I have declared already heretofore, how Saint Paul in this text fathers the whole cause of our salvation upon God's only goodness, to the intent we should learn to acknowledge with all humility that it is he to whom we are beholden for all things, and none of us should glory any more in himself. For if we had any part in our salvation by our own merits or our own deserts, there were some cause why we should lift up ourselves. But seeing God gives himself wholly to us freely, we ought for our part to give ourselves wholly to him in return.

And it is said expressly, that he has shed out upon us the washing of the new birth, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost: yea, and that all this is done by our Lord Jesus Christ. So that we are not only beholden to God the Father for the mere purpose and will to save us, but we are also beholden to God the Son for the actual accomplishment of our salvation, and to God the Holy Spirit for the applying of it to our hearts and consciences.

Now let us note well the ground of the whole matter, which Saint Paul lays down in these words: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. These words cut off and overthrow all opinion of our own worthiness and merit. For Saint Paul doth not say that God saved us partly by his mercy and partly by our own works and deservings. He says altogether and entirely by his mercy, so that our own works have no place at all in the matter of our salvation.

And why so? Because our works are all defiled and corrupted. Before we are renewed by the Spirit of God, all that we do proceeds from an impure and corrupt heart, and therefore cannot be acceptable to God. And after we are renewed and have received the Spirit of God, our works are still imperfect and mixed with much sin and corruption, so that they cannot stand before the judgment of God if he should deal with us according to strict justice.

And therefore it must needs be, that our salvation is of mere grace and mercy, without any respect to our works or merits. This is the foundation of all true religion and true comfort. For if salvation depended in any part upon our own goodness, we should never have any certain assurance of it, since our goodness is so feeble and imperfect. But since it depends wholly upon the mercy of God, which is infinite and unchangeable, we may be fully persuaded and assured that he who has begun a good work in us will also perfect it unto the day of Jesus Christ.

But someone will say: if salvation is altogether by grace and not by works, what need is there of good works? And is it not dangerous to preach free grace so strongly, lest men should take occasion from it to live loosely and carelessly? This objection has been raised in all ages, and Saint Paul himself was charged with it, as we see in the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. But his answer there, and his practice throughout all his epistles, is to show that free grace, rightly understood and received, is the most powerful motive to holiness, and that those who abuse the doctrine of grace have never truly received it.

For see how Saint Paul deals in this very passage. He has declared that we are saved by mercy and not by works. But does he then say, therefore we may live as we please? Nothing of the sort. Rather, in the very same epistle he insists most strongly and urgently upon good works and holy living. This is the thing, Saint Paul says in another place, which is good and profitable unto men. He means the exhortations to godliness which he has given throughout the epistle.

So we see that the doctrine of free grace, far from being dangerous or an encouragement to licentiousness, is in truth the only solid foundation for a holy life. For it is only when a man has truly apprehended by faith the mercy of God in Christ, and has felt in his own heart the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, that he is fitted and disposed to live to the glory of God. Before this work of grace, a man may conform his outward behavior to the law, but his heart is not changed, and his obedience is constrained rather than free.

Now Saint Paul says that God saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. By the washing of regeneration he means that cleansing from sin which is wrought in us by the Spirit of God, whereby our souls are purified from the defilement of sin and made new creatures in Christ Jesus. This is what our Lord himself spoke of to Nicodemus, when he said that except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

And this new birth, this washing of regeneration, is not a work which we do ourselves, nor is it the result of our own natural powers and abilities. It is altogether the work of God the Holy Spirit, who works where and when and how he pleases, and who gives to us both the will and the ability to turn from sin and to cleave unto God. So that even our repentance, even our faith, even our very desire for God, are all gifts of his free grace.

Now there is also the sign and pledge of this inward washing, which is the outward sacrament of baptism. For as God in his mercy condescends to our weakness and infirmity by giving us not only the invisible grace of the Spirit but also visible signs to confirm and seal it to us, so in baptism he sets his seal upon the promise of the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not that the water itself has any power to wash away sin, for that belongs to Christ alone, but it is a visible testimony and pledge of the inward grace.

