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By Grace are you Saved Through Faith (Ephesians 2:8-9)

By Jeremy Myers
2 Comments

By Grace are you Saved Through Faith (Ephesians 2:8-9)
https://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/1113539725-redeeminggod-by-grace-are-you-saved-through-faith-ephesians-28-9.mp3

I firmly believe that the Bible teaches that we receive eternal life by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. But is that what Paul is teaching in Ephesians 2:8-9 when he writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”? Though many Christians think so, I do not. This study of Ephesians 2:8-9 will explain what I think Paul is really talking about in these verses.

Before we get to that, I want to address a question from a reader about whether it is sinful or not for Christians to engage in New Age practices.

Question from a Reader about New Age Practices

I feel like a lot of Christians are against things like manifesting, meditation, and positive affirmations. I do believe Jesus died for my sins and he is the way to heaven. But most of my day is centered around these New Age practices because they help me clear up the doubt and fear in my life and bring me to a better mental state and ultimately so much more happiness. Is there anything wrong with this and should I feel guilty for it? Is this talked about in any of your books? I would love to hear more about what you have to say. I appreciate your response it was a weight lifted off my shoulders.

Great question! To my knowledge, I have not written about this anywhere.

Let me give you a principle that I use in my life that helps me often make tricky decisions about morality. There are two ways to approach life regarding biblical morality. They are this: First, some people think we should only do what the Bible commands. Second, some think we can do anything the Bible doesn’t forbid.

The first group thinks that we should only do what the Bible tells us we can do. Everything else is potentially sinful. This is why some extreme groups, like the Amish, don’t have electricity and won’t drive cars or have phones. That’s super simplistic, and there are other reasons also, but one reason for this approach to life is that the Bible doesn’t mention such things, and so we should avoid them.

The second approach is that we should only avoid what the Bible strictly forbids. This is the approach that most Christians try to follow, but even here, there is a wide diversity of opinion on what the Bible forbids. For example, lots of Christians in previous generations taught that playing cards was sinful. But the Bible doesn’t forbid this practice anywhere. So why did they think cards were sinful? I honestly don’t know, but they probably had their reasons.

These issues sort of go hand-in-hand with whether the Bible is prescriptive or descriptive, but that’s a slightly different issue, and so I’ll leave that one alone for now.

Anyway, I do follow that second option. For the most part, God gives us freedom to live life how we want, as long as we don’t go against the clear teachings of Scripture on moral issues. This is not a fool proof plan, because of course, the Bible never strictly forbids slavery, but we all know slavery is evil. I use a bit of trajectory hermeneutics to help make these sorts of conclusions.

So how can we apply this to New Age practices?

Well, I need to be honest. I am mostly ignorant of New Age practices and beliefs. I did a little reading and watched a few videos, but based on my extremely limited knowledge, it seems to me that many of the New Age practices are quite similar to some of the practices mentioned in the Bible, but the New Age approach sort of removes God from the equation.

So for example, many New Age practitioners talk about Manifesting or the Law of Attraction, where, which some positive thinking about yourself and the universe, you can bring good things to yourself and turn hopes and dreams into reality. Well, this is somewhat similar to prayer. Rather than trying to manifest your hopes and dreams into reality, why not have a conversation with God about your hopes and dreams instead?

What about positive thinking? Well again, why not think positive thoughts about who you are in Jesus Christ? Why not recognize all the truths from Scripture about what God thinks about you?

Does this mean that manifesting or positive thinking are sinful? …. Probably not. I just don’t think it is anywhere near as effective as prayer or as claiming the truths of Scripture about yourself.

Now look, I would avoid some of the New Age beliefs that teach we are all mini gods. That’s not true. Or that all roads lead to heaven. I am not a universalist and so don’t agree with that either.

Anyway, I am not an expert on any of this. I would love it if you weighed in below by leaving a comment. Let me know what you think about mystical beliefs and practices and how they line up with Scripture or contradict it.

