In Ephesians 2:10 Paul goes on to say, “We are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus.” Here the Greek word for masterpiece is poiema, which means “something that has been made, a handiwork,” or “something that has been written or composed as a poem.” Not only a poetic writing may be considered a poem, but also any work of art that expresses the maker’s wisdom and design. We, the church, the masterpiece of God’s work, are a poem expressing God’s infinite wisdom and divine design. In the universe nothing is more meaningful than the church, a poem written by God.
In the eyes of the angels and even in the eyes of Satan, we are a sweet, beautiful, and wise poem written by God. In Christ we are a poem that is so pleasant to God, though we may not feel this way. If we look at the believers from a human point of view, we may lament their deficiencies and shortcomings, feeling that they are pitiful persons. On the contrary, if we look at the believers from God’s perspective, we will realize that they are the most pleasant persons and even much superior to the angels. Today we must believe the fact that in Christ Jesus we are the masterpiece of God. In eternity when we all are in the new creation, the New Jerusalem, we will realize that we are indeed God’s masterpiece, His poem, as His new creation.
Writers, composers, and artists often attempt to achieve a masterpiece, an outstanding work. God has made many things, but none of them is as dear, precious, valuable, and desirable as the church. The heavens, the earth, and man, created by God, are not God’s masterpiece, but the church, the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (1:23), the corporate and universal new man (2:15), is a masterpiece. As God’s masterpiece, we are a matchless display of God’s divine wisdom and a supreme handiwork of God, whose magnificent design cannot be improved upon.
Verse 10 says that we are God’s masterpiece “created in Christ Jesus.” We, the church, the masterpiece of God’s work, are an absolutely new item in the universe, a new invention of God. We were created by God in Christ through regeneration to be His new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). God’s masterpiece is absolutely new because it is 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 a marvelous poem.
We are God’s masterpiece, His workmanship. This means that we should not think that we are able to work for God or do God’s work. God does not expect us to work for Him. On the contrary, He is seeking the opportunity to work upon us. If we consider our situation, we will realize how much work remains to be done on us. God does not need us to work for Him. Rather, He will work on us until we become His masterpiece. The reason we are God’s masterpiece is that Christ is being wrought into us. We can boast to God’s creation that we have Christ in us. The more Christ is wrought into us, the more we become part of God’s workmanship, God’s masterpiece.
According to Ephesians 3:10, God’s multifarious wisdom will be made known through the church. Hymns express the wisdom of the hymn writers. In the ages to come, in the millennium and in eternity, there will be a unique hymn, the New Jerusalem as the ultimate consummation of the church, which expresses the wisdom and design of God. When we see the New Jerusalem, we may extol God for the beauty, wisdom, and design manifested in this marvelous production. The New Jerusalem will be God’s poem, His masterpiece.
In Ephesians 2:10 Paul goes on to say, “For good works, which God prepared beforehand in order that we would walk in them.” The good works for which God created us are not the good things that are according to our general concept but the definite good doings that God preplanned and preordained for us to walk in. These good things must be the doing of His will that we may live the church life and bear the testimony of Jesus, as revealed in the succeeding chapters of Ephesians. We should not do things according to our will or intention; rather, we should do the things God prepared before the foundation of the world so that we would walk in them. Therefore, in Christ we have been saved by grace to be God’s masterpiece that we may walk in the good works prepared beforehand by God.
Once we were not only sinners but also dead in offenses. However, through His great mercy God came to us in His grace, and by His divine life He enlivened us together with Christ, raised us up together with Him, and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies. Therefore, we have passed out of death into life and have been transferred from earth to heaven. In this position of resurrection and ascension, we no longer live in sin; rather, we walk in the good works which God has prepared beforehand for us. In this way God in His grace has worked on us to make us the divine, heavenly, and universal poem, God’s masterpiece created in Christ Jesus.