they are nothing and worthless. When people see their own nothingness they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, to praise and exalt God all day long, and by beholding Him to be changed into the same image. In heaven no song will give glory and honor, blessing and praise to self for loving, washing, and redeeming self, while many on earth make that self-exalting song their keynote because they do not know and do not want to know what it means to be meek and lowly in heart; the whole gospel is learning Christ's meekness and lowliness.
Well-doing is possible only through grace imparted by God, for human wisdom is foolishness with God, and no one can advance or gain success by own wisdom or own strength. Safety lies only in daily repentance unto eternal life, daily refusal to deviate from clean, pure principles, following where Christ leads, and entire surrender to Him. Saving power comes through God's grace, so human effort or personal ability cannot earn salvation or give grounds for boasting. Human abilities and earnest effort are useful, but accomplish nothing without God's work and grace. Being kept is by the power of God through faith, not from ourselves but as the gift of God. The presence and sustaining grace of Christ are the secret of all light and life, for Christ Himself walks from church to church, congregation to congregation, and soul to soul with unwearied vigilance, keeping His people even when human shepherds sleep or are occupied with small matters.
Salvation is provided through Christ's grace, and those who accept Christ's virtues and rely on the merits of His life are precious to God, while sincere, uncorrupted faith is evidence of trust in Him as the promised Messiah. True religion is to depend entirely upon Christ's righteousness and not upon works of merit, and long ignorance of this leaves people ignorant of what constitutes true religion and is cause for regret and sorrow when the enlightenment comes. No good work or creature merit can earn salvation, justify a person, or put God under obligation to give favor; salvation and justification are wholly gifts of grace, received by believing in Jesus. Even giving possessions to God cannot merit His favor, since those possessions are already His. Salvation does not rest on human works or righteousness, for even all our own righteous deeds are unstable and cannot support us; it rests on God's mercy and love. Christ's blood alone atones for transgression, and His righteousness is received through living faith, depending on Him and abiding in Him, and this continual dependence removes self-sufficiency, pride, and vanity.
Raised From Death to Life
Before grace reached them, people were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world and under the prince of the power of the air, living in the lusts of the flesh and of the mind as children of wrath by nature. That dead condition is the setting in which salvation is by grace through faith as the gift of God and not of human works, so no one can boast. The change required is an inward quickening of the heart, where those so dead are made alive together with Christ.
God, who is rich in mercy, loved them with great love even when they were dead in sins, quickened them together with Christ, raised them up and made them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. His purpose in this is that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward them through Christ Jesus. Those thus raised are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand that they should walk in them, called away from the disloyalty of the world to build character in obedience as laborers together with God. That kindness received in salvation is to be shown to the world and brought into dealings with one another.
God has a purpose for each person, and these words show what people may become by striving to fulfil God's purpose for them. Gentiles who were once far from God, strangers to the covenant, without Christ and without hope, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Christ Himself is peace, breaking down the middle wall of partition to make of two one new man and to reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross. This grace that brings the far-off near also makes salvation entirely God's gift received through faith, not earned by works, with good works following as its result rather than its basis.
Those saved are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. They are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as chief cornerstone, fitly framed together growing into a holy temple in the Lord, an habitation of God through the Spirit. In that building every worker has a God-given place just as essential as any other, so there is no striving to be first and no looking to one another to know duty, but each looks to the Lord and all build together unitedly under Christ rather than separately in a spirit of self. Rooted and grounded in love in this habitation, with Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, believers are able to comprehend the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of God which passes knowledge, cleansed from moral impurity to ennoble and sanctify the whole nature as a temple for the Holy Spirit.