By Grace are You Saved Through Faith … Ephesians 2:8-9

This study was difficult for me to prepare, because I could spend hours talking about Ephesians 2:8-9 and all the various ways of understanding this verse, and also the importance of understanding the key terms in this verse, such as grace, saved, faith, and the “gift of God” at the end of the verse. I have lessons on all these words in my Gospel Dictionary Online Course for those who join my discipleship group.

But let me just try to summarize everything for you. Let us begin with the traditional understanding of Ephesians 2:8-9. The verses say this:

Ephesians 2:8-9. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Traditionally, Christians believe that Ephesians 2:8-9 is talking about how to receive eternal life. I even taught this in the past, and you read my old teachings on Ephesians 2:8-10 here. Christians think this because of the word “saved.” Most Christians think that the word “saved” refers to receiving eternal life and going to heaven when you die.

Therefore, most Christians think that this verse is teaching that God offers eternal life to use solely by His grace, and we receive this free gift through faith … that is, by believing Jesus for it.

Ephesians 2:8 faith is not a giftThere is also an issue there at the end of the verse about the “gift of God” and what it refers to. What is the gift of God that Paul is referring to? Is it the grace? The faith? the salvation? I have taught about this frequently in the past, so I’m not going to dive deep into the question now. (See these articles: Faith is NOT a gift from God, Is faith the gift from God, Faith is Not a Gift from God) The answer to the debate, however, is that the Greek words have the entire “by grace are you saved through faith” package in view. The gift that Paul has in mind is all that God has done for us human to offer us salvation by grace through faith. That’s all I’m going to say about that, and you can read those other articles for a longer explanation.

Now, it is 100% true that we receive eternal life by grace through faith. The Bible teaches this everywhere (cf. John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47).

However, although the Bible everywhere teaches that we receive eternal life by grace along through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, Ephesians 2:8-9 is not one of the verses that teaches this idea.

The reason is because the word “saved” in Scripture does not ever actually refer to receiving eternal life. As I briefly explained in the previous study of Ephesians 2:5-7, the word “salvation” means “deliverance” and the context of the passage determines what kind of deliverance is in view. When you perform this study on every passage in the Bible (as I have done), you discover that the Bible never uses the words “saved” or “salvation” in reference to receiving eternal life.

Not even here in Ephesians 2:8-9.

Again, as we saw last time, the salvation of Ephesians 2 has in view the way God has delivered us from our bondage and slavery to the sin of blame, accusation, scapegoating, and violence that dominates and rules the world. Since Cain murdered Abel, the world has run on violence. We know of no other way to live.

But God, through the person and work of Jesus Christ, came and rescued us, delivered us, SAVED us from this way of living and showed us a completely different way of living. This new way of life is what we were made for originally, and what God has always modeled for us, and what we are now to walk in, as we follow Jesus.

God revealed this to us out of His grace, and as we follow this new way by faith, we will be saved from the death that has enslaved humanity.

In other words, Ephesians 2:8-9 is not about how to go to heaven when you die, but rather about how God stepped in to the human problem to rescue us from our slavery to death.

So with that in mind, here is how to read Ephesians 2:8-9:

God gave us an amazing free gift [by grace] in showing us how to live a different way than through violence and bloodshed [are you saved], and while this new way of living is counterintuitive and seems to contradict everything we think we know about life, if we believe that what we see in Jesus is the true way to properly live life [through faith], then God will lead us into this new way of life. This entire thing did not come from ourselves. We humans did not think it up and come to this new understanding on our own [and that not of yourselves]. This entire revelation of the new way to live life is a gift from God [it is the gift of God]. No one can boast that they thought this up on their own [not of works so that no one can boast]. Nope, it’s solely and only from God.

Does that way of reading these verses make sense?

This way of reading the verse fits perfectly in the overall context of Ephesians 2, where Paul has laid out the problem of humanity in Ephesians 2:1-3, the solution to this problem that has come from God through Jesus in Ephesians 2:4-10, and the application of how to live this new way in Ephesians 2:11-22.

Again, Ephesians 2 is not about how to go to heaven when we die, but is about how to bring heaven down to earth by living at peace with one another here on this earth, just as Jesus did during His life and just as God wants us to do in ours. And our world desperately needs this way of living right now, doesn’t it?

