Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God before prepared that we should walk in them.” The Greek word “workmanship” here may also be rendered “masterpiece.” The Greek word poiema means something which has been made, a handiwork, or something which has been written or composed as a poem. Poetry does not consist only of poetic writings; any work of art that expresses the maker’s wisdom and design may be considered a poem. We, the church, the masterpiece of God’s work, are the highest poetry, expressing God’s infinite wisdom and divine design.
As God’s workmanship, we have been “created in Christ Jesus.” This means that as the masterpiece of God’s work, we are an absolutely new item in the universe, something newly originated by God. We have been created by God in Christ through regeneration to be His new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
Furthermore, the believers who compose God’s masterpiece are absolutely new because they are the mingling of God and man. God’s masterpiece, His greatest workmanship, is the working of Himself into man and the constituting of man into oneness with Himself to produce the church.
As God’s masterpiece created in Christ Jesus through the mingling of God and man, we have been created in Christ “for good works, which God before prepared that we should walk in them.” The good works for which God created us are not merely the good things according to our general concept but the definite good things which God pre-planned and previously ordained for us to walk in. These good things include the doing of His will to live the church life and bear the testimony of Jesus, as revealed in the entire book of Ephesians. Therefore, we need to do God’s will, live the church life, and bear the testimony of Jesus. These are the good works prepared beforehand by God for us, His masterpiece, to walk in. According to Ephesians 2:4-10, we have been saved by grace to be God’s masterpiece that we may walk in the good works prepared before by God.
In Titus 2:14 Paul tells us that Christ “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify to Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.” The words “for us” here mean on our behalf. They do not mean instead of us. To redeem means to buy with a price (1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 Tim. 2:6). Christ gave Himself for us not only that He might redeem us from all lawlessness but also that He might purify to Himself a people for His own possession. A people for His possession are a peculiar people. This expression is borrowed from the Old Testament (Deut. 7:6; 14:2; 26:18) and denotes a people privately possessed by God as His peculiar treasure (Exo. 19:5), His own possession (1 Pet. 2:9). As such a people, we should be zealous of good works. We, the believers in Christ, have been created in Christ for good works and redeemed by Christ to be His people, zealous of good works.
Now we need to see that, in order to have the highest standard of morality and virtues, we need to be regulated by four governing principles.
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