"So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 2:7-10
The theme in these verses is that of God's workmanship, in the great enterprise of salvation. 'Saved' is the word that Paul uses to describe and sum up what he has said in 4-6, wonderful and glorious as these verses are. We need, of course, to remember that implicit in Paul's teaching here is the operation of the Spirit of God Who applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ - as the Shorter Catechism says – Q 30 'by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling'. The Catechism goes on, Q 31, to define 'effectual calling' as 'the work of God's Spirit whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ as He is freely offered to us in the gospel'. The
Catechism's statement will repay careful study as we read Paul's words here. The word 'saved', both in 8 and also earlier in 5, has the force of 'have been saved', the perfect tense not so much pointing back to the decision of faith by which we enter into the kingdom as to our present condition as the continuing result of that entrance. In other words, it is the state of being saved, rather than the point at which we were saved that Paul is stressing. And he is saying that our present experience, our present standing in newness of life is due to grace. But we are not to think of grace as a 'thing'. We are saved by God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Grace is an 'attitude' in the heart and mind of God that wills to save the sinner. James Denney's great definition says it all:
Grace is the love of God, spontaneous, beautiful, unearned,
at work in Christ for the salvation of sinners.
Sin leaves mankind like the traveller in the story of the Good Samaritan, robbed, stripped, wounded, and left for dead. Grace is the Good Samaritan, who comes to bind up our bleeding sin-wounds, and pour in oil and wine.