Lest Any MAN Should Boast

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)

I was greatly impressed by a sermon I listened to today, highlighting God's purpose and sovereign grace in salvation. You can read it or listen here. This reminded me of the Scripture I pasted at the start of this article. I emphasize in the title and in the Scripture quotation above, the word "man". When you read the verse, say it out loud, emphasizing this word. "Lest any "man" should boast." When you emphasize this word in that way, you are also saying that there is someone who should boast. Not man, but God. God's purpose in saving us is that we might be to the praise of His glory, not our own. Every aspect of salvation, yes, every aspect of everything is so that God might boast, and so that we might spend eternity (how can you spend that which is eternal? but what else can you say?) praising the glory of His grace. If salvation were of works, man would boast. He would have the right, since he did it himself. But, since man does nothing for salvation, God gets all the glory. Our salvation started with God's purpose and grace, and His choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We could have had no part in that, for we were not even around. Nor do we have a part in it now, for it is not of works, lest any man should boast. A salvation that rests entirely upon God and His eternal purposes provides great security, for it was all conceived, begun and shall be consummated in and through Him. And how can He fail? "For of Him, and through Him and to Him are all things." To God be the glory!