We will pick back up next time with Ephesians 2:10 as we continue to talk about this new way of living as revealed in Jesus.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: Ephesians 2:8, Ephesians 2:8-9, faith, gift of God, grace, new age, new age movement, podcast, saved, sin, violence

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Faith is NOT a Gift from God (Ephesians 2:8)

By Jeremy Myers
14 Comments

Faith is NOT a Gift from God (Ephesians 2:8)
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/560128227-redeeminggod-140-faith-is-not-a-gift-of-god-ephesians-28.mp3

faith is not a gift from god

Some teach that faith is a work of God performed in the heart or mind of a person. Another way of saying this is that faith is a gift from God to the heart of human beings.

Those who hold to this view say that God gives faith to those whom He has chosen for eternal life. There are three reasons that some people teach that faith is a gift of God.

People are Dead and Trespasses and Sins, and so Cannot Believe

First, some believe that since unregenerate people are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1), and have had their minds darkened or blinded (cf. (Eph 4:18; 2 Cor 3:14), they cannot do anything good, including believing in Jesus for eternal life.

Those who hold to this view teach that if a person is going to believe in Jesus for eternal life (or even believe anything good and pleasing about God at all), they can only believe if God sovereignly bestowed up them the gift of faith.

Various texts are often referenced in defense of this idea (cf. Acts 5:31; 11:18; 13:48; 16:14; Rom 12:3; 1 Cor 12:8-9; Eph 2:8-9; Php 1:29; 2 Tim 2:25; 2 Pet 1:1). But in several of these, faith is not even mentioned (e.g., Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim 2:25), and the others can all be reasonably explained in the context.

Sadly, I cannot look at all of these texts in this post … but we will consider the primary text below, Ephesians 2:8-9. (I also explain several of the other texts in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?)

Note, however, that this entire line of thought stems from thinking that faith is a good work.

In other words, the idea that faith is a gift derives from the false idea that faith is somehow meritorious. After all, if faith is a work, then we must say that faith is a gift from God, for we cannot teach that humans are able to work for eternal life.

But Scripture is clear about faith, that it is not a work; it is not meritorious. Faith is the opposite of works (cf. Romans 4:4-5). Faith does not earn, achieve, or gain good standing with God in any way.

Therefore, faith does not need to be a gift from God. People are persuaded about all sorts of things, and no such persuasion is ever considered to be a good work or a meritorious action, or a gift from God.

So the faith to believe in Jesus is also not a gift from God.

But there is a Spiritual Gift of Faith!

The second reason that some people believe and teach that faith is a gift of God is because they confuse this idea with the biblical teaching about the “spiritual gift” of faith.

Even though Paul does write about the gift of faith in 1 Corinthians 12:9, this is the spiritual gift of faith, and is not the same thing as the so-called “gift of faith” which some teach God gives to people before they can believe in Jesus for eternal life.

Furthermore, Paul is quite clear that we all have different spiritual gifts (Rom 12:6). If everyone had to receive the “gift of faith” from God in order to receive eternal life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47), then this would mean that all Christians have the spiritual gift of faith, which Paul says we do not.

So what is the spiritual gift of faith? As (#AmazonAdLink) I wrote in my book on the spiritual gifts, a person  has the spiritual gift of faith when they firmly persuaded of God’s power and promises to accomplish His will and purpose and to display such a confidence in Him that circumstances and obstacles do not shake that conviction (1 Cor 12:8-10; cf. Heb 11).

People with the spiritual gift of faith know what they believe and why they believe it, and are able to inspire action in others based on their beliefs. Those with the gift of faith are often called upon to encourage others to step out in faith and follow God to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks.

The spiritual gift of faith to some Christians for the edification and encouragement of others is not the same thing as God giving faith to all Christians so that they can believe in Jesus for eternal life.

So biblical passages about the spiritual gift of faith cannot be used to support the idea that God gives faith to unregenerate people so they can believe.

But Ephesians 2:8 says God gives the gift of Faith

The third reason that some people think faith is a gift from God is because of what Paul seems to say in Ephesians 2:8.

