5 Reasons Salvation Has Nothing To Do With You
From the fall of Adam to this day, humanity has been infected with the sin of pride. This post examines Ephesians chapter 1 to see the basis on which God saves sinners, nullifies our efforts, and eliminates our boasting.
The very first verse of Ephesians chapter one gives us good clues as to what the salvation of the Lord is all about. The apostle Paul introduces himself as “an apostle of Christ by the will of God…”
Other than Christ Himself, there is no one else in all of Scripture who speaks more about the Sovereign will of God than the apostle Paul. Even in the moment of his conversion we can see how God exercised His will over the purposes and plans that Paul (formerly known as Saul of Tarsus) had for his life (Acts 9:1-9)…
1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
As the Bible further shows, Saul was given back his sight, he ceased to be a persecutor of Christians, and Christ made him an apostle to the Gentiles. In those days, the names Saul and Paul were used interchangeably, but sometime later, he began to be more commonly known as Paul.
Once, in making a defense for his apostleship, Paul stated emphatically that, “by the grace of God, I am what I am…” (1 Cor. 15:10). He was emphasizing the fact that God chose him through no goodness of his own. And that brings us to the second part of his introduction—Ephesians 1:2—where he tells the saints like he does in most of his introductions, “Grace to you…” Paul’s letters are replete with the doctrines of the grace (or unmerited favor) of God to unworthy sinners.
Five times in just the first fourteen verses of this chapter, Paul mentions things on which God bases His salvation of sinners. Each instance offers a very important reminder that long before it has any effect on us, God’s salvation has NOTHING to do with us, our goodness, or good deeds. And here’s why:
Reason #1
God chose us before He made the world.
Ephesians 1:3-4 takes us back to before God created any of us. Without qualification, Paul declares a most profound fact about salvation when he writes…
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love…
In verse 4, the authorized version says that it was “according as he hath chosen us in himself before the foundation of the world…” If anyone is saved, it is first and foremost on the basis of God’s choosing of them in Himself before the world was made. So it was clearly before any human being ever existed. It should humble you to know that your salvation has nothing to do with you.
Reason #2
God predestined us for adoption to Himself.
Verses 5 and 6 teach us about the family lineage of those who will spend eternity with God. And the reasons Paul gives for this wonderful predestined adoption continues to remind us why when it comes to salvation, we truly have nothing to boast about:
5 He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Notice in verse 5 that it gives us another basis of salvation that has nothing to do with us. It says, “according to the purpose of his will”. And why? It is so that it will be, “to the praise of his glorious grace”. God gets the credit. God’s Son, “Jesus Christ… the Beloved” gets the credit. We who are saved get the eternal benefit. Salvation has nothing to do with our good works, and everything to do with what God did in Christ.
Reason #3
God saved us according to His grace.
Verses 7 and 8 say…
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
That “him” mentioned in verse 7 is the Beloved mentioned in verse 6. And this third and central reason is perfectly supported by one of the most familiar passages on the topic of salvation. It is Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, “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.”
The only one who could boast would be Christ who is the only one who atoned for the sins of God’s saints. Romans 4:16 tells us that the only part we actually take in being changed from sinner to saved is faith, apart from any works of our own when it says, “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace…” You see how Scripture keeps salvation in the hands of God and out of the hands of mankind?
God does this so that He can show us the inestimable riches of His grace. Without Him lavishing His great grace upon us, we would be have absolutely no hope of salvation. This is why salvation has nothing to do with you or me.
Reason #4
God saved us according to His purpose in Christ.
God always had a plan for man and for the world He created. And though sin will have been a part of the process, it was never part of God’s ultimate plan. Verses 9 and 10 gives us a glimpse of that plan when it says…
9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Jesus Christ is the one by Whom and for Whom all things exist (Heb. 2:10). And it is in the person of Jesus that God the Father planned to unite all things in heaven and on earth. Jesus died for the sins of the world. And it is Jesus who will fully redeem the world and remove all semblance of sin from existence by casting it and its slaves into eternal hellfire (e.g. Rev. 20:11-15). Christ will fulfill God’s promise of new heavens and a new earth where only righteousness eternally exists (2 Pet. 3:13).
To say that you have something to do with your salvation is to say that you have something to do with the purpose which God intended to be accomplished only by His only begotten Son. We are mere mortals, and we were all sinners, dead in trespasses and sins. We could do nothing to help save ourselves, just as we can do nothing to recreate new heavens and a new earth. Salvation has nothing to do with you.
