I have called this study “Justification by Grace Alone.” But to start at the beginning, let me ask right off whether that title seems exactly right to you. If I had called it “Salvation by Grace Alone,” the title of the last chapter, there would be no problem. We all know (or should know) that people are saved by God's grace only; it is what Ephesians 2 says clearly. Again, there would be no difficulty if I had called the chapter “Justification by Faith Alone.” We know that phrase. It was the rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther having called it the doctrine by which the church stands or falls. But “Justification by Grace Alone”? Is that really right? Isn't it a confusion of terms?
The distant future. The Christian's distant future is that “in the coming ages [God] might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” We do not understand very much what this means because, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). It is true that the very next verse adds that “God has revealed it to us by his Spirit” (v. 10), but the context shows that at that point Paul is thinking of the mysteries of the gospel and not our future joy and blessings in heaven specifically. What we can know is that, as God has been gracious to us here, so he will be continuously and exceedingly gracious to us in heaven forever. There is no good thing that he will ever withhold from those who are his people.
The Christian's past is a dreadful thing, as it also is for all who have not believed on Jesus Christ. But at this point the grace of God comes in. For having spoken of the Christian's past, Paul now speaks of the Christian's present, saying, “But [now] because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved” (vv. 4-8).
The sinner is actively practicing evil. There is something even worse about the biblical view of man, according to this passage. Human beings are spiritually dead, according to verse 1. But this is a strange kind of death since, although the sinner is dead, he is nevertheless up and about, actively practicing sin. What Paul says about him is that he “follow[s] the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air...gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.” To put it differently, the sinner is indeed dead to God but nevertheless very much alive to all wickedness.
Here is another way of looking at it. Chapter one gives us the past, present, and future of God's great plan of salvation. Chapter two gives us the past, present, and future of the persons Jesus saves. This reminds me of one of Harry Ironside's most delightful stories. Ironside was a Bible teacher, and later pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. On this particular occasion he was riding on a train in southern California on the way to a speaking engagement. While he was sitting in the passenger car a gypsy came down the aisle offering to tell people's fortunes. She stopped at Ironside's seat, saying, “Cross my palm with a silver quarter, and I will tell your past, present, and future.”