Ephesians 2:8 faith is not a giftHe writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

Some people see the phrase “and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” as referring back to the word “faith.”

They read Ephesians 2:8 this way: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and faith is not of yourselves, faith is the gift of God.”

There are numerous problems with this approach to Ephesians 2:8, the greatest being that it reveals a complete disregard for the Greek text.

Greek words have gender: masculine, feminine, and neuter. When relative pronouns (such as “that” and “it”) are used to refer back to a noun, they always agree with the gender of the noun. The word “faith” in Greek is feminine. Therefore, if Paul was intending to say that faith is not of ourselves, but faith is a gift of God, he would have used a feminine relative pronoun for the word “that” (the word “it” is not actually in the Greek).

But the word “that” is not feminine; it is neuter.

Therefore, it is impossible for Paul to be thinking about “faith” when he wrote “and that is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

It is grammatically impossible for the word “that” to refer to “faith” in Ephesians 2:8.

So what was Paul referring to, if not to faith?

Ephesians 2:8-9 in Context

You can read my longer explanation of Ephesians 2:8-9 here, or in my book (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?, but let me summarize the meaning of the text for you here.

As stated previously, Greek pronouns must agree with their antecedent in gender, number, and case. Faith is feminine, and the pronoun “that” is neuter, so the pronoun cannot be pointing back to faith.

So to what does the pronoun refer?

The problem is that there is no neuter noun in the preceding context.

So what was Paul referring to, if not to faith?

The answer is that Paul is referring to the entire “salvation package” that he has written about in Ephesians 2. The description of Paul about what God has provided to us in Jesus contains a mixture of masculine and feminine nouns. So Paul uses a neuter pronoun to refer to the entire “salvation package.”

Paul’s overall point in Ephesians 2 is about how God solved the problem of human division and strife that is caused by racial, religious, and political differences (Eph 2:1-4). Paul shows how God revealed the problem and the solution through the crucifixion of Jesus (Eph 2:5-10) so that we can all live in peace and unity with one another in this life (Eph 2:11-22), as God has always wanted and desired.

Everything Paul mentions in Ephesians 2 is the gift of God to us.

The gift is not faith itself, but everything else that God has done and taught and provided through Jesus Christ, and which we can benefit from when we believe in Jesus for it.

faith is not a gift

So faith is not the gift of God.

The gift of God is His revelation to humanity and the salvation which comes to us by His grace. When we see, understand, and believe what God has revealed to us and done for us through the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus, it is then that the peace of God starts to become a reality in our life here and now.

It is then that all who were formerly at enmity with each other are fitted together to grow into the holy temple in the Lord, as a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Eph 2:21-22). This is the mystery of the church, which Paul goes on to explain in Ephesians 3–4.

All of this is the gift of God, and when we receive it by faith, we begin to experience this new reality in this life and on this earth.

See my article here for more reasons why Faith is Not a Gift From God.

Therefore, since faith is not a gift from God, this means that every person is able to believe in Jesus for eternal life. Just as any person can believe that 2+2=4, or that gravity is a force of nature, so also, anybody is able to believe in Jesus for eternal life, once the truth is presented to them.

Since faith is not a work, but is the opposite of works, a person who believes in Jesus is not doing anything meritorious for eternal life, but is only accepting the free gift of God.

So … have you believed in Jesus for eternal life? If not, what is holding you back?

If you want to learn more about this, try my online course mentioned below, or get my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: Ephesians 2:8, Ephesians 2:8-9, faith, faith is not a gift, faith is not a work, One Verse Podcast, what is faith

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How are we “dead in trespasses and sins”? (Ephesians 2:1)

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

How are we “dead in trespasses and sins”? (Ephesians 2:1)
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/461244555-redeeminggod-123-how-were-we-dead-in-trespasses-and-sins-ephesians-21.mp3

Ephesians 2:1 is a favorite passage among some theologians to defend the idea that unregenerate people cannot do anything in their life to move toward God.

In other words, some say that because people are “dead in the trespasses and sins” (shortened as “dead in sins“) they cannot do anything good, including believe in Jesus.

