The Simplicity of Salvation

“For in grace, through faith, are you saved,

and this is not out of you;

it is God’s approach present,

not of works lest anyone should be boasting.”

(Ephesians 2:8-9)

I’ll have to begin this post with a little technical info on the Greek language.  Please bear with me; it’s so important to the point I’m going to make.

The majority of the New Testament is written in the Greek language.  Greek can be quite a complicated language and sometimes it is difficult to translate the full meaning of its text into the English language.  This is partly due to the fact that Greek verbs have different “tenses”, “voices”, and “moods” which give the verbs slightly different connotations.  If you’d like to be a serious student of the New Testament writings, gaining knowledge of these aspects of the Greek language is important.  

One of the sources I have found helpful in explaining the tenses, voices, and moods of the Greek language is the online Blue Letter Bible.  The link at the site titled “Understanding How Greek Verbs Work” is particularly helpful in explaining the meanings of tense, voice, and mood.  

Here is a very quick overview explaining some of the varying tenses, voices, and moods.  For a more serious study, I highly recommend going to the Blue Letter Bible web link I mentioned above or doing a thorough search on the internet for “Greek language tense voice mood”. 

The tenses in the Greek language direct us to understand how an action is taking place:

Punctiliar tense:  the verb is taking place at a specific point in time

Linear tense:  the verb is in the processing of happening

Perfected:  the verb has taken place at a particular time but also continues to have current results

The moods of the Greek language tell us the relationship of the action of the verb to its reality.  It can tell us if the action of the verb is a fact, a possibility, a desire, or a command. 

Indicative mood:  states a matter of fact—asserting a certainty

Subjunctive mood:  mostly states a desire or probability

Obtative mood:  is more like a wish or a prayer or something potential (the subjunctive mood is something closer to a reality than the obtative mood)

Imperative mood:  states a command

The voices in the Greek language describe who is performing the action of the verb:

Active:  states when the action of the verb is being done by the subject it relates to

Middle:  states when the subject is doing the action to itself, as if for its own benefit

Passive:  states when the action of the verb is being done to the subject

Whew!  With all that Greek language technicality out of the way, I can now get on to the point of this post…

The last couple of weeks, I have been studying some Scriptures and digging into the tense, voice, and mood of some of the Greek verbs in those Scriptures.  In my searching, I was led to Ephesians 2:8-9 and to the study of what the tense, voice, and mood are in the “are you saved” words of that passage.

What I discovered is completely beautiful and simple.

“For in grace, through faith, are you saved,

and this is not out of you;

it is God’s approach present,

not of works lest anyone should be boasting.”

(Ephesians 2:8-9)

The words “are you” are a translation of the Greek verb “este”.  “Este” (“are you”) is a verb in the Greek present tense and the Greek indicative mood.

The Greek present tense and indicative mood (used for “are you”) simply assert a matter of fact—an action that has taken or is absolutely taking place.  This present tense may be describing an action that happened in the past, but its effects are still occurring in the present. 

When we read “are you”, the words say to us that we “are” with complete certainty and as a matter of fact. 

So, we “are” most certainly what?

With utmost certainty, we are “saved”.

The word “saved” is a translation of the Greek verb “sozo”.  “Sozo” is a verb in the Greek perfect tense, having a passive voice, and being in participle form.  [The Greek participle pretty much corresponds with our English participle that states “-ing” or “-ed” added to the basic verb form.]

The perfect tense tells us that “saved” was completed, once and for all, and does not need to happen again.  It is another certainty, a matter a fact, accomplished for all time.  (When Jesus cried out from the cross “It is finished”, we have another example of the perfect tense.)

Salvation is something that has already happened in the past but is also having its effect in the present and the future.

Adding to the stupendous fact that salvation has already been completed, once and for all, is the added fact that the verb “saved” is in the passive voice.  Salvation has been done to us.  We do not do it.  We could not do it.  “Saved” is done upon us.  We have nothing to do with it.

The words written immediately after “are you saved” confirm all of the above with even more conviction…

“…and this is not out of you; it is God’s approach present, not of works lest anyone should be boasting…”

Glorious God!  Salvation is HIS alone.

To summarize this all very simply…

When we read the words:

“For in grace, through faith, are you saved,

and this is not out of you;

it is God’s approach present,

not of works lest anyone should be boasting.”

(Ephesians 2:8-9)

We can know that in God’s boundless grace, through a faith that has its origin in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:2) and a faith given to us, we are most positively, and without a doubt, saved.  This grace, this faith, and this salvation undoubtedly come from God so that NO one can boast about having had ANY thing to do with it.  GOD brings us to a realization of the truth of His grace, faith, and salvation in His perfectly appointed time.

We do not find God – He is not lost

God does not find us – for we are never lost to Him

We do not save ourselves – for God has done the saving and His salvation continues in power

We do not come to a realization of the truth on our own – He brings us to it

He is “…Saviour, God, Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth…”  (1 Timothy 2:4) 

The will of God is not some hopeful willingness, it is not a conditional willingness.  He’s not sitting on His throne in heaven heavy-hearted, sighing heavily, thinking how sorrowful it is that His will is not going to be accomplished because man has messed everything up.  Oh blah!  That picture of God is such a LIE!  It is a fake!  Satan, the Adversary, wants us to believe that lie so that he can seem to be more powerful than God, and we will be filled with doubt and lose hope in the power and sovereignty of God. 

This is the TRUTH:  God remains in absolute control and knowing that His salvation of all mankind is a matter of complete certainty.  All mankind will ultimately come into a realization of the truth because that is God’s will.  God will achieve His will.

“For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind, a Man, Christ Jesus, Who is giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all (the testimony in its own eras)…” (1 Timothy 2:5-6)

 

Christ became the Ransom for all.  Salvation is of God, through Christ, for all mankind.  Christ died as a Ransom for all, and salvation has been completed.  It is a fact.  It is not God’s wishful thinking, it is not an incomplete failure, and it is not His hope against all hope.  It is an all-encompassing action which He has achieved through Christ and which continues now at full power.  The future will reveal it.

“For in grace, through faith, are you saved,

and this is not out of you;

it is God’s approach present,

not of works lest anyone should be boasting.”

(Ephesians 2:8-9)