Grasping--and Communicating--the Great Kindness of God

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

— Ephesians 2:1–10

If God is sovereign in all things—and he is—then why does he task us with making his gift of grace known to others? God certainly can work without us; but his working through us brings into sharper focus both his kindness and our humility. Note the pivotal importance of verse 7 in the passage above. This verse ties together the reason for Paul’s explanation of God’s sovereign action in saving us (vv. 1–6), and the summary of how God goes about that sovereign activity (vv. 8–10). God acts, Paul says, to “show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

These words obligate us to make sure that, in our zeal to convince others of the Good News, we do not obscure the core message of the kindness of God. All too often we who proclaim “the doctrines of grace” can be a most ungracious people. Concern to defend God’s sovereignty against the challenges of human choice can lead to overzealous debates that pit believers with differing views against one another in unhealthy ways. While we should never minimize God’s sovereign choice that is our only hope of heaven, we must also make sure to communicate what this doctrine is really about: the revelation of God’s kindness.

We must be Christ-centered and grace-focused so that consistent adulation of the love of God in Christ will move our hearts to love and obedience and convince us—and others—more and more of our dependence upon his kindness rather than our performance, right actions, or right doctrine. We are not saved by right thinking any more than we are by right actions. There is no cause for boasting among those who know that their salvation is a gift of God. Rather, we should be characterized by ever greater humility, love for God, and love for his people.

We will never in this life fully understand the mysteries of God’s sovereignty, but we can grasp much of the love in his heart. We will not in this life know why God chooses as he does, but we know enough about him to understand that his choices are good, just, and loving. Let us rest assured in this knowledge as we seek to proclaim the kindness of our God to those who do not yet know him.



This material is adapted from chapter 6 of Bryan Chapell’s book Ephesians: The Glory of Christ in the Life of the Church (Reformed Expository Commentary series, P&R Publishing, 2009).