But is this what Ephesians 2:1 is teaching? The verse says this:

Ephesians 2:1. And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Ephesians 2:1

Is Paul Teaching that Unbelievers cannot Believe in Jesus?

So is Paul teaching in Ephesians 2:1 that unbelievers cannot even believe in Jesus for eternal life unless God first regenerates them? Must God give unbelievers “new life” (regeneration) before they believe and so that they can believe?

Do people receive eternal life from God before they believe in Jesus or because they believe in Jesus?

The answer is that Jesus and Paul and all Scripture consistently agrees that we believe in in Jesus for eternal life; we do not receive eternal life to believe in Jesus (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; Rom 4:4-5).

Since Faith is not a Work, Unbelievers are Able to Believe

The idea that unregenerate people cannot do anything good is silly. Unbelievers can do all sorts of good spiritual things, which includes believing in Jesus for eternal life (cf. John 5:25; 20:31; Rom 1:20; Gal 3:26; Col 2:12-13; 1 Pet 1:23-25; Heb 10:39).

But this does not mean that the person who believes in Jesus for eternal life has earned their eternal life, has worked for it, or has done anything good to merit it.

Since faith is not a work, but is the opposite of works (Romans 4:4-5), then faith is not meritorious.

Those who receive the free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus do not in any way get “credit” for eternal life.

Faith is the persuasion that something is true, and when God persuades us that we can have eternal life through Jesus Christ alone, at that moment of faith we have received eternal life from Him (see the Gospel Dictionary entry on Faith).

When we believe, no works are performed. No effort is expended.

So what is Paul teaching in Ephesians 2:1?

Dead in sin Ephesians 2:1-3This entire line of thought is completely foreign to what Paul had in mind when he wrote Ephesians 2.

The debate about spiritual death and spiritual life in Ephesians 2 has been imported into the passage from outside theological systems that rip various verses in this chapter out of context so that they can then be used as proof texts to defend ideas that are not actually found in Paul’s line of thought.

A couple of factors contribute to the widespread failure to understand Paul’s point in Ephesians 2.

We must understand the word “saved”

The most significant contributing factor to this misunderstanding is the word “saved” in Ephesians 2:8-9.

When most Christians hear the word “saved” or “salvation,” they immediately think of “eternal life,” “going to heaven when you die,” or some similar concept.

But the Bible never uses the word “salvation” or “saved” as an equivalent term for eternal life. Instead, the word “saved” (and the entire “salvation” word family) means “deliverance” or “to be delivered” and the context determines what kind of deliverance is in view (see The Gospel Dictionary entry on Salvation).

To be “saved” in Ephesians 2 is to be “delivered from sin”

When Ephesians 2:8-9 is examined in the broader context (see the first several paragraphs of this post on Ephesians 2:1-3 to see the context of Ephesians 2), we learn that salvation in Ephesians is not about receiving eternal life so you can go to heaven when you die, but is instead about being rescued and delivered from our addiction to accusation, scapegoating, and violence, so that we are brought into the way of life, love, and liberty that God always wanted and desired for humanity.

So what does Ephesians 2:1 mean?

When this point about salvation is grasped, we then see that the phrase “dead in trespasses and sins” in Ephesians 2:1 is not talking about some sort of “spiritual death” in which the unregenerate cannot even respond to God or believe in Jesus.

Instead, the phrase “dead in trespasses and sins” is referring to the pervasive and controlling disease of death which covers the whole earth.

The point Paul is making here is the same exact point made in Genesis 4–6. Sin was introduced to the world, and death came with it, not primarily the death that comes with old age, but the death that comes from human violence against one another.

In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul is saying that the whole world is addicted to the destructive power of sin, which leads us to scapegoat and kill others, rather than accept, forgive, and love them.

Paul describes this further in Ephesians 2:2-3. In speaking of the course of the world, Paul is saying that sin and death guide and control the world.

dead in sins Ephesians 2:1

Rivalry, scapegoating, and violence form the foundation of all human civilization, culture, and interaction (see the Gospel Dictionary entry on World). This is also what Paul is referring to when he mentions the prince of the power of the air which works in the sons of disobedience.