Reason #5
God saved us according to the counsel of His will.
Lest we think like many of the Jews that Paul continually contended with that salvation has something to do with our goodness or good works, let us remember that…
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Verse 11 is crystal clear, but what is going on in verse 12? What does Paul mean when he says, “…we who were the first to hope in Christ…”? Verse 13 lends clarity. Paul is reminded that it was according to the counsel of God’s own will that salvation be of the Jew first, and then also the Gentile (e.g. John 4:22; Rom. 1:16; 2:9, 10).
As he has continually done throughout his epistles, Paul does here in Ephesians 1. He reminds us of how God first gave the gospel, the covenants, and promises to Israel. Jesus Christ, the Savior would be born through that nation, and so would the Church. So, chronologically speaking, we who are not Jews have, by God’s will, come to salvation after the Jews.
After Paul uses the first 12 verses of Ephesians 1 to speak of how God graciously saved Jews, he connects the same reasons to the Gentiles who, by same means of God’s grace, have also come to salvation. That is why Paul also says in Roman 3:9, 11:32, and Galatians 3:22 that God has consigned both Jew and Gentile under sin, so that He might have mercy on all who believe. And so even in Romans 9:16 he says concerning salvation that “it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy”.
One final point to note is that just as Ephesians 1:1-14 speaks of Jews and also Gentiles concerning God’s saving grace, in John chapter 10:11-30, we find Jesus practically doing the same. In that chapter, He refers to Himself as “the good shepherd” who “gives his life for the sheep” (v. 11). He also makes it clear that He only dies for His sheep, and that those who do not believe on Him do not believe because they are not His sheep (vv. 26 and 27). And right there in the middle of his good shepherd discourse, Jesus also says that He has other sheep that are not of the Jewish fold, and that He must bring them in and make of the two, one fold (v. 16).
All of these purposes and plans were predetermined by God, and completed by God in His Son, Jesus Christ, long before any human being ever existed. Scripture even goes so far as to refer to Christ as a lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. This all makes it abundantly clear that salvation has nothing to do with your or me.
We ultimately have faith in Christ because we were chosen of God for salvation. If a person never comes to faith in Jesus Christ, it is ultimately because God never chose them before the world was made, He never predestined them for adoption to Himself, He never saved them according to His grace, He never saved them according to His purpose in Christ, He never saved them according to the counsel of His will, and they never believed in Jesus because they were not His sheep.
Yet if you have truly been saved by God, know that…
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Saints, it was God who began the good work of salvation in you. And yes, you have a personal responsibility to walk by faith, obey God, and live a holy life. But the same God who began that good work in you will perform (and complete) it until the day Christ returns for you (Phil. 1:6). This is what a Sovereign God’s salvation has to do with you, and only if you truly believe.
5 Reasons Salvation Has Nothing To Do With You
From the fall of Adam to this day, humanity has been infected with the sin of pride. This post examines Ephesians chapter 1 to see the basis on which God saves sinners, nullifies our efforts, and eliminates our boasting.
The very first verse of Ephesians chapter one gives us good clues as to what the salvation of the Lord is all about. The apostle Paul introduces himself as “an apostle of Christ by the will of God…”
Other than Christ Himself, there is no one else in all of Scripture who speaks more about the Sovereign will of God than the apostle Paul. Even in the moment of his conversion we can see how God exercised His will over the purposes and plans that Paul (formerly known as Saul of Tarsus) had for his life (Acts 9:1-9)…
1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
As the Bible further shows, Saul was given back his sight, he ceased to be a persecutor of Christians, and Christ made him an apostle to the Gentiles. In those days, the names Saul and Paul were used interchangeably, but sometime later, he began to be more commonly known as Paul.
Once, in making a defense for his apostleship, Paul stated emphatically that, “by the grace of God, I am what I am…” (1 Cor. 15:10). He was emphasizing the fact that God chose him through no goodness of his own. And that brings us to the second part of his introduction—Ephesians 1:2—where he tells the saints like he does in most of his introductions, “Grace to you…” Paul’s letters are replete with the doctrines of the grace (or unmerited favor) of God to unworthy sinners.
