Grace Made Active by Faith - Sermon for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost (2026)

The last time I preached, I spoke about the grace of God, and called the Christian life the life of grace; so today I want to continue this theme of grace, and say a few words about today’s epistle reading from Ephesians. This passage is so important because it reminds us of the proper order of operations in the Christian life. Especially for us as monastics, there is a danger of prioritizing asceticism over grace. And even if we look at our own monastic life and feel that no one would accuse us of being great ascetics, we can still fall into the trap of thinking that real monastic life consists primarily in the great bodily mortifications we read about in the lives of the saints. Whether we have zeal for such things, or whether we have given up hope of ever achieving such things, it doesn’t matter, as long as we suppose—whether consciously or unconsciously—that the riches of God’s grace can only be unlocked through the application of our will.

St. Paul offers us a completely different way of thinking about our life in Christ. Always and everywhere in his epistles, it is the grace of God that takes priority over our own efforts. This is the central theme of today’s epistle reading, which is worth repeating: But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:4-9).

It’s always the grace of God that makes the first move in the process of our salvation. I’m afraid that sometimes, out of a fear of falling into Western habits of thinking, of being too “Augustinian”, or too Lutheran, or too Calvinist, we as Orthodox can shy away from the boldness of Paul’s words here. We are quick to quote the words of St. James, that faith without works is dead (James 2:26), to mitigate St. Paul’s unequivocal language. But we must pay close attention. Our passage today concludes with these words: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10). So we see that even for St. Paul there is no contradiction between faith and works, it’s just a matter of understanding their proper relationship. The one springs from the other. Good deeds are simply the natural expression of grace’s activity in the soul; and we make that grace active in our soul through faith.

This is the simple point that I want to stress, that any work of value in God’s sight always springs from this one source—grace made active by faith. We must always bear this in mind because it’s so easy to fall into the habit of thinking and feeling that we must labor to earn God’s grace; of thinking that our good behavior will finally win us His love. And so we labor under the burdensome illusion of our distance from God; we suppose that He will only draw near once we’ve overcome our sins and passions. And because our sense of estrangement from God keeps us from ever forming an ardent love for Him—because how can we love someone we don’t know?—then we seem to toil fruitlessly, always stuck in the same habitual sins; and we grow complacent, thinking that at least we’re not getting any worse, at least we’re not doing anything terrible. Either that, or we grow despondent, and think that there’s no hope we will ever change.

If we find ourselves in such spiritual stagnation, then let St. Paul’s words be for us a reminder of how the spiritual life in Christ actually operates. First, Christ has already accomplished everything for us. Through no merit of our own, He has defeated sin, death, and the devil, and has prepared heavenly mansions of us in the house of His Father, which places He offers to us freely in His inexpressible love for us. This is how greatly He desires for us to be with Him. All we must do is accept these glad tidings through faith; and this is what it means to repent, which as many of you know, literally means to “change your mind.” So we accept the grace that God in His mercy has deigned to pour out upon us, and this introduces new and previously inconceivable thoughts and feelings into the heart; and when they have penetrated the heart to a sufficient depth, they begin to bring forth of their own accord a new manner of life. The crucial point here is that the Christian life is a response to our soul’s salvation, not the prerequisite for our salvation.

The same is true of our monastic life, even if we are still struggling to purify our motivations in seeking it and living it. Perhaps this is less clear, because there is an element of free choice in the monastic life. Though we may each be called, God does not command anyone to live in poverty, chastity, and obedience. We choose ourselves to enter this way of life. But again, such a choice only makes sense, and is only sustainable, as a free response to the superabundant grace of God, not as an extreme effort to acquire the grace of God. And so for us, the three great theological virtues are even more important—faith, hope, and love. The unashamed faith that believes in God’s steadfast love and the riches of His grace, the unwavering hope that always looks ahead to our eternal reward in the midst of every earthly trial, and the unfeigned love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things; the love that alone can empower us to live a holy life.

So let us always bear in mind the greatness of our calling as sons of God, and labor in the assurance of God’s love for us, and in the hope for our heavenly inheritance; and, as St. Paul prayed for the Ephesians, may the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory give unto [us] the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of [our] understanding being enlightened; that [we] may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe (Eph. 1:17-19). Let us never forget that all of God’s promises extend even to us—if only we too will believe. Amen.