“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them” – Ephesians 2:10

Quoted: We have simply been called to walk in God’s work. When people often talk about the “work of God” all sorts of religious activity comes to mind; but we’re His work – “the work of God” (Romans 14:20). To walk in His work, is to simply walk as who we are, as what He has already made us in Christ Jesus – “His workmanship.”

The Concordant Literal New Testament says here that we are “His achievement.” It is vital that we grasp this grand truth. We did not make, nor are we making ourselves. We are His work; we are His achievement – and the “good works” of this verse are not even ours. They are His “good works,” since it is He who is the Workman, the Creator, according to the very context of the verse. We are His work, created – in Christ Jesus – simply unto HIS “good works.”

“God has before ordained that we should walk” in His “good works.” The translators of the King James Version placed an alternate rendering for the word “ordained” their margin – “prepared.” “Prepared” is the word used in the translations of Young, Rotherham, Wilson, and Darby; “makes ready” is used in the Concordant.

The Greek word for “ordained” (proetoimazo) is defined as, “to fit up in advance.” It is a compound word: “to make ready” (#2090) and “before” (4253). Bullinger defines the word as “prepared beforehand.” This Greek verb is only found in the Scriptures twice, both by Paul – here in Ephesians 2:10 and in Romans 9:23, where the King James Version translated this word as “he had afore prepared:”

The “good works” in Ephesians 2:10 do not belong to us. They are not intrinsically, or naturally ours. These “good works” are but His “good works” in us – thus making us “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.”