And therefore those who despise baptism as a mere ceremony of no importance, or who trust in the outward rite while neglecting the inward grace, are both equally in error. The one despises what God has graciously ordained for the strengthening of our faith. The other makes an idol of the sign and forgets the thing signified. The right use of baptism is to look through the outward sign to the inward reality, and to receive the assurance of God's mercy and the testimony of his covenant.

Now Saint Paul adds, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. This is a most comfortable expression. He says abundantly, or richly, to show that God does not deal sparingly with his grace, but pours it out in great abundance upon all who receive it in faith. For God is not like a poor man who gives grudgingly and little by little because he has not enough to give more. He is a God of infinite riches and bounty, and he delights to enrich his people with all manner of spiritual blessings.

And he says through Jesus Christ our Savior, to show that all this grace comes to us through the mediation of Christ alone. For Christ is the channel through whom all the grace and mercy of God flows down to us. He has merited it for us by his obedience and his suffering. He sends his Spirit to apply it to our hearts. And he intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father, that we may persevere in grace unto the end.

So that we may see here the whole work of our salvation set forth most clearly and fully. God the Father out of his mere mercy chose us and purposed to save us. God the Son by his death and resurrection purchased our salvation and reconciled us to God. God the Holy Spirit by his inward working creates new life in us and cleanses us from our sins. This is the most glorious mystery of the gospel, and the most firm foundation of the believer's hope and comfort.

And then Saint Paul adds, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Here he sets down the great result and effect of all this grace of God, which is that we are justified and made heirs of eternal life. Now justification is not the same thing as sanctification, though they always go together. Justification is God's act of pronouncing us righteous in his sight, for the sake of the righteousness of Christ which is imputed to us.

And this justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. It is not by our works or merits, as we have already seen. It is not partly by grace and partly by works, as the Papists falsely teach. It is altogether and entirely by grace, so that there is no room for any boasting on our part, but only thanksgiving and praise to God for his unspeakable gift.

And the fruit and consequence of justification is that we are made heirs of eternal life. For if God has justified us and received us into his favor as his children, then by that same act he has made us heirs of all that belongs to him, which is nothing less than eternal life and glory. This is the inheritance laid up for us in heaven, of which we have as yet only a foretaste in this present life, but which shall be ours in its fullness at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now let us learn from all this to have a very humble opinion of ourselves and of all our own powers and merits. For if even our salvation is altogether of grace, and not of ourselves, how much more ought we to distrust ourselves in all the lesser matters of our Christian walk and conversation. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything good, as Saint Paul says, much less to do anything good. We are dependent upon God for every thought and every word and every action that is pleasing in his sight.

Let us learn also to have a very high and reverent esteem for the grace of God, and to use it not as a cloak for sin but as a motive and means for holy living. For it is a most ungrateful and wicked thing to take the grace of God and turn it into lasciviousness, as the apostle Jude speaks. The true effect of receiving the grace of God is that we hate sin the more, and that we love righteousness the more, and that we press forward with greater earnestness toward the perfection which is set before us.

And let us learn thirdly to place all our hope and confidence for eternal life, not in anything that we have done or can do, but wholly and entirely in the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. For he has said that he that believes in the Son has everlasting life. And again, I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. These are words of absolute and unconditional promise, which cannot fail, because they rest upon the faithfulness and power of God himself.

And let us lastly remember, that the end of all this grace is not merely our own comfort and salvation, but the glory of God. For God saves us that we may be to the praise of the glory of his grace, as the apostle says in the epistle to the Ephesians. Therefore let us study to glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits which are his, and let us show by our lives that the grace of God has not been in vain toward us, but has truly renewed us and made us a peculiar people zealous of good works.

Now let us fall down before the face of our good God, with all humility and thankfulness, praising him for the wonderful riches of his grace which he has bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus: and praying him to work more and more in us by his Holy Spirit, that we may grow daily in the knowledge and love of him, and that our lives may be a living testimony to the truth of his word and the power of his salvation, until we come at last to the full inheritance of the saints in light.