To the Praise of the Glory of His Grace (Part 2)

Passage: Ephesians 1:6

“…to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”

We mentioned in closing last time that Paul says that He has done that both in the fact of gratuitous salvation, and in the method in which He deigned to provide that salvation.  God has shown both the fact of gratuitous salvation, and the method in which He deigned to provide that salvation.  In this, He has made His grace glorious and praiseworthy.

Many argue that salvation is gracious in that it is offered at all.  This is what Paul means when he proclaims that salvation is gratuitous, that it is free.  He means that it is freely offered.  They argue that it is not inconsistent to ask that men do something to embrace salvation, that a part of the burden be upon them for this reason.  It is not, they argue, works salvation to ask men to obey the command of God in and of themselves if that is what God has asked of them and if God has equipped them so to do.  We have seen ( and will see again at length as we study this passage all of the way through) that this is circular reasoning and it is merely a rationalization of a position that its proponents assume to be true and then set about using to prove their point. 

Is salvation offered freely?  Of course it is.  But that is not all that is gratuitous about it, not by a long shot.  I don’t know many who profess Christ who deny this aspect of gracious salvation.  That God offers salvation at all is certainly praiseworthy and we ought to offer thanksgiving for his great gift.  But the grace of God goes far further than this. 

God’s grace is seen, arguable to a far greater extent, in the manner in which He set about accomplishing His plan to save His people.  The details of His plan and the means by which He set about accomplishing those details is what truly makes his grace glorious and worthy of our praise.

Paul tells us that he set about doing it such a fashion that it was entirely divorced from the merit of the creatures he was redeeming.  We cannot truly say it was distinct from all human merit because it is based upon the merit of Christ, and He was fully human (as well as fully Divine).  However, with the understanding that the righteous merit of Christ is excepted, we can say that merit has no part in the salvation of God’s people.  The accomplishment of that salvation was entirely the work of God, from beginning in eternity past (election) through until the realization of the fullness of salvation in eternity future (adoption).  It is every whit a function of the mighty arm of God, and not at all, primarily and causatively, a function of the desire or the merit of the creature.

This is that which brings great glory to the grace of God.  It is this which turns the eyes and the hearts of His people to His character and to His power.  It is this which thrills the soul and gladdens the affections showing God to be all that he truly is!  How great a picture of God’s love, of His mercy, of His wisdom and His power does this draw for us?

We must also ask the question, from where does God get the greater glory?  Is it in this picture of a God Who has worked all things by His own hand, whose hand cannot be prevented from accomplish his purpose, or is it in the picture of a God who does so with the co-operation of man and whose plan and desire can be frustrated by the arm of man?  This is the key question for our consideration, for the answer, it seems to me, is obvious and filled with implications that cannot be escaped.  If it is so that God gets greater glory from the scheme of election and predestination that Paul presents here, then it is this we must acknowledge and that we must embrace as truth!