A bit of commentary from John Gill on John 14:6
I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.
way - Christ is not merely the way, as he goes before his people as an
example; or merely as a prophet, pointing out unto them by his doctrine
the way of salvation; but he is the way of salvation itself by his
obedience and sacrifice; nor is there any other
truth - he is not only true, but truth itself. he is the sum and substance of all the truths of the Gospel; they are
all full of him, and centre in him; and he is the truth of all the types
and shadows, promises and prophecies of the Old Testament; they have
all their accomplishment in him; and he is the true way, in opposition
to all false ones of man's devising.
life - Christ is the author and giver of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal;
or he is the way of life, or "the living way"; in opposition to the
law, which was so far from being the way of life, that it was the
ministration of condemnation and death: he always, and ever will be the
way; all in this way live, none ever die; and it is a way that leads to
eternal life
Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The phrase "we are his workmanship" could just pass us by unless we consider who we are talking about. We are the hand-crafted workmanship of the creator of the universe. You are not some shoddily put together knock-off. You have been crafted by the master.
We see here the proper place for good works. They are not there to earn anything from God or to secure our salvation (v8-9). Good works are not the basis of our relationship with God, they are what God has created us for. God has prepared them beforehand for us to do. They flow out of our reconciliation to him, they are not the cause of it.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Paul is clear, our salvation is a gift. We did not earn it. Why does the world see the church as a group of holier-than-thou people boasting (subtly) about their moral righteousness? The church is a group of people who know they don't have any righteousness but have been loved by God anyway. People who deserve nothing but have been given everything. This should cultivate deep humility - we are all great sinners with a great Saviour.
Ephesians 2:7
... so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
Our salvation shows how gracious God is. We are trophies of his grace. The immeasurable riches of his grace are demonstrated by his kindness towards us. The fact that God would love us and save us and accept us shows how wonderful his grace is. Do our lives show off God's grace? Or do we give off a message of self-improvement via "christianity"?
Ephesians 2:4-6
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he has loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
With Jesus our sins have been forgiven, but that is not it. It's easy to think that we have had our slate wiped clean and now we need to make a better job of it, at least until we have to ask for his forgiveness again next week, or tomorrow, or this afternoon. The gospel is much more than that, way more than just getting us back to square one. We have been transferred from death to life, eternally but also now, no longer spiritually dead but alive with Christ. He died, taking our sin to the grave with him, but he also rose and we have been raised up with Him to a new life. We have been seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ. Our position is different, our allegiance is different, our family is different, our life is different. By grace we have been saved, not only saved from something but saved to something - new life in Him.
