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. (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)
You may have memorized these verses as a child or as a new believer. The message of Ephesians 2:8-9 is
extremely important because it tells us how a person is saved. Sadly, most people in this world do not
understand how a person is saved.
We have here in these two verses the ABC’s of the gospel. Salvation is presented clearly and plainly. These
verses are so simple that a child can easily understand them. In these two verses the simplest words are
used. Almost every word in these two verses is a simple one-syllable world (except for “yourselves” and
“any”).
Sometimes theologians can greatly complicate what should be very simple. God has given us His Word, and
though there are some difficulties, overall it presents a message that is very clear and simple.
Ephesians 2:8-9 is a wonderful passage explaining how a person is saved. It’s a clear and simple
explanation of salvation in few words, and as mentioned, mostly one syllable words.
It is wonderful to be saved by grace and not by works! Have you ever considered how difficult it would
be if you had to be saved by your own good works?
Let me illustrate this by passing along an old yarn that Pastor Lehman Strauss once shared. It goes like this:
An Irish man dies. Of course, St. Patrick (not St. Peter) meets him at the Pearly Gates. Patrick says to the
man, “You need 10,000 points to make it into heaven. So I want you to tell me all the good things you have
done, and I’ll give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you
reach 10,000 points, you get in.”
“Okay,” the man says, “I was married to the same woman for fifty years and never cheated on her, not even
in my heart.”
“That’s wonderful,” says St. Patrick, “that’s worth three points!”
WHAT IS THE “GIFT OF GOD”?
A Study of Ephesians 2:8-9
“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.”
(Ephesians 2:8-9)
“Three points; is that all?” he says. “Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my
tithes and with my service.”“Terrific!” says St. Patrick. “That’s certainly worth one point.”
“Only one point!?!! Well, I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans.”
“Fantastic, that’s good for two more points,” St. Patrick says.
“Only two points!?!!” Exasperated, the man cries, “If I ever make it into heaven, it will have to be by the
grace of God!”
“You’ve hit the nail on the head,” Patrick says, “10,000 points! Come on in!”
Yes, thankfully salvation is by the grace of God and not by works!
Before we go further into this study, let me clarify one word in verse 8. It is the word in the KJV translated
“that” [Greek “touto”]. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God.” It’s helpful to translate this word as “this thing.” “This thing is not of yourselves; it is the gift
of God.” We need to determine what “this thing” refers to.
Our main question, as we look at this verse, is this: What is the gift of God? There are basically three
answers to this question and only one answer is the correct answer.
1) Many people teach that the gift of God mentioned in this verse is faith. “For by grace are ye saved by
faith and this faith is not of yourselves; this faith is the gift of God; this faith is not of works, lest any man
should boast.” John MacArthur and John Piper are examples of men who teach that faith is the gift of God
in Ephesians 2:8. This is the position of most men who embrace Reformed Theology. There are other men,
not Reformed, who also hold the view that the gift of God is faith. These would include Lewis Sperry
Chafer, John Darby, William Kelly, C. H. Mackintosh and others. These are men that I deeply respect, and
I highly value their writings.
Yet, I disagree with them on their understanding of this verse. I am not askingthe reader to agree with me and I am not asking the reader to agree with these great men of God.
I’m simply asking the reader to listen to what I share in this booklet and then search the Scriptures daily and diligently to see if these things be so (Acts 17:11).
2) What is the second possibility? If faith is not the gift of God, then what is?
The second possibility is that the gift of God mentioned in this verse refers to salvation. This is my position
set forth in this booklet: “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and this salvation is not of yourselves, but
this salvation is the gift of God; this salvation is not of works lest any man should boast.”
3) There is a third possibility which is popular among many people, even among some good
dispensationalists. I’m going to explain what it is and then I’m going to rule it out. This view says that the
gift of God is everything. The gift of God is grace; the gift of God is faith, the gift of God is salvation; the
gift of God is everything mentioned in verse 8. The gift of God is the entire salvation package which
includes everything: “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and this grace-faith-salvation is not of
yourselves, but this grace-faith-salvation is the gift of God, and this grace-faith-salvation is not of works,
lest any man should boast.
