“⁸ 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. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10

We are saved by Grace through faith.  We are HIS workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto Salvation (good works).  It is our faith in Jesus Christ and His work that allows the Holy Spirit to give us dominion over sin so that we may walk in this good work; in this Salvation that the Lord has so freely given the Believer.

We are HIS workmanship when our faith remains exclusively in HIS WORK.  When the Believer attempts to replace our works for His Work to become HIS workmanship, His Work become of no effect in our lives.  The Holy Spirit is not ordained to free us from the law of sin and death when our faith is in our works (Romans 8:2)…no matter how Scriptural they may be.  There is but one answer for sin and that is the Cross of Christ.

“³ But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

⁴ For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.” 2 Corinthians 11:3-4

The simplicity that is in Christ Jesus through faith in His redeeming work has been corrupted by the modern church.  It is another gospel and another Jesus that has departed from the Word of God in order to be accepted by the world.  The modern church has equated the Believer’s religious works with Jesus’ work and effectively caused the transference of their faith to what they have done.  Many Believers have been beguiled from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus.  Sadly, the results of their workmanship is not God’s workmanship but the workmanship of our their efforts through religious activities which God has not ordained for us to walk in.

God’s workmanship, which He has before ordained by Grace through faith, is created in Christ Jesus as we deny ourselves daily…deny our works and submit to His Work in order to create in us a new creature in Christ Jesus.  Old things DO pass away and all things DO become new when we are God’s workmanship (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

² Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

-Donna Clark Warren