1:1-2:10 - ‘By grace you have been saved through faith… for good works’
(2:8-10). God calls us to live a ‘holy’ life. We cannot make ourselves
holy. We are spiritually ‘dead’. We need to be ‘made alive’ - by God.
Holiness does not come from ourselves. It comes from the Lord. Long
before we ever thought of loving Him - He loved us. Our love for Him is
so changeable. His love for us is unchanged, unchanging and
unchangeable. It is eternal. He loved us ‘before the foundation of the
world’. He will love us ‘in the world to come’. This is the love of God,
the love which inspires us and enables us to live a ‘holy’ life (2:1;
1:4; 2:7). When we realize the truth concerning ourselves - ‘nothing
good dwells within me’ (Romans 7:18) - and God - He is ‘rich in mercy’
(2:4) - , we will ‘praise His glorious grace’ (1:6).
2:11-4:6 - By the grace of God we are called to salvation - ‘saved through faith’ - , sanctification - ‘for good works’ - , and service - ‘according to the gift of God’s grace… by the working of His power’, we are enabled ‘to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ’ (2:8-10; 3:7-8). When we consider all this, we say in our hearts, ‘To God be the glory’! (3:21). We are ‘strengthened with power through His Spirit in our inner being’ so that we might live as those who are saved, sanctified and serving. Even when we are deeply conscious of our own great weakness, we draw encouragement from this: God is ‘able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us’ (3:16,20). We grow in grace as we share in fellowship - ‘eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit’ (4:3).
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