What is the problem with this view? The pronoun (“that” or “this thing”) is singular not plural. The gift of
God does not consist of several things; it consists of one thing. Paul did not say, “These things are the gift
of God,” but he said, “This thing is the gift of God.” So I’m going to rule out this third view. Paul is not
referring to many things but to one thing.
Also, it is important to distinguish between the gift and the reception of the gift. Salvation is the gift and
that gift is received by faith. Faith is the hand of the heart that reaches out and receives God’s gift of
salvation. Our church’s doctrinal statement makes a clear distinction between the gift of salvation and the
reception of that gift. Listen carefully to this well-worded statement: “We believe that salvation is the gift
of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Notice that a clear distinction is made between the gift and the reception of the gift. The gift is salvation and that salvation is received by faith.
On this basis I reject the view which says, “The gift of God is the entire salvation package which includes
faith.” No, we need to keep a proper distinction between the gift of salvation and the reception of that gift
which is by faith.
So our main task is to decide between the first two views. Is the gift of God in Ephesians 2:8 faith or is the
gift of God salvation?
To solve this problem I’m going to use three methods: 1) The Common Sense Method. Which view
makes the most sense? 2) The Grammatical Method. We will see what the grammar requires. 3) The
“Comparing Scripture with Scripture” Method. We will see what the Scriptures teach elsewhere about
the gift of God.
1. The Common Sense Method
Let’s use our common sense. What exactly is Paul talking about in these two verses? When he says, “This
thing is the gift of God,” what is he talking about? This is not difficult to answer. It’s obvious what Paul
is talking about in these verses.
Let me make what seems to be an obvious statement. These verses are talking about how a person is saved.
“By grace are ye saved through faith.” That is exactly how you are saved. You are saved by grace, through
faith and not by works.
Paul’s main subject is salvation. He explains very clearly how a person is saved.
So Paul’s main topic is salvation.
His main topic is not faith. Now certainly faith is involved because if you are going to talk about salvation,
you must include faith because we are saved through faith. But Paul’s main topic is salvation, how a person
is saved.
His main topic is not grace. Grace is also involved because we are saved by grace, but the main topic is
salvation. These verses are talking about how a person is saved. The main subject matter is salvation.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” What is the gift
of God? Since Paul is talking about salvation, common sense would tell us that salvation is the gift of God.
2.The Reformed View
Did you know that according to the teaching of Reformed Theology, a person must be saved before he can
believe? Or, as they prefer to say it, a person must be regenerated before he can believe. They teach that
regeneration precedes faith.
“By grace are ye saved through faith.” This text says: You are saved through faith. But how can you be
saved through faith if you are already saved before you believe? Reformed Theology actually teaches that
you are saved and regenerated apart from faith: before you ever believe, you are first regenerated. First you
must be regenerated, they say, and only then are you able to believe. Some in Reformed circles even teach
that a person can be regenerated as an infant and not come to faith in Christ until years later!
Dear friends, no one is saved and no one is born again and no one is regenerated until that moment when
he puts his faith in Christ. Faith is the hand of the heart that reaches out and receives God’s gracious gift of
salvation, and included in that wonderful salvation package is regeneration or the new birth. The moment
we believe, we are born again.
Charles Spurgeon highlighted the absurdity of saying that a man must be regenerated before he believes:
If I am to preach the faith in Christ to a man who is regenerated, then the man, being
regenerated, is saved already, and it is an unnecessary and ridiculous thing for me to preach
Christ to him, and bid him to believe in order to be saved when he is saved already, being
regenerate. Am I only to preach faith to those who have it? Absurd, indeed! Is not this
waiting till the man is cured and then bringing him the medicine? This is preaching Christ
to the righteous and not to sinners. [from his sermon entitled The Warrant of Faith]
So in conclusion, the common sense argument understands that Paul, in Ephesians 2:8-9, is talking about
how a person is saved. His main subject matter is salvation, not faith. The gift of God, provided to us by
grace and received through faith—that gift is salvation. How we thank God for His unspeakable gift (2 Cor.