This is, of course, a reference to Satan, who is the accuser (see the Gospel Dictionary entry on Satan). The desire of sin which God warned Cain against (Gen 4:7) is what Paul describes in Ephesians 2:3.

So the great problem of Ephesians 2:1-3 is indeed sin.

Sin is the realm of death in which all humans live and function. Sin is seen through accusation and scapegoating that comes from the desires and lusts of the flesh. All humans live in this realm and know of no other way to live.

Further Evidence from the context of Ephesians 2:1

Ephesians 2 (the whole chapter) follows a Problem-Solution-Application outline. And to see what the “Problem” of death and sin actually are, we can reverse engineer the chapter by beginning at the end, and seeing how Paul applies the chapter.

And in Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul talks about doing away with hostility and dividing walls of separation that we use to keep human separate from one another and hating one another. Instead, we are called to live in unity, love, and peace, just like Jesus Christ.

Jesus teaches peace Ephesians 2

So if that is the application, then the problem is the opposite. If peace and the removal of human hostility on this earth is the goal, then the problem is not about how we’re headed for hell and need to go to heaven. No, if the goal is the end of hostility between humans, then the problem is hostility and violence between humans.

And of course, the solution to the problem is what was accomplished in Jesus Christ, which is what Paul discusses in Ephesians 2:4-10.

We can briefly summarize Ephesians 2:1-22 this way:

Since sin and the death that comes from human hostility is the great problem of the world (Ephesians 2:1-3), God took the initiative to send Jesus Christ and show us a way out of this problem (Ephesians 2:4-10), so that those of us who see and understand what Jesus did on the cross, can now live as He lived, in love and unity for one another (Ephesians 2:11-22).

“Dead in Sins” in Ephesians 2:1

So the term “dead in sins” in Ephesians 2:1 is not referring to some sort of “spiritual death” which makes people unable to hear or respond to God, or to believe in Jesus for eternal life.

No, Paul is instead describing human culture and civilization. He is describing the “atmosphere” of sin and death in which we all live, and which we all assume is normal.

dead in trespasses and sins Eph 2:1This is what it means to be “dead in sins.” We are surrounded by an atmosphere, a system, a world of sin, which leads to death … death through murder, warfare, hatred, killing, condemning, scapegoating, and all things related to this.

But this way of “life” is not normal, and it is not what God wanted, planned, or intended. This worldly way of life is actually death.

So Jesus came to show us another way to live … an actual way to live. Because of what Jesus showed us, we can now live in a heavenly culture and civilization, even while we are here on earth.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: dead in sin, death, Ephesians 2:1, Ephesians 2:1-3, Ephesians 2:11-22, Ephesians 2:8-9, eternal life, One Verse Podcast, peace, salvation, satan, saved, sin, world

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Is faith the gift of God in Ephesians 2:8-9?

By Jeremy Myers
19 Comments

Is faith the gift of God in Ephesians 2:8-9?

Ephesians 2:8-9 faith a gift of GodThough many Calvinists use Ephesians 2:5 and Ephesians 2:8-9 to teach that “regeneration precedes faith” and “faith is a gift of God,” a careful examination of these texts reveals that they teach the opposite.

The understanding of both texts builds upon what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:1-3. If you do not recall how those verses are to be understood, you may want to go review that post before reading further in this one.

Here is what Paul writes in Ephesians 2:5, 8-9:

[God] … even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) … (Ephesians 2:5).

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Ephesians 2:5 Does not Teach that Regeneration Precedes Faith

To begin with, Ephesians 2:5 does seem to support the idea that regeneration precedes faith. After all, Paul has just explained that even though all of us were dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5), and now he says that God, out of His great mercy and love, made us alive together with Christ. There is no mention here of faith in Jesus Christ, but only the grace of God.

However, this is a classic example of a verse that, when taken out of contexts, sounds like it is teaching the opposite of what it really is.

God’s activity in salvation is the theme of Ephesians 2:1-10. In this passage, Paul takes his readers from the depths of sin in Ephesians 2:1 to the heights of God’s righteous plan for our lives from before the foundations of the world in Ephesians 2:10.