Good Works Follow Grace
Salvation is the gift of God received through faith by grace, not earned by human works, so no one has grounds to boast of having achieved or procured it. Those who were dead in sin are made alive together with Christ by God's rich mercy and great love, raised up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come He may show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward them through Jesus Christ. Those thus saved are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God ordained beforehand for them to walk in, and this does not exclude good works but shows them to be the purpose and fruit of the new life rather than its cause or basis. Through Christ true believers are built together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as the chief cornerstone into a holy temple in the Lord, no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints of the household of God, an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Human boasting and self-exaltation reveal weakness, and a person's fruit can expose a wrong estimate of ability. The change in a sinner's life and the good works that follow come through Christ and not through human goodness, so no one should claim credit for them. Good works do not earn God's love or provide grounds for boasting; obedience instead reveals that love has been received as a free gift, springing from a will surrendered to God out of love rather than from effort to earn His love. Salvation cannot be bought by good works, yet good works are essential as evidence of genuine faith, a faith that works through love and purifies the soul.
No one is saved by good works and no one can depend upon good works for salvation, yet no one will be saved without them. Salvation requires a living dependence upon a living God, with Christ abiding in the heart by living faith, so that the person works Christ's works, speaks His words, and reveals His character. Faith must be shown by works through cooperating with the saving agencies, turning from sin to obedience and appreciating and using the helps God has provided in His Son as propitiation for sin, the light of truth, the way of life, with facilities, ordinances, privileges, and all divine requirements believed and obeyed. As Israel before freedom had to show faith by obedience in placing the token of blood on the houses, separating from the Egyptians, and remaining inside, so sincerity without heeding the Lord's directions does not save, and Christ alone can redeem from the penalty of transgression.
Good works do not earn justification but result from justification by faith as the fruit of genuine faith, and works are nevertheless tested in the final judgment where they distinguish the two classes. All good works depend on a power outside ourselves to purify and elevate the soul for the ordained works, with thoughts of self-exaltation to be subdued and cut away, while earthly attractions diverting the mind counterwork Christ's purpose. Christians should still use every precious moment to do good and crowd all possible good deeds into life as a store laid up in heaven, not to earn salvation but to imitate the life of Christ. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, with the Scriptures as the great agency of transformation and sanctification through the truth, so the true Christian is born of God and his works testify of it.
The gift of Jesus brings abundant grace, and by faith in Him people receive forgiveness and His righteousness, leading to a changed life of service and growth as response to God's gifts and not as grounds for boasting. The kindness shown in salvation is to be shown to the world and brought into dealings with one another by those called away from worldly disloyalty to build character in obedience as laborers together with God. The cross of Calvary is the great center where by sacrifice reconciliation for iniquity and everlasting righteousness were brought in, and that deliverance becomes effectual for those who walk separated from the world, endure to the end, and hold confidence firm unto the end.
Christ Alone Gives Salvation
There are only two kinds of religion: those men have invented in which man saves himself by ceremonies and good works, and the one religion revealed in the Bible in which man looks for salvation solely to the free grace of God. The mediation of saints, good works, the ceremonies of the church, confession, and penance are all powerless to atone for sin or reconcile the soul with God before a holy and just Judge, leaving the sinner without an intercessor and with nothing but eternal despair. Salvation and peace and forgiveness come only through the merits of Jesus, whose sacrifice appeases wrath, whose blood washes away impurity, whose cross bears the curse, and whose death makes atonement, so all other merits save those of Jesus are to be held in abomination.
Sin is offensive, and no man by his own works can lessen its guilt or evade its punishment. Humiliation, penance, and purchased pardon are vain for securing salvation, and the grace of Christ cannot be purchased but is a free gift. Salvation comes only by repentance toward God and faith in Christ, by looking away from self in faith to a crucified Redeemer and believing in Him, which gives peace and joy. God's grace cannot be won by long wearisome striving, rigorous self-denial, reproach, humiliation, prayers, fasts, almsdeeds, or self-abnegation, but is without money and without price. Strict and self-denying living still continues, not as the ground of faith and holiness but as the result and fruit of them, with the grace of God in Christ as the foundation of hope manifested in obedience through faith in the atoning blood joined to the Spirit's renewing power bringing forth a life conformed to Christ, a glorious gospel of free grace to be spread everywhere to all willing to hear.