Five times in just the first fourteen verses of this chapter, Paul mentions things on which God bases His salvation of sinners. Each instance offers a very important reminder that long before it has any effect on us, God’s salvation has NOTHING to do with us, our goodness, or good deeds. And here’s why:
Reason #1
God chose us before He made the world.
Ephesians 1:3-4 takes us back to before God created any of us. Without qualification, Paul declares a most profound fact about salvation when he writes…
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love…
In verse 4, the authorized version says that it was “according as he hath chosen us in himself before the foundation of the world…” If anyone is saved, it is first and foremost on the basis of God’s choosing of them in Himself before the world was made. So it was clearly before any human being ever existed. It should humble you to know that your salvation has nothing to do with you.
Reason #2
God predestined us for adoption to Himself.
Verses 5 and 6 teach us about the family lineage of those who will spend eternity with God. And the reasons Paul gives for this wonderful predestined adoption continues to remind us why when it comes to salvation, we truly have nothing to boast about:
5 He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Notice in verse 5 that it gives us another basis of salvation that has nothing to do with us. It says, “according to the purpose of his will”. And why? It is so that it will be, “to the praise of his glorious grace”. God gets the credit. God’s Son, “Jesus Christ… the Beloved” gets the credit. We who are saved get the eternal benefit. Salvation has nothing to do with our good works, and everything to do with what God did in Christ.
Reason #3
God saved us according to His grace.
Verses 7 and 8 say…
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
That “him” mentioned in verse 7 is the Beloved mentioned in verse 6. And this third and central reason is perfectly supported by one of the most familiar passages on the topic of salvation. It is Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, “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.”
The only one who could boast would be Christ who is the only one who atoned for the sins of God’s saints. Romans 4:16 tells us that the only part we actually take in being changed from sinner to saved is faith, apart from any works of our own when it says, “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace…” You see how Scripture keeps salvation in the hands of God and out of the hands of mankind?
God does this so that He can show us the inestimable riches of His grace. Without Him lavishing His great grace upon us, we would be have absolutely no hope of salvation. This is why salvation has nothing to do with you or me.
Reason #4
God saved us according to His purpose in Christ.
God always had a plan for man and for the world He created. And though sin will have been a part of the process, it was never part of God’s ultimate plan. Verses 9 and 10 gives us a glimpse of that plan when it says…
9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Jesus Christ is the one by Whom and for Whom all things exist (Heb. 2:10). And it is in the person of Jesus that God the Father planned to unite all things in heaven and on earth. Jesus died for the sins of the world. And it is Jesus who will fully redeem the world and remove all semblance of sin from existence by casting it and its slaves into eternal hellfire (e.g. Rev. 20:11-15). Christ will fulfill God’s promise of new heavens and a new earth where only righteousness eternally exists (2 Pet. 3:13).
To say that you have something to do with your salvation is to say that you have something to do with the purpose which God intended to be accomplished only by His only begotten Son. We are mere mortals, and we were all sinners, dead in trespasses and sins. We could do nothing to help save ourselves, just as we can do nothing to recreate new heavens and a new earth. Salvation has nothing to do with you.
Reason #5
God saved us according to the counsel of His will.
Lest we think like many of the Jews that Paul continually contended with that salvation has something to do with our goodness or good works, let us remember that…
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Verse 11 is crystal clear, but what is going on in verse 12? What does Paul mean when he says, “…we who were the first to hope in Christ…”? Verse 13 lends clarity. Paul is reminded that it was according to the counsel of God’s own will that salvation be of the Jew first, and then also the Gentile (e.g. John 4:22; Rom. 1:16; 2:9, 10).
As he has continually done throughout his epistles, Paul does here in Ephesians 1. He reminds us of how God first gave the gospel, the covenants, and promises to Israel. Jesus Christ, the Savior would be born through that nation, and so would the Church. So, chronologically speaking, we who are not Jews have, by God’s will, come to salvation after the Jews.
After Paul uses the first 12 verses of Ephesians 1 to speak of how God graciously saved Jews, he connects the same reasons to the Gentiles who, by same means of God’s grace, have also come to salvation. That is why Paul also says in Roman 3:9, 11:32, and Galatians 3:22 that God has consigned both Jew and Gentile under sin, so that He might have mercy on all who believe. And so even in Romans 9:16 he says concerning salvation that “it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy”.
