09/27/2022
The Vital Test: What Makes Us Christians.
By Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
“This is one of the most important doctrinal statements in the Bible. This statement tells us what makes us Christians. Here we are told how we become Christians. What, then, does Paul say?
1. We are Christians Entirely and Solely because of God’s Grace.
“For by grace are you saved through faith.” We are Christians entirely and solely because of the grace of God. Grace means unmerited, undeserved favor. Salvation is something that comes to us from God’s side. And it comes to us in spite of us! It is not God’s response to anything in us. We have no right at all to salvation. See the terrible description of mankind by nature in Ephesians 2:1-3: ‘children of wrath’, ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’
That is mankind by nature. Does such a creature deserve forgiveness? Does he or she deserve anything from God? Paul is teaching that mankind deserves retribution and judgment and hell. We are dead, without any life at all. The first thing that was necessary is that we should be given life. And that’s the very thing that God has done to you.
“But God . . . when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) (Eph. 2:4-5). People who are spiritually dead are made alive. How can it happen? Can a dead person raise himself? It’s impossible. Can a dead person have faith in Christ – make a decision for Christ? It’s impossible. We come to this inevitable conclusion that we are Christians at this moment only and entirely because of the grace of God.
2. The Fact that We are Christians Gives Us No Grounds whatsoever for Boasting (v. 9).
“Not of yourselves”; “lest anyone should boast”. Those are two very important statements. This must be the crucial test of our understanding of what makes us Christians. What is your idea of yourself as a Christian? What made you a Christian? How have you become a Christian? And according to the apostle Paul this is the vital test. Does your ground for being a Christian give you any reason to boast or be proud? If you can boast in anything that you have done, then you are not a Christian.”