Pardon of sin and remission of its penalty were never committed to the pope or to any other man, and cannot be bought or earned by works. The whole traffic in indulgences to extort money by playing upon superstition is a farce and lying pretense, a device of Satan to destroy the souls of all who trust in it. The gospel of Christ is the most valuable treasure of the church, and the grace of God revealed in it is freely bestowed upon all who seek it by repentance and faith. No human achievement or personal quality — birth, reputation, wealth, talents, virtue, piety, philanthropy, or standing in the church — can earn salvation, give ground to boast, or unite a person to Christ. Union with Christ requires recognizing one's sinfulness and helplessness, believing in Christ and not merely knowing about Him, and relying wholly on His saving grace, for any good in a person comes from the Saviour's mercy.
Trusting in one's own good works to earn heaven is self-reliance and not reliance on Christ, for sinners are to depend on the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour. Everlasting life is not found by human wisdom nor gained by human effort, for philosophers, doctors, and writers failed, but God accomplished salvation by raising the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead to destroy death, expiate and extirpate sin, and shut the gates of hell. Christ has vanquished, and sinners are saved by His work and not their own, ransomed and given peace because He alone took away sin. True faith is manifested by a holy life ordered to be acceptable to God, with those whom God has saved using riches to supply the poor and using service and labor to benefit others, since labor useful to self alone makes profession of service to God a lie, and Christ as Redeemer stands above popes, legates, emperors, and kings.
No one can be saved by morality, personal goodness, sincerity, or outward right conduct, even a tolerably moral life free from criminal action. Every sinner is utterly ruined and lost and must openly acknowledge Jesus as the only hope, coming with repentance, relying wholly on the merits of His blood as all-sufficient, and receiving from Christ alone a new nature and new purpose. Human works and merits do not earn God's favor or give ground to boast, for salvation depends on the atonement made through the crucified and risen Saviour and not on people's own goodness. Humanity stands condemned under the broken law with no way to pay its debt, but Christ gave His life for sinners and freely offers pardon on the basis of His mercy and redemption, so those who have freely received forgiveness should show compassion and love to others and give freely.
A man's best endeavors to serve God are no sufficient ground of hope for eternal life, for to rest hope on them leaves nothing else to trust but self. That darkness hides the atonement, robs Christ of His glory, and turns the mind from the only hope of salvation, the blood of the crucified Redeemer. No acts of penance, adoration of saints, worship at altars, gifts at shrines, or zeal for the church can banish conviction of sin or bring peace of soul. Salvation comes through the cross of Christ alone, which alone opens the gates of heaven and shuts the gates of hell, in the unspeakable exchange in which the Sinless, the Blessing, the Life, and the Glory are condemned, bear the curse, die, and are whelmed in darkness, that the guilty, the cursed, the dead, and the shamed may go free, live, be blessed, and be clothed with glory. The glory of salvation belongs solely to God as righteousness justifying to eternal life given by faith by grace alone, yet the duty of obedience still belongs to man, for members of Christ's church and body partake of the divine nature and should live purely, chastely, and holily and count worldly glory contemptible, with this truth joyfully accepted turning them from bondage of tradition to liberty of God's sons.
People are justified by God's grace through faith and not by works, through the imputation of Christ's righteousness, and salvation is God's gift through Jesus Christ, so no one can boast. God's favor is not obtained through works, as Luther proved who tried to win it by his own efforts but found peace when he trusted instead in Christ's merits and blood. God's free grace, that the death of Christ is the sinner's only ransom, is of infinitely greater worth than the theories of schoolmen and philosophers, like the first ray of light that precedes the dawn. Making people their own saviors denies the need for the atonement and places trust in human power, which is worthless without God, so no one can claim credit for saving self.
Good works cannot make an unclean sinner righteous or cleanse the soul and so cannot be ground for boasting, for even people with great light and some good works remain unclean if they refuse God's way of salvation. A person becomes holy and acceptable to God only when Christ's grace cleanses the heart, received through faith and expressed in obedience to truth. Righteousness springing from self alone and founded on self is pharisaical and false and cannot save. Trusting in own good and meritorious works to buy heaven, including rigorous self-imposed fasting and prayer and other religious acts carried to injury of health, is self-deception God has not required and has nothing to do with. Every sinner must rely alone upon the merits and blood of the crucified and risen Saviour, and Christ's righteousness received by faith is true godliness giving health to the body and strength to the soul.