The “salvation” in this passage, by the way, fits the same definition we saw earlier in this series (see the definition of “saved”). Salvation in Ephesians 2:1-10 is not simply justification or receiving eternal life, but also includes sanctification (Ephesians 2:10) and glorification (Ephesians 2:6).

So when Paul writes in Ephesians 2:5 about God raising us up in Christ, he is not stating everything there is to know about being raised up to new life, but is simply introducing a theme which he will explain further in the following verses. After a brief explanation about what this life in Christ, this “salvation” entails (Ephesians 2:6-7), Paul picks back up the “by grace you have been saved” statement in Ephesians 2:8-9 and explains it further.

And what is it Paul says? He modifies what he wrote in Ephesians 2:5 by pointing out four additional things about this life which we received by the grace of God: He says this life is also (1) through faith, (2) is not of yourselves, (4) it is a gift of God, and (3) is not by works.

Chiastic Structure of Ephesians 2:8-9

You may notice a bit of a chiastic structure in these four items, where “through faith” is further explained by “not by works” and “not of yourselves” is further explained by “it is a gift of God.”

Main Point: By grace you have been saved

A  Through Faith
B  Not of yourselves
B’ The gift of God
A’ Not by Works

This helps us see several beautiful things about Paul’s point.

Faith Results in Regeneration

First, by clarifying as he has about how this life is received, Paul clearly puts faith prior to regeneration. By stating that we are “saved through faith,” Paul indicates that faith is a condition to receiving new life in Christ.

Yes, there would be no life whatsoever without the grace of God, but in the same way, God does not force His life on others without them first believing in Jesus for it. Regeneration does not precede faith; faith precedes regeneration.

Faith is Contrasted To Works

Secondly, Paul is clearly contrasting faith and works, as he does elsewhere in his writings (cf. Rom 4:4-5). As seen above, Calvinists sometimes argue that faith would be meritorious if people could believe in Jesus for eternal life, and therefore, faith is a work. Paul does not agree. By contrasting faith with works, Paul shows that the life we receive from God is not by works, but it is by faith.

salvation is not by worksIf faith were a work—even if it was a work of God—Paul’s point would be reduced to gibberish for he would be saying that salvation is not by works but it is by the work of faith. When we allow the clear contrast between faith and works to stand, Paul’s points is clearly seen.

Yes, we cannot in any way work to earn or merit eternal life in Christ. We can, however, believe in Jesus for eternal life. Faith is not a work, but it is the avenue by which we receive the life of Christ.

Salvation Originates With God

Finally, the middle two items of the chiasm reveal that this salvation package from God did not originate with man, but with God. It is His gift to humanity.

As can be seen through comparative religion, no human philosopher or religious leader has ever invented the idea that God fully and freely accepts human beings without any effort or work on their part. Instead, every human philosophy and religious system is filled with ideas about working our way back into the good graces of whatever deity is being worshipped, and about pleasing and appeasing the gods who are angry with us. It is about sacrifice, fear, and effort.

But not so with the God revealed in Jesus Christ! He gives the salvation package–from sin and death and slavery to exaltation in the heavens (Ephesians 2:1-3, 6-7)—freely, by His grace, without any human works, effort, or sacrifice involved. No human could have dreamed this up, but God did, and God gave this revelation to us as a gift.

Is Faith the Gift of God in Ephesians 2:8-9?

This then leads us to understand what Paul is referring to when he says “it is the gift of God” in Ephesians 2:8. Again, many Calvinists look at this verse and notice that a few words earlier, Paul mentioned faith, and based on this, argues that “faith is the gift of God.” But this cannot be.

faith is a giftIn Greek, pronouns must agree with their antecedent in gender and number. English somewhat does this with pronouns like “he” and “she” but other pronouns like “they” and “it” are more difficult to determine. No so in Greek. All pronouns in Greek have gender and number, and they must always agree in gender and number to the noun they are pointing to, whether it is masculine, feminine, or neuter.

