Ephesians 2:8-9 - What Does Saved by Grace Mean?

Once again we have the issue of God's grace, which is His unmerited and undeserved favor that we receive after repenting of our sin, and having faith in the redeeming sacrifice of Christ through which we have remission of our sins. Hence if we have need of God's grace then there also has to be a law and this is a crucial point that is missed by many.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Paul has an interesting way of explaining things that can be very confusing at times. What Paul is explaining is that we cannot gain entrance to the kingdom by keeping the law because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory if God. (Romans 3:23) Therefore, if we were relying on keeping the law to be saved, then we would have to keep it perfectly which we cannot do.

So when we sin, if we truly love the Lord, repentance should be an automatic response as well as asking Christ for His forgiveness. It is now that we need faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ that we are forgiven. There are many that doubt if they are forgiven and Satan who is the accuser of the brethren will trying to keep us feeling condemned and doubting. So faith is essential and without that faith we cannot please God. (Hebrews 11:6) And last comes something we do not deserve but receive anyway, which is God's grace being His unmerited and undeserved favour.

Thus we are saved by grace through faith in the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So when one unintentionally sins, you repent and confess our sin (1 John 1:9) and believe by faith that you are forgiven. It is only after doing these things that one can receive the grace of God, which is a free gift so that no man can boast.

So what does Paul mean exactly when he says lest any man should boast? Quite simply, he is saying you cannot boast of gaining entrance to the heavenly kingdom through being a good and righteous person that never sinned and kept the law perfectly. Every single one of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and so we all gain entrance into the kingdom in the same way, which is by grace through faith in the sacrifice of Christ. So it is not through our own righteousness that we are saved and gain entrance to the kingdom but through the righteousness of Christ who is the only one who kept the law perfectly.

So by grace through faith we are saved. It is grace on God's part and faith on man's part and not of ourselves. That is, our salvation is not effected by human effort. It is a gift of God without money or price. And no man will ever be able to boast of himself, “I have earned salvation.” One purpose of the plan of salvation is to show in the ages of eternity the riches of God's grace. Thus there will be no room for boasting by any man.

The only question left unanswered, is since we are saved by faith, does this mean we do not have to obey the law? Paul leaves no room for misunderstanding in Romans 3:31 where he exhorts that the law is not made void through faith and that we uphold the law. See Romans 3:28 for more detail on this point and also are we saved by grace alone and not works for more detail on Ephesians 2:8-9.