The True Origin of Salvation
T. Croskery Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, It is interesting to observe the variety of terms here employed to describe the source of all the blessings of salvation. It is no longer a question of power, as it was in the first chapter (Ephesians 1:19, 20), but of love, mercy, grace, and kindness. I. OUR SALVATION IS OF GOD'S MERCY. "God who is rich in mercy." There is a distinction between mercy and love, for love is the foundation of mercy. God is called the "Father of mercies" (2 Corinthians 1:3); mercy is his delight, for "he delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18); he betrotheth us to himself in mercies (Hosea 2:19); he begets us again "according to his abundant mercy" (1 Peter 1:3); and we are led to pray, "Lord, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions" (Psalm 51:1). Believers are therefore well described as "vessels of mercy" (Romans 9:23). II. OUR SALVATION IS OF LOVE. "According to the great love wherewith he hath loved us." The apostolic saying, "God is love," supplies us with the best Christian idea of God, as welt as with the right key to explain all his actions. God's love is more than kindness, which is, indeed, one of his attributes, but love is, properly speaking, the nature of him who unites all these attributes in himself. The incarnation of the only begotten Son is the greatest fact of the Divine love, but is not disjoined from the deep humiliation and suffering to which it enabled him to descend. The love of God to sinners is (1) a great love (Ephesians 2:4), "a love strong as death" (Song of Solomon 8:6, 7); (2) an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3); (3) an unchanging love (Malachi 3:6); (4) an invincible love (Romans 8:39); (5) it is like the Father's love to the Son, "As thou hast loved me" (John 17:23). III. OUR SALVATION IS OF GRACE. "By grace ye are saved." 1. It is not of works, but of grace (Ephesians 2:8). It is "of faith, that it might be of grace" (Romans 4:16). 2. We are accepted by grace (Ephesians 1:6); our calling is by grace (2 Timothy 1:9). 3. We have a good hope through grace. 4. Our election is of grace (Romans 11:5). 5. The grace of God abounds in faith and love (1 Timothy 1:14). 6. We are under a reign of grace (Romans 6:14); we have our standing in grace (Romans 5:2). 7. It is the greatest of all concerns to establish men's hearts in "the true grace of God" (1 Peter 5:12). IV. OUR SALVATION IS OF GOD'S KINDNESS. (Ver. 7.) "The word here," says an old writer, "implies all sweetness, and all candidness, and all friendliness, and all heartiness, and all goodness, and goodness of nature." Scripture speaks of God as kind (Psalm 36:5; Luke 6:35), and of his "loving-kindnesses" (Isaiah 64:7). It is made the root of mercy in God (Titus 3:4); for the apostle here speaks of his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Thus our salvation, first and last, is attributed to nothing in ourselves, but to love, mercy, grace, and kindness in God. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, WEB: But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,