These are the sons of God

Ephesians 2:8-10,

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we would walk in them.

We are His workmanship; we are in Christ because God put us there.

1 Corinthians 1:30, 31,

30 But by His own doing you are in Christ, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

31 that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

We did nothing to achieve salvation; it was given to us as a gift from God. That is a given; no one can argue against it.

While we still dwell in the old creation, flesh and blood, we have also been born anew into a new creation, a spiritual creation. We are now members of the body of the risen Christ. Having now been raised up where our new lives are hidden with Christ in God, we find that we are under an obligation to live and walk by the Spirit, and not the flesh.

Romans 8:12-14,

12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—

13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

From this we can see that only those who walk by the Spirit of God, and not the flesh, are children of God, and that it is our obligation to do so. Those who walk by the flesh and its lusts will die.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10,

9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Please bear in mind Paul is speaking to born again Christians in this passage, for he began the letter “…to the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia…”

So we will all be judged by the deeds of our bodies, and we will all be recompensed for both good deeds and bad deeds.

This brings us back to Ephesians 2:10,

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we would walk in them.

We are God’s workmanship because He chose us to be in the new creation, the risen body of His Son Jesus Christ. And He created our born again spirit in the risen body of His Son, where we are to walk in good works that He has prepared for us. These works are to be done in and by the Spirit in whom we are to walk by.

So we are in the body of Christ because God chose us and gave us the gift of salvation through His Son. We did nothing to deserve this gift; He just gave it to us. However, now that we have been born anew into the risen body of Christ, we find ourselves under the obligation to put to death the deeds of the flesh and walk by the Spirit.

We find also that God has prepared works that we are to do in our new life; works that can be accomplished only through walking by, and obeying, the Holy Spirit, as He leads us from deed to deed in the kingdom of God. These works can range from opening a car door for your wife to a simple smile, from giving to the poor to raising the dead, and to every good thing in between.

May God lead you by His Spirit,

Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant

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Published by Jon David Banks