One final point to note is that just as Ephesians 1:1-14 speaks of Jews and also Gentiles concerning God’s saving grace, in John chapter 10:11-30, we find Jesus practically doing the same. In that chapter, He refers to Himself as “the good shepherd” who “gives his life for the sheep” (v. 11). He also makes it clear that He only dies for His sheep, and that those who do not believe on Him do not believe because they are not His sheep (vv. 26 and 27). And right there in the middle of his good shepherd discourse, Jesus also says that He has other sheep that are not of the Jewish fold, and that He must bring them in and make of the two, one fold (v. 16).
All of these purposes and plans were predetermined by God, and completed by God in His Son, Jesus Christ, long before any human being ever existed. Scripture even goes so far as to refer to Christ as a lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. This all makes it abundantly clear that salvation has nothing to do with your or me.
We ultimately have faith in Christ because we were chosen of God for salvation. If a person never comes to faith in Jesus Christ, it is ultimately because God never chose them before the world was made, He never predestined them for adoption to Himself, He never saved them according to His grace, He never saved them according to His purpose in Christ, He never saved them according to the counsel of His will, and they never believed in Jesus because they were not His sheep.
Yet if you have truly been saved by God, know that…
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Saints, it was God who began the good work of salvation in you. And yes, you have a personal responsibility to walk by faith, obey God, and live a holy life. But the same God who began that good work in you will perform (and complete) it until the day Christ returns for you (Phil. 1:6). This is what a Sovereign God’s salvation has to do with you, and only if you truly believe.
5 Reasons Salvation Has Nothing To Do With You
From the fall of Adam to this day, humanity has been infected with the sin of pride. This post examines Ephesians chapter 1 to see the basis on which God saves sinners, nullifies our efforts, and eliminates our boasting.
The very first verse of Ephesians chapter one gives us good clues as to what the salvation of the Lord is all about. The apostle Paul introduces himself as “an apostle of Christ by the will of God…”
Other than Christ Himself, there is no one else in all of Scripture who speaks more about the Sovereign will of God than the apostle Paul. Even in the moment of his conversion we can see how God exercised His will over the purposes and plans that Paul (formerly known as Saul of Tarsus) had for his life (Acts 9:1-9)…
1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
As the Bible further shows, Saul was given back his sight, he ceased to be a persecutor of Christians, and Christ made him an apostle to the Gentiles. In those days, the names Saul and Paul were used interchangeably, but sometime later, he began to be more commonly known as Paul.
Once, in making a defense for his apostleship, Paul stated emphatically that, “by the grace of God, I am what I am…” (1 Cor. 15:10). He was emphasizing the fact that God chose him through no goodness of his own. And that brings us to the second part of his introduction—Ephesians 1:2—where he tells the saints like he does in most of his introductions, “Grace to you…” Paul’s letters are replete with the doctrines of the grace (or unmerited favor) of God to unworthy sinners.
Five times in just the first fourteen verses of this chapter, Paul mentions things on which God bases His salvation of sinners. Each instance offers a very important reminder that long before it has any effect on us, God’s salvation has NOTHING to do with us, our goodness, or good deeds. And here’s why:
Reason #1
God chose us before He made the world.
Ephesians 1:3-4 takes us back to before God created any of us. Without qualification, Paul declares a most profound fact about salvation when he writes…
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love…
In verse 4, the authorized version says that it was “according as he hath chosen us in himself before the foundation of the world…” If anyone is saved, it is first and foremost on the basis of God’s choosing of them in Himself before the world was made. So it was clearly before any human being ever existed. It should humble you to know that your salvation has nothing to do with you.
Reason #2
God predestined us for adoption to Himself.
Verses 5 and 6 teach us about the family lineage of those who will spend eternity with God. And the reasons Paul gives for this wonderful predestined adoption continues to remind us why when it comes to salvation, we truly have nothing to boast about:
5 He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Notice in verse 5 that it gives us another basis of salvation that has nothing to do with us. It says, “according to the purpose of his will”. And why? It is so that it will be, “to the praise of his glorious grace”. God gets the credit. God’s Son, “Jesus Christ… the Beloved” gets the credit. We who are saved get the eternal benefit. Salvation has nothing to do with our good works, and everything to do with what God did in Christ.
Reason #3
God saved us according to His grace.
Verses 7 and 8 say…
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
That “him” mentioned in verse 7 is the Beloved mentioned in verse 6. And this third and central reason is perfectly supported by one of the most familiar passages on the topic of salvation. It is Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, “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.”
