Having saved us by grace, God grants the gift of persevering grace, keeping grace, promising to perfect what He has begun: Those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified (Rom. 8:30). We are not yet glorified but the Apostle Paul uses the past tense as if we already are glorified, so certain is God’s promise to keep us and bring to perfection that which He has begun in us.
The Apostle Peter reminds us that we have been, Born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith (I Peter 1:3b-5a).
Our salvation is imperishable, undefiled and will not fade away. Imperishable refers to something which is not subject to corruption or death and therefore cannot be destroyed. Undefiled refers to something which is flawless, perfect and cannot be stained or polluted. Will not fade away translates one word, amaranton, which could be used to describe a beautiful lily or rose which cannot ever wither or die.
Furthermore, our salvation cannot be destroyed because we are protected by the power of God through faith (I Peter 1:5). Faith activates whatever God wants to give to us or do through us. We were born again by grace through faith by the power of God. But faith to believe God for salvation is a gift from God, an expression of His grace, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8).
By that same power we are preserved by grace through faith. The continuation of faith is evidence of the continual working of God’s grace in the believer’s life. We are kept by the power of God activated by faith, a faith which is a gift of God’s grace.
Paul prayed for the Ephesian church, That the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of His inheritance in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:18-20).
Paul does not pray that the church will have power but that the church will be enlightened regarding the power we already possess. The same power with which God raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places is given to each believer so that we may live this life victoriously and faithfully.
Where is this power located? Again, Paul prays for the Ephesian church, That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man ... Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us (Eph 3:16,20).
The Holy Spirit, indwelling the heart of every true follower of Christ, communicates the resurrection power of God within us so that we may live our new life in Christ victoriously. We persevere in faith by the power of God at work in us.
Further, we are kept because, His divine power has granted to (us) everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:3). Notice the verb tense: has granted. Everything needed to live our new life in Christ, everything pertaining to life and godliness, every necessary resource to live a godly life has been provided as an expression of God’s grace through the person and anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Further, God makes His resources available to us, Through the true knowledge of Him who called us (2 Peter 1:3). Knowledge translates the word epignosis, from epignosko which is from the root, ginosko, which means to know. But ginosko is more than simply knowing facts. It refers to a relationship between the one knowing and the object that is known.
For instance, in Matthew 7:23, Jesus says to the unbelievers, I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. He does not mean that He does not know truth about them; God is all knowing, possesses all fact and truth that could ever be known. Jesus is referring to the absence of any intimate relationship with those lawless ones. He does not know them relationally.
In I Cor. 10:3, we read, But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. That is, those who love God have entered an intimate relationship with God. This is what Jesus meant in John 10:14 when He said, I am the good shepherd and I know My own and My own know Me.”
God’s eternal purpose in redemption is to express His love to redeemed sinners and to draw us into an eternal, intimate love relationship with Himself. Our salvation in time is the outworking of God’s eternal decision to love us, to express His love to us, in us and through us and to be glorified in our loving, worshipful response to Him.
So Peter says that God has released to us all of the resources needed to live this life of grace. Our resources are available in the context of a truthful, intimate, love relationship with God. God saved us by grace and He keeps us in grace, by His power and for His glory providing every resource needed to live the grace-life.
Further, God keeps us in grace because Jesus and the Holy Spirit are praying for us, in us and through us according to God’s perfect will. Jesus asked the Father to release this keeping power on our behalf. He said, Holy Father, keep them in your name,” (John 17:11). The name of God represents all that God is. Keep them in your name means, “Keep them in a manner consistent with who You are: almighty, all wise, perfectly merciful, holy and righteous.” We know God will answer that prayer because the Son always prays in perfect harmony with the Father’s will.
In 17:15 Jesus adds, I do not ask You to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil one. Jesus, our great High Priest, prays not that the Father would take us out of the world — we are needed here to shine God’s light, to speak God’s truth, share His mercy — but that the Father would keep us from the evil one.
This prayer in John 17 is a prayer that Jesus continues to pray. He is our great High Priest at the right hand of the Father always praying for us. He is also able to save forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebr. 7:25). Jesus is continually praying for us and we know the Father will answer this prayer because He always answers the prayers of His Son.
A good example of the keeping power of God released through the prayers of Jesus is found in this incident on the night of Jesus’ arrest. Jesus said to Peter, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers (Luke 22:31,32). Satan intended to attack Peter’s faith on this most terrible night of Peter’s life. The Lord was about to be arrested, tried, beaten and crucified and Peter would be tested to the point of denying that he even knew Jesus.
But notice this — the first use of the pronoun you is plural — Satan has demanded permission to sift you — you all — all of the remaining eleven disciples. But Jesus says, I have prayed for you (singular, Simon) that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.