Salvation is a free gift that cannot be purchased and must be received by believing in the merits of the blood of Christ and clinging to Jesus as Saviour, with rebellion against God's plans arising from unwillingness to accept that it is free. It must be accepted with a sense of inability to save self by personal righteousness, because human righteousness and human standards of goodness are pitiful and no better than any poor sinner's. Each person must believe for self, accept the doctrine the mind is convinced of, receive every ray of light Heaven gives, and not make what others accept or reject the criterion. When from the heart with empty hand clinging only to the cross, a person has learned the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
History Confirms Free Grace
Salvation through faith in Christ is a distinctive doctrine of Protestantism set against papal dogmas, appealing to reason to arouse people from passive submission. Wycliffe taught it, and his preachers circulated it together with the Bible and the Reformer's writings until nearly half the people of England accepted the new faith. When the Bible existed only in the ancient languages, men of learning studied it and found there the great truth of God's free grace. They spread knowledge of it in their teachings and led others to turn to the Living Oracles, and this prepared the way for Wycliffe's future work as a Reformer.
Pardon for sin cannot be gained by afflicting the body for the sin of the soul, and salvation cannot come from trusting in good works. Under the guidance of pope and priests, looking to self and dwelling on the sinful condition as exposed to the wrath of God, while afflicting soul and body to earn pardon, brings no relief and binds conscientious souls. Abandoning friends and kindred for convent cells, repeated fasts and cruel scourgings, midnight vigils, prostration for weary hours upon cold damp stones, long pilgrimages, humiliating penance and fearful torture all vainly seek peace of conscience. Oppressed with a sense of sin and haunted with fear of God's avenging wrath, those who follow this way suffer on until exhausted nature gives way and they sink into the tomb without one ray of light or hope.
In Bohemia before the days of Huss salvation by faith in the crucified Saviour was taught openly against corruption in the church and profligacy of the people. That teaching excited widespread interest and roused the fears of the hierarchy. Its disciples were therefore persecuted, driven to worship in forests and mountains, hunted, burned and put to death, yet while yielding up their lives they looked forward to the triumph of their cause.
Living Without Any Boasting
Boasting and bravado are excluded from the Christian life, for salvation is God's gift received through faith and not earned by human works, so no one has grounds to boast. Human boasting and self-exaltation reveal weakness, and a person's fruit can expose a wrong estimate of ability. The change in a sinner's life and the good works that follow come through Christ and not human goodness, so no one should claim credit for them.
Salvation by grace through faith as God's gift leaves no ground for seeking faults in others to claim superiority or for self-exaltation, and calls for genuine conversion. Good works are the outcome of being created in Christ and not the basis for salvation, for God prepared them beforehand for believers to live in. Thoughts of self-exaltation must be subdued and cut away from religious experience by those who seek the Lord while He may be found, forsake wicked ways and thoughts, and return to receive abundant pardon. Such are quickened from death in trespasses and sins, raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ to show the exceeding riches of grace. All good works depend on a power outside ourselves, while earthly attractions diverting the mind counterwork Christ's purpose of purifying and elevating the soul for the ordained works.
No one should strive to be first or look to one another to know duty, but each must look to the Lord for what he himself must do in service for God. Believers are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works ordained beforehand to be walked in, not from selves and not from works so no one can boast for position or credit. The spirit of self leaves no room for others, but all must build together unitedly and not separately under Jesus Christ as chief cornerstone, fitly framed together growing into a holy temple in the Lord as fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God built on the apostles and prophets. Every worker has a God-given place and work just as essential as any other, with brethren and sisters having an equal share, and if any work is neglected a complete habitation of God through the Spirit will not be built. The verse is an instructive lesson for workers not in harmony, calling them from envy, strife and boasting to lowliness, since all were dead in sins but are quickened together with Christ by rich mercy and great love, raised to sit in heavenly places, created as His workmanship unto ordained good works. Once Gentiles without Christ and without hope but now made nigh by Christ's blood, with Christ as peace breaking down the middle wall of partition to make of two one new man and reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, believers are no more strangers but fellow citizens built upon apostles and prophets with Christ as chief cornerstone into a holy temple for God's habitation through the Spirit.
