>Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
>verse 10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
I have a few questions. Does grace come after or before faith? If after, then is it ok to boast about faith? If before, then shouldn’t we focus on the general truth that is we should not boast of our being able to be saved, as God has given us both the ability to have faith and do good works through that faith?
And another thought I’ve been having is, just how important are those works through faith? How perfect should we really be? There are many verses in the NT that clearly say we will be judged according to our deeds, so isn’t it really important that we do good works? When exactly are our sins taken away? I’ve always had this unthinking assumption that our sin will be taken away as soon as we die, simply because we believed in Jesus, and that everyone will magically become equal in heaven, but the more I read the more this doesn’t make sense. Are we not preparing our place in heaven (or hell) through the actions we take every day? Jesus says that some will be the “least in heaven,” so there is clearly a hierarchy of sorts, based on the life you live. Now I’m not familiar with Protestant theology per Luther, Calvin, etc. and what these men actually wrote, and how they may emphasize and explain these verses and ideas, but for the most part, American Protestants don’t seem very concerned with doing good works (though it must be said how lackluster in faith many American “Christians” are regardless of their denomination).