"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Last time in By Grace Through Faith — What Ephesians 2:8-9 Really Means, we dove into the good news of God’s grace and how it saves us, making us alive in Christ, raising us up, and seating us in the heavenly realms with Him. We learned that salvation, from start to finish, is God’s work, not ours. In this article, we will dive into Ephesians 2:10 to discover the purpose for which God saved us.
For We Are His Workmanship
Some translations describe believers as God’s handiwork (NIV), others as His masterpiece (NLT), and still others as His workmanship (ESV, NASB). Together, these descriptions evoke the imagery of God’s careful, personal attention to His creation. The Psalmist recognized this well when he said this about his Creator:
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).
And when the prophet Isaiah said of the Lord:
“You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).
Created in Christ Jesus for Good Works
Not only are we His workmanship, but we are also created in Christ Jesus for good works. When we first read this passage, it may seem that Paul is contradicting himself. Just two verses earlier, he emphasized that salvation is “not by works,” but now he is saying that believers are created to do good works. Paul is not contradicting himself; on the contrary, he is explaining how salvation and works are connected. You see, good works don’t cause salvation; they result from it. To put it another way, we are not saved by good works, but we are saved FOR them. But how?
The New Testament reveals that God did not create anything apart from Jesus (John 1:3), including both our physical and spiritual lives (Colossians 1:16). That means that when God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26-28), He did so through Jesus. But humanity lost God’s image when, instead of following its Creator, it chose a different path, corrupting the image of God in itself. But along came Jesus, beckoning humanity to return, to follow Him and His ways, instead of the ways of the world. Not only did He call us, but He also provided a way for us. He recreated us, restoring us in Christ Jesus.
Recreation in Christ Jesus
Earlier in this chapter, Paul informed us that, through Christ and His work on the cross, we are made alive, raised, and seated in Him (Ephesians 2:5-6). Now he says we are created in Christ. This is not just mere creation. This is a recreation. This is us being born again from above. This is us putting on a new self. Later on in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul explains it this way:
“put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Then, in his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). As an outworking of salvation, we are new creations, created in Christ Jesus for good works. But these good works, once again, do not originate from us; they are prepared for us by God in advance for us to walk in. But what are these good works that God has already prepared for us?
Which God Prepared Beforehand That We Should Walk in Them
Throughout the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, we are encouraged to walk in a way that pleases God. When biblical authors use “walk,” they sometimes are using it as a metaphor to denote “the whole manner of a man’s life and conduct.”¹ For example, in Genesis, God tells Abraham to “walk before Him, and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1), and in Exodus, Jethro encourages Moses to make the Israelites “know the way in which they must walk and what they must do” (Exodus 18:20). Also, throughout the Epistles, the Apostles Paul and John both use the word “walk” in this way.
For more on how Paul uses this in his letter to the Thessalonians, see The Thessalonians: Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk
What Does It Mean to Walk in Good Works?
Paul began Chapter 2 of Ephesians by describing the walk of unbelievers (Ephesians 2:1-3). Paul, later on in Ephesians 4-6, describes the characteristics of one who walks in good works. Urging the Ephesians to walk in a manner worthy of their calling (Ephesians 4:1), he tells them their manner and conduct should exhibit these characteristics, to name a few:
- humility
- patience
- love
- unity
- speaking the truth in love
- forgiveness
- kindness
- peace
Paul also tells them what their walk should not look like, expanding on his earlier description of the unbelievers’ walk, as “dead in trespass and sin, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:1-2). He exhorts believers to no longer walk in the “futility of their minds” with “darkened understanding, alienated from the life of God…due to the hardness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:17-18). He tells them they should put away sexual immorality, filthy and foolish talk, and covetousness (Ephesians 5:3-6). And finally, he encourages them to “Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8-9).
The Walk of A Believer
As you read and consider what your walk should look like, remember that on your own, through your own power, whether through willpower or human effort, you cannot produce the kind of good works that please God. It is only as God works through you, empowering you by His Spirit, that you are able to walk in good works He has prepared for you, walking by faith in His power”² for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
Good works originate from God’s work of salvation, which is initiated by Him and finished by Him. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved FOR them.
Conclusion — Saved FOR Good Works
Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that our salvation is more than just God’s forgiveness. God saved us for a purpose. Our purpose is not to strive for His favor, but through His power, to walk in the good works He prepared beforehand for us. Good works do not cause salvation; they result from it. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved FOR them. As new creations in Christ Jesus, recreated and restored through His work on the cross, we are called to walk in a manner that pleases Him.
But we must remember that these good works do not originate from us. On our own, through human effort and willpower, we cannot produce the kind of life that pleases God. It is only as God works through us, empowering us by His Spirit, that we are able to walk in the good works He has prepared for us.
The God who saved us by His grace is also the God who continues working in us for His good pleasure. Therefore, walk with Him. Depend on Him. And remember that salvation, from beginning to end, belongs to God.