The only one who could boast would be Christ who is the only one who atoned for the sins of God’s saints. Romans 4:16 tells us that the only part we actually take in being changed from sinner to saved is faith, apart from any works of our own when it says, “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace…” You see how Scripture keeps salvation in the hands of God and out of the hands of mankind?
God does this so that He can show us the inestimable riches of His grace. Without Him lavishing His great grace upon us, we would be have absolutely no hope of salvation. This is why salvation has nothing to do with you or me.
Reason #4
God saved us according to His purpose in Christ.
God always had a plan for man and for the world He created. And though sin will have been a part of the process, it was never part of God’s ultimate plan. Verses 9 and 10 gives us a glimpse of that plan when it says…
9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Jesus Christ is the one by Whom and for Whom all things exist (Heb. 2:10). And it is in the person of Jesus that God the Father planned to unite all things in heaven and on earth. Jesus died for the sins of the world. And it is Jesus who will fully redeem the world and remove all semblance of sin from existence by casting it and its slaves into eternal hellfire (e.g. Rev. 20:11-15). Christ will fulfill God’s promise of new heavens and a new earth where only righteousness eternally exists (2 Pet. 3:13).
To say that you have something to do with your salvation is to say that you have something to do with the purpose which God intended to be accomplished only by His only begotten Son. We are mere mortals, and we were all sinners, dead in trespasses and sins. We could do nothing to help save ourselves, just as we can do nothing to recreate new heavens and a new earth. Salvation has nothing to do with you.
Reason #5
God saved us according to the counsel of His will.
Lest we think like many of the Jews that Paul continually contended with that salvation has something to do with our goodness or good works, let us remember that…
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Verse 11 is crystal clear, but what is going on in verse 12? What does Paul mean when he says, “…we who were the first to hope in Christ…”? Verse 13 lends clarity. Paul is reminded that it was according to the counsel of God’s own will that salvation be of the Jew first, and then also the Gentile (e.g. John 4:22; Rom. 1:16; 2:9, 10).
As he has continually done throughout his epistles, Paul does here in Ephesians 1. He reminds us of how God first gave the gospel, the covenants, and promises to Israel. Jesus Christ, the Savior would be born through that nation, and so would the Church. So, chronologically speaking, we who are not Jews have, by God’s will, come to salvation after the Jews.
After Paul uses the first 12 verses of Ephesians 1 to speak of how God graciously saved Jews, he connects the same reasons to the Gentiles who, by same means of God’s grace, have also come to salvation. That is why Paul also says in Roman 3:9, 11:32, and Galatians 3:22 that God has consigned both Jew and Gentile under sin, so that He might have mercy on all who believe. And so even in Romans 9:16 he says concerning salvation that “it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy”.
One final point to note is that just as Ephesians 1:1-14 speaks of Jews and also Gentiles concerning God’s saving grace, in John chapter 10:11-30, we find Jesus practically doing the same. In that chapter, He refers to Himself as “the good shepherd” who “gives his life for the sheep” (v. 11). He also makes it clear that He only dies for His sheep, and that those who do not believe on Him do not believe because they are not His sheep (vv. 26 and 27). And right there in the middle of his good shepherd discourse, Jesus also says that He has other sheep that are not of the Jewish fold, and that He must bring them in and make of the two, one fold (v. 16).
All of these purposes and plans were predetermined by God, and completed by God in His Son, Jesus Christ, long before any human being ever existed. Scripture even goes so far as to refer to Christ as a lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. This all makes it abundantly clear that salvation has nothing to do with your or me.
We ultimately have faith in Christ because we were chosen of God for salvation. If a person never comes to faith in Jesus Christ, it is ultimately because God never chose them before the world was made, He never predestined them for adoption to Himself, He never saved them according to His grace, He never saved them according to His purpose in Christ, He never saved them according to the counsel of His will, and they never believed in Jesus because they were not His sheep.
Yet if you have truly been saved by God, know that…
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Saints, it was God who began the good work of salvation in you. And yes, you have a personal responsibility to walk by faith, obey God, and live a holy life. But the same God who began that good work in you will perform (and complete) it until the day Christ returns for you (Phil. 1:6). This is what a Sovereign God’s salvation has to do with you, and only if you truly believe.