9:15)!
3. The Grammatical Method
Our second argument is based on grammar. Greek is different from English because in Greek the nouns are
all assigned a gender. For example, in English the word bread is neither masculine nor feminine, it’s just
bread. In the Greek language, however, the word bread (artos) has been assigned a gender. It is a masculine
noun. In the Greek language every noun is assigned a gender–it is either masculine, feminine or neuter.
Neuter means it is neither feminine or masculine. So in the Greek language there are three genders. Every
Greek noun is either masculine, feminine or neuter.
Whenever I think of the neuter gender I’m reminded of a story about my father-in-law, a veterinarian. He
often would neuter dogs and cats. One little boy had his cat neutered, and without remembering the correct
terminology, he told his teacher, “The Vet put my cat in neutral!”
Let me show you a word in the neuter gender that is found in Ephesians 2:8. In the King James Version it’s
the word “that.” It could also be translated “this thing.” It is a demonstrative pronoun in the neuter gender.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith and this thing is not of yourselves, [this thing] is the gift of God.”
What does “this thing” refer to? The word “that” (KJV) or “this thing” is a pronoun; it stands in place of a
noun. What noun does this pronoun refer to? We need to find the antecedent of the pronoun. This simply
means that we need to find the noun that the pronoun refers to. We know that the pronoun (“this thing”)
is neuter in gender.
Here is the grammatical rule: Pronouns must agree with their antecedent in gender. For example, if the
pronoun is feminine, then the noun that it stands for must be feminine. In this case, our pronoun is neuter
(“this thing), and so “this thing” must stand for something that is neuter.
This is an enormous problem for those who say that faith is the gift of God. “This thing” cannot be faith
because the noun FAITH is feminine. The word faith is not neuter, and thus it cannot be the antecedent of
that pronoun. If Paul had wanted to say that faith was the gift of God, then he would have made the
pronoun feminine, but he did not. Faith is not the gift of God. Faith is not what Paul is referring to in this
verse.
So if it cannot refer to faith, then to what does “this thing” refer?
It cannot refer to “grace” because grace is also a feminine noun.
It is interesting that there are no neuter nouns in verse 8 except for “gift” which is what we are seeking to
identify. Thus we have somewhat of a dilemma. However, I’d like to call your attention to the main verb.
The main verb is the verb “saved.” “For by grace are ye saved.” This key verb tells us what Paul is talking
about. The question he is answering is this: How is a person saved?
According to experts in Greek grammar, if Paul had wanted the pronoun to refer to the idea or concept
contained in the verb, then the neuter gender would be the one to use.
You could say it this way: “For by grace are ye saved through faith and being saved is not of yourselves,
and being saved is the gift of God, and being saved is not of works lest any man should boast.”
In other words, “this thing” that he’s talking about, “this thing” which is conveyed by the main verb “saved,”
“this thing” refers to salvation.
So with this in mind, let us look at the verse again.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith, and this thing that I’m talking about, this salvation is not of
yourselves” (paraphrased).
When the text says that salvation is “not of yourselves” what does this mean? It means that salvation is
(literally) not of you. Salvation is of the Lord. There is no way that you could ever possibly save yourself.
You need a saving solution outside of yourself. Salvation is not of you. You could never work for it; you
could never earn it; you could never merit it. Salvation is not of you; it’s by grace. The great majority of
the people in this world think that salvation is of themselves, that it is something they must achieve,
something they must earn, something they must gain by good works, etc. No, salvation is not of you.
Let’s go back to the Reformed view for a moment. Instead of understanding that salvation is not of
yourselves, they would say “Faith is not of yourselves.” Literally, “faith is not of you.” Reformed men
would say, “God must give a person the gift of faith.” We would agree with Reformed men that apart from
God’s mercy and gracious enabling and enlightenment, saving faith could not be exercised (John 6:44,65;
Romans 9:16; Matthew 11:27; 16:16-17; Acts 16:14; etc.). On the other hand, it is also true that there is
a sense in which faith really is of you. You must do the believing (Acts 16:31). Men are responsible to
believe (John 3:15-16). Men are commanded to believe (1 John 3:23; 2 Thess. 1:8). Men are condemned
if they don’t believe (John 3:18). We cannot save ourselves, but our part and our responsibility is to believe.