Satan intended the destruction of the most prominent of the apostles. But Jesus prayed for him and notice the absolute confidence of Jesus, When once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Jesus knew that Peter would fail but also knew that he would not fail so as to lose his faith, his salvation. Jesus prayed, the Father answered and though Peter sinned, he persevered, he endured, he was restored and again took his place as leader of the apostles. He persevered in faith because of the prayers of Jesus.
Further, the Holy Spirit prays for us in our weaknesses, In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26,27).
We don't always know how to pray, especially in the middle of a crisis, but the indwelling Holy Spirit prays for us in a communion conversation with the Father and the Son that is deeper than words. God the Son and God the Holy Spirit pray to God the Father on our behalf, pray for us, in us and through us according to the perfect will of God. As a result, we read in the very next verse, God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). The Lord is able to work all the events of our life toward the fulfilling of His good purpose because of this continual inter-Trinitarian prayer — God the Son and God the Holy Spirit pray in union to and with the God the Father and their prayers are always answered.
God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose because the same God who foreknew us, called us and justified us is also praying for us. We will persevere in grace, God will bring us to glory in conformity with His perfect will because He always fulfills His prayers.
Therefore we celebrate, If God is for us, who is against us? (Rom. 8:31). Who can resist the purpose of the God who knows all truth and possesses all the power and authority necessary to bring His truth into being? Chosen in Jesus before the foundation of the world (Eph.1:4), predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29), called, justified, and glorified (Rom. 8:30), as the Son and the Holy Spirit pray for us — we are kept, we persevere. Though we sometimes fall and fail, stumble and sin, we do not fall out of our salvation.
Notice by the way, the logic of Paul’s reasoning. The Holy Spirit is praying for us (Rom. 8:26,27). Therefore, God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Therefore, since we are predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29), those who are called and justified, will certainly be glorified (Rom. 8:30). Therefore, If God is for us, who is against us? (Rom. 8:31).
Confident that our salvation is preserved by the power of God, confident that we will persevere through time into eternity, how then shall we live in time?
The Apostle Paul answers this question, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (Ephesians 4:1). We are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.
That is a life in which Jesus establishes His life in us and lives His life through us. Paul wrote to the Galatian church, My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you (Gal. 4:19).
Only the Holy Spirit can cultivate the life of Christ in us and express His life through us but He does so as we yield our lives to Him, day by day, submitting our will to His, refusing to practice the worldly ways of our former life. As we do this, the Holy Spirit will conform us to the life of Christ and transform us in His likeness.
Just as our salvation was a work of grace, so is the living of our new life a work of grace. God in His grace awakened us from the death-sleep of sin, regenerated and rebirthed us by His grace, forgave and reconciled us to Himself by grace. Now, by grace, He establishes His life in us, progressively transforming us and empowering us to live this new life through time into eternity.
Paul exhorts us, Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (Ephesians 4:1). However, Paul does not call the church to high moral conduct in chapter four of Ephesians until he has reminded us over and over again in chapters one and two of the marvelous grace that has been lavished upon us:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3,4).
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us (Eph. 1:7,8)
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins … But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (2:1,4-8)
God calls us to holy living but only after He first chooses us in grace, meets us in grace, awakens us by grace, calls us in grace, convinces us in grace, redeems and raises us from death to life by grace so that He may lavish grace upon us now and in the ages to come, pour out more grace on us. The God of all grace promises to transform us by grace and keep us in grace by His power so that we may walk in a manner worthy of our high calling in grace.
But if we forget the grace that precedes and empowers all our human effort to live this new life, we will become slaves of religion rather than servants of Christ. There is always the temptation of human pride to substitute religious works and rituals and laws for the power and grace of God. Just as people vainly try to achieve salvation through human effort, some also try to live the Christian life by their own striving and strength, laws and rituals.
It offends human pride to confess that we were dead in trespass and sin and could not save ourselves. This same religious spirit is offended to confess that we cannot live this new life, cannot walk in a manner worthy of our calling, cannot produce any living fruit except that God, the same God who approached us with undeserved lovingkindness, also continually sustains, undergirds and empowers us by His grace.
But hear the Good News! The same God who approached us in grace and awakened us by grace and saved us by grace will also enable us to live by grace, faithfully lavishing grace upon us now through time, into eternity and forever. He will empower us, transform us and keep us through the same gracious exertion of His will with which He began this wonderful work of salvation.
With the Apostle Paul we celebrate, Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Cor. 15:57). For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus Phlp. 1:6).
We will walk by the grace of God in holiness and confidence, secure as children of God, for the same God who saved us by grace will be faithful to keep us in grace.
Now to Hm who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen (Jude 1:24,25).
Study Questions
1. You will persevere in faith. What are some Bible-based reasons for this?
2. Considering the promise that God will perfectly complete what He has begun in us, how should we then live?