By Grace You Have Been Saved
The earlier years of my life have namely been defined by the pursuit of “security” … Job security … Health security … National security … Social or neighborhood security … Even identity security. No matter how hard I tried to moor these “securities", the ever-moving waters of life and circumstance always changed the game, variables that I could never really account for, nor control. Every attempt proved to bring deeper experiences of insufficiencies and anxieties … worst yet ... insecurities. That sounds counterproductive, doesn’t it? In essence, I was treating my “life securities” like a sailboat at the mercies of the winds of culture, experiences, preferences, ideals, tradition. And because of this, I either found myself floating around or headed directly toward shipwreck, whether I realized it or not. Upon faith in Jesus, my sailboat found an anchor, an anchor that settles deep down into the seabed keeping me from the dangers and despairs of drifting.
by grace you have been saved
[Ephesians 2:5, 8]
In Jesus, you are saved by grace
Eternal rescue from the consequence, power, and presence of sin through faith in Jesus’s substitutionary death and resurrection is a sovereign act of divine grace. It is rooted and founded in the great merciful love of God as He pours out His kindness and favor on the undeserving. It is not a wage earned by the seemingly “good” deeds performed by evil people. It is not a reward for appeasing a perverse god with tainted sacrifices and self-seeking ceremonies offered by the hands of wicked worshipers. It is by God’s grace alone that He transforms the sinner into a saint, the enemy into a friend, the orphan into an heir, and the underserving into a trophy of grace displaying the goodness and glory of God.
In Jesus, you are forever kept and being kept
The next part of the verse bears a unique grammatical formula that will change your life, as this discovery did for me. The phrase, “have been saved” is in the perfect, passive, participle. Yes, you are right … it is time to geek out over grammar!
The perfect tense of a verb refers to a present condition or reality as a result of an action that took place in the past. This tense emphasizes both the completion of the act, and the current state of being at any given moment from there on out. In other words, when the action is completed, it remains completed, and the present reality is the completed action.
The passive voice of the verb indicates that the subject is being acted upon rather than actively performing the action. Simply put, the verb happens to the subject.
A participle, for our present consideration, can be considered as a verb that is currently in the process of happening. For example, there’s a slight difference of focus in the present action of “eating spaghetti” and “while eating spaghetti”. (Mmmmmm … spaghetti).
A critical emphasis emerges by pairing the perfect tense and the participle, implying a continual presently-completed state with a presently ongoing action.
Ok.
Take a deep breath.
Inhale slowly.
Exhale slowly.
(Repeat as needed).
That may have been a lot to take in. Think of this like putting together a puzzle ... slowly laying down pieces in their proper places. Soon, you'll begin to see an amazing picture come together. “You have been saved” then refers to the fact that your eternal salvation – your eternal position in Christ – is…
perfect in that it occurred in a moment in the past, it is a completed action, and it remains as a completed action every moment afterwards;
passive in that you were saved and that you didn't do the saving; therefore, through faith in Jesus, you (the object, being totally depraved in your sinfulness, hopeless, and helpless in remedying your fallen condition) were saved (God being the active agent in saving you), and you didn't earn your salvation nor contribute to your merit for receiving salvation in any way; and
a participle in that it is also currently happening, but not in the sense of laying down more bricks in completing a wall because there’s more to be done or more in order to be completed (since it’s already in the perfect tense). Your salvation is currently and presently in action and occurring.
Am I proposing that this verse is teaching that our eternal salvation in Jesus Christ is a completed action and remains “finished” from that moment on, while also being presently ongoing?
Am I proposing that your salvation is a perfectly completed act occurring at a moment in time through faith, and that your salvation is also presently being kept completed?
Am I proposing that through faith, God has actively and perfectly saved you and He is continually in the act of keeping your salvation completed and secured?
Absolutely!
The believing sinner is saved at a moment in time and is continually being kept saved in every moment in time thereafter. “It is finished!” The words spoken with the parting breath of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins resonate ever so wonderfully. This sounds like eternally Good News to me ... wouldn't you agree?
Thank you for taking the time to reflect with me, and I pray that this post strengthens your heart in the Lord. Share in the comments below how the Lord is revealing His goodness to you, or let me know if you have any questions or if there’s any topic you would like for me to address. Spread the Word.
Linus Nguyen is the founder of Of The Way Ministries and serves as lead pastor of Emmanuel Bible Fellowship (Houston, Texas). He has taught in, developed curriculum for, and written on the subjects of Biblical Studies, Theology, Discipleship, Spiritual Formation, Philosophy of Religion, Missions, Humanities, Rhetoric, and Communications at Secondary, Undergraduate, and Postgraduate levels. // Follow him on Podcast, YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook.