A Word About Works

Last week, I wrote a post about spiritual warfare in the context of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Battling the forces of the devil is inevitable given what the apostle teaches. By way of review, chapters 1 and 2 discuss the spiritual status of those saved by the Lord Jesus. Chapter 3 presents God’s plan to deliver the nations from captivity to the gods who oppressed them. Through the gospel, all people can enter into a relationship with God.

The second half of the letter emphasizes the practical outworking of these truths. Chapters 4 and 5 (spilling over into chapter 6) lay out how Christians are to conduct themselves in the world. Chapter 6 encourages believers to stand their ground when spiritual forces of evil seek to hinder the realization of the Lord’s plans.

We can take this outline and use it to make another observation. In the midst of teaching about who we are in Christ, Paul makes this comment:

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10

The Lord has blessed us; He’s forgiven our sins and made us right with Him. When people look at us, they see the handiwork of God. That’s not arrogant; it’s gospel truth!

The Greek word for “handiwork” is poiema, from which the English word “poem” derives. In the whole New Testament, it occurs only here and in one other verse.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–His eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” – Romans 1:20

In Romans, Paul talks about God creating a world that reveals who He is. In Ephesians, he talks about the Lord recreating us in Christ. 

As creation displays God’s character, so does our recreation. We are poems, elegant descriptions of the power and goodness of Jesus Christ.

According to Paul, we reveal ourselves as God’s handiwork by engaging in good works. They express our saved status in Christ.

But what good deeds should we do? Now that we belong to the Lord, how does He want us to occupy ourselves?

In general, nothing worth doing is off limits. Our Father delights in any action of ours that glorifies His Son and takes care of people.

But since we find this verse in a specific context, we can answer our question by paying attention to that setting. In the passage that follows verse 10 (vss. 11-22), Paul identifies the church as “one new humanity” (vs. 15), “citizens” (vs. 19), “members of His household” (vs. 19), a “building” (vs. 20), “a holy temple” (vs. 21), and “a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit” (vs. 22).

Out of these six labels, the first three refer to human beings. The remaining set alludes to houses. But each has a characteristic of holiness. We’re not merely a people; we’re the people of God. We’re more than an edifice; we’re His temple.

Combining these images gives us the idea of Christians as priests who themselves are the temple in which they serve.

And since the primary responsibility of priests is to offer sacrifices, we can conclude that these are the good works God arranged for us to perform.

What are the sacrifices the Lord wants us to present to Him?

To address this, let’s look at the second half of Ephesians. We’ve noticed that the epistle repeats major themes, so what in the latter chapters corresponds to sacrifices?

We could say that Paul emphasizes morality in chapters four, five, and the first part of six. That comes across as cold or austere, though; his advice is warmer and more vibrant than simple ethics. Paul encourages Christians to live out their God-given righteousness in the world that can and will tempt them to go off track. 

We believers owe it to be humble and helpful with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The second half of Ephesians has many references to the church community and family relationships. The sacrifices we offer have a social impact. How we treat others forms part of our worship of God. It expresses who we are in Christ.

And so we come full circle. Paul’s notion of sacrifice involves the spiritual and social dimensions of our lives. The good works we’re called to offer are practical, not theoretical. They’re demanding, but they’re powerful. They make a difference in the kingdom of God and in the world around us.

The New Testament develops these ideas in more detail, so we’ll look at the spiritual and social qualities of sacrifice  in the next two blog posts.

Stay tuned!