In Ephesians 2:8-9, the word “that” (Gk., toutō) is neuter, but the word “faith” (Gk., pistis) is feminine. So also is “grace” (Gk., charis). In fact, if we keep looking for a neuter noun to which the pronoun “that” can refer, we will search in vain. There are neuter nouns in the context, but they make no sense as an antecedent. So when Paul says “and that … is the gift of God,” to what is he referring?

Five Views on What is the “Gift of God”

There are five views on how to understand Paul’s statement.

1. Faith is the Gift of God

First, some just say that Ephesians 2:8 contains a grammar mistake or an exception to the rule. They argue that contextually, the word “that” refers to faith, regardless of the fact that this contradicts basic rules of Greek grammar.

In this view, Paul is saying, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and faith is not of yourselves, faith is the gift of God.”

2. Grace is the Gift of God

The second view is similar, but argues that instead of “faith,” the pronoun refers to “grace.” Again, those who hold this view must argue that the verse contains a grammatical mistake or an exception to the rule.

In this second view, Ephesians 2:8 says this: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and grace is not of yourselves, grace is the gift of God.”

Neither option is likely, since this sort of basic grammatical mistake is not found elsewhere in Scripture, nor is there any example of this “exception to the rule” being used elsewhere.

3. Faith is Especially the Gift of God

The third view is that Paul is using the phrase “and that” (Gk., kai toutō) in an adverbial way, to add emphasis to “faith.” In this view, Ephesians 2:8 could be read this way: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and it is especially not of yourselves, it is especially the gift of God.”

The idea is that Paul specifically and intentionally changed the case of the pronoun to add force and emphasis to what he was writing about faith being a gift. However, in the twenty-two instances where the phrase “and that” is found, none of them change the gender for emphasis. This view seems to be a case of desperately reading one’s theology into a text in order to force it to say what you want.

4 and 5. The “Salvation Package” is the Gift of God

The fourth and fifth views are similar. Both views note that the neuter demonstrative pronoun “that” (Gk., toutō) can refer to a concept or phrase, rather than to a single word. Where it refers to a multi-word concept, the gender of the pronoun remains neuter, regardless of the gender of the antecedent (cf. Luke 3:20; 5:6; John 11:28; 18:38; 20:20; Acts 7:60; 1 Cor 7:37; Php 1:9, 28; Heb 6:3).

Based on this observation, the fourth view is that the pronoun is referring to the entire “by grace you have been saved through faith” concept, and the fifth view is that the pronoun only refers to the concept which Paul has stated twice in the context, namely, “by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:5, 8).

“By Grace You Have Been Saved” … is the Gift of God

It seems that one of these two final views is the best, but which? Those who argue for the first view are still able to say that faith is a gift of God to the unbeliever because it too is part of the package of “by grace you have been saved through faith” which was given by God. Of course, even if this fourth view is correct, it does not necessarily require faith itself to be a gift of God.

If this fourth view is correct, Paul could simply be saying that the gift of God is the entire plan of salvation, which means that God decided before the foundation of the world to make salvation available by His grace and through human faith.

by grace you have been savedNevertheless, it seems best to adopt the fifth and final view, for it not only places emphasis on the conceptual phrase which Paul has stated twice, but it also takes notice of the chiastic structure which Paul uses to further explain the gift of God.

As seen in the chiastic structure noted above, the parallel statements “not of yourselves … the gift of God” are not explaining “faith” but are explaining “by grace you have been saved” (See the excellent article by Rene Lopez called “Is Faith a Gift from God?“).

In this case, we once again see that the salvation-by-grace package originated with God in eternity past, is received by human faith (not by works), and is not something that we dreamed up, but is a gift of God to all people. This seems to be the best way to understand Ephesians 2:8-9.

In Ephesians 2, then, Paul is not teaching total depravity, total inability, that regeneration precedes faith, that faith is a work, or that faith is a gift. When properly understood in it’s historical, cultural, grammatical, and contextual contexts, Ephesians 2 is a chapter which does not defend the Calvinistic system of theology, but disproves it at every turn.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, Ephesians 2:8-9, faith, gift of God, Theology of Salvation, Total Depravity, total inability, TULIP

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