These words need close study by those in charge of institutions, who must change in heart and character. They must yoke with Christ to learn meekness and lowliness, open the heart to the Saviour's love so it flows in pure rich currents of tenderness, courtesy and kindly deeds, speedily unlock the heart for Christ the light and life of men to take possession, seek reformation in soul and determination to obey His injunctions, or they will lose the attributes He came to give. The power to work comes from God, for believers quickened together with Christ when dead in sins by rich mercy and great love and raised to sit in heavenly places are His workmanship created unto ordained good works. God weighs characters, actions, motives, purposes, thoughts, paths and spirits, reading every motive, purpose and thought of the heart. What is needed is not increase of light but surrender of the soul to God, that by the power of His grace the light given becomes a living principle of action. Those who turn aside through self-confidence and whose deeds hedge up the work of salvation are weighed in the balances and found wanting.
Even a splendid temple is worthless if the heart is not right, for outward religious works or surroundings cannot take the place of a sound spiritual condition. Moral worth, respectable position, and keeping the Sabbath from childhood do not save. Those trusting in such good works while not bearing Christ's cross are still lost without Christ and must be shaken from that trust until they feel their lost condition and turn fully to Christ. Of ourselves there is nothing of which to boast, for every ability, every grace, every good thought and every proper action is received and makes us debtors to Christ. This means lowliness and humility at the foot of the cross, with words and acts reaching out to those counted hopeless to win them and not drive them farther away. People have no grounds for boasting before God, and the church must walk humbly recognizing its failures and its failure to value privileges and opportunities. Harsh unchristlike conduct is no cause for pride, for believers need to become complete in Christ.
Grace is given to those in whom Christ dwells in the heart by faith as they contemplate, behold and cherish Him as best and honored Friend whom they would not grieve or offend, given to comfort the depressed and doubting. Faith must not stagger when the hellish shadow of Satan is cast athwart the pathway to obstruct faith and eclipse light from Jesus the Sun of Righteousness, but must cleave through that shadow resting not in feeling but in truth. Those rooted and grounded in love are built upon apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone, made a habitation of God through the Spirit, able to comprehend breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of God which passes knowledge, with the Saviour dwelling in the heart cleansed from moral impurity to ennoble and sanctify the whole nature as a temple for the Holy Spirit. Christian mothers as God's agents must constantly teach in the home that children are saved by grace alone through faith as God's gift, to Christianize the family. They must exemplify Bible religion showing how its influence controls everyday duties and pleasures, teaching what Christ is to them with His love, goodness and mercy revealed in the great plan of redemption, to aid children in building symmetrical character and to make a hallowed sacred impress on the heart.
No one must think everything depends on human ability, for all need increased faith, since salvation is by God's power through faith and not of selves but God's gift. Taking Christ as Priest and Advocate to represent fallen humanity to the Father and to receive and pardon transgressions, and taking Him as King by enlisting in His service, seeking to know and do His will, and looking to and believing on Christ Jesus in all His completeness, makes one His follower and a Christian indeed. Such follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes, belonging to His kingdom as His subjects with Him as King. Spiritual life must be a living active principle through communion with the living God, applicable to those associated together in work who are entreated to read and study the whole chapter. Heaven's blessings are received not because of human worthiness but because of Christ's worthiness, through acceptance by faith of God's abounding grace. This requires moving steadily forward in God's work with unselfishness and humble dependence, committing present and future to wise providence and holding the beginning of confidence firm unto the end. Works and joyful feelings cannot serve as proof that a person is chosen, for the elect are chosen through Christ and acceptance with God comes through faith and grace, not merit or works.