God does the saving; we must do the believing.
So it does not make good sense to say “faith is not of you,” because God puts the responsibility to believe
squarely on man. Man must believe or perish (John 3:16; 2 Thess. 2:12). On the other hand, it does make
good sense to say “salvation is not of you.” Salvation is of the Lord. We contribute nothing to our
salvation. Salvation is based totally on the finished work of Jesus Christ which fully satisfied God’s justice.
The penalty was paid in full! By faith we simply receive Christ, resting fully on what He has accomplished
for us.
So back to verse 8: “salvation is not of yourselves (literally, not of you); salvation is the gift of God.” God
wants to give you something that you could never have apart from God’s grace. It’s the most valuable gift
in all the world.
So far we have covered our first two arguments, the first being the common sense argument. Paul is talking
about salvation, about how a person is saved. Common sense tells us that salvation is his main subject, not
faith.
Secondly, the grammar argues strongly against faith being the gift of God, because the word “faith” does
not agree in gender with the pronoun. Faith is feminine; the pronoun “that” or “this thing” is neuter. But
it makes perfectly good grammatical sense to say that this neuter pronoun agrees with the concept or idea
found in the main verb. The main verb is “ye are saved,” and thus Paul is discussing salvation in these
important verses. A person is saved by grace through faith. Salvation is the gift of God.
4. The “Comparing Scripture With Scripture” Method
What does the New Testament teach elsewhere about the gift of God? There are a number of New
Testament passages which refer to “the gift of God.” When carefully studied, these passages will help us
to determine whether faith or salvation is the gift of God.
The Bible explains itself. We do not need to depend only on Ephesians 2:8 in order to find out what the gift
of God is. There are many other New Testament passages which clearly tell us what the gift of God is.
How is the expression “gift of God” used elsewhere in the New Testament by Paul and the other writers?
A study of the places where the word “gift” is used in the New Testament reveals the following:
ä‰ñïí (gift, present) neuter noun
This word is used to refer to the “gift of God” only once, and that is in the passage under consideration
(Ephesians 2:8). However there are other related Greek words that are translated “gift” and these are as
follows:
äùñåÜ (gift) feminine noun
John 4:10–the gift of God is living water; in verse 14 this living water is identified as everlasting life.
Acts 2:38; 8:20; 10:45; 11:17–the gift of God is the Holy Spirit. Salvation involves the reception of the
Holy Spirit and those who do not have the Holy Spirit are not saved (Rom. 8:9).
Romans 5:15,17–these verses speak of the gift of justification (the sinner being declared righteous) and life
(compare verses 18,21). Justification is one of the key terms that describes our salvation.
2 Corinthians 9:15–“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” What is God’s unspeakable gift? No
doubt, God’s unspeakable gift is Jesus Christ and the salvation that is found in Him. This salvation involves
justification and eternal life and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But the gift of God is never said to be
faith. It is always said to be something that relates to salvation.
This particular Greek word äùñåÜ is never used of faith.
äþñçìá (gift, present) neuter noun
This word is never used of faith but it is used of God’s gift of salvation or justification (see Romans 5:16).
÷Üñéóìá (a gift freely and graciously given) neuter noun
Romans 6:23–the gift of God is eternal life (compare Romans 5:15-16). Eternal life is synonymous with
salvation. If a person has eternal life, he is saved; if a person is saved, he has eternal life.
This word is never used of faith (except in 1 Corinthians 12:9 which is speaking of the temporary gift of
miracle working faith and not saving faith).
Conclusion: The term “gift of God” used in the New Testament always refers to salvation or to other
salvation terms such as justification, eternal life, etc. The “gift of God” is never said to be faith.