CLAIM: Some Calvinists teach that this passage supports the doctrine of irresistible grace. They argue that \u201cfaith\u201d is the \u201cgift of God.\u201d Instead of exercising faith of our own freewill, God gives us the faith to believe in him, as a gift. Is this the case? Sproul writes, \u201cThe faith by which we are saved is a gift. When the apostle says it is not of ourselves, he does not mean it is not our faith. Again, God does not do the believing for us. It is our own faith but it does not originate with us. It is given to us. The gift is not earned or deserved. It is a gift of sheer grace.\u201d[1] Is this the case?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
RESPONSE: The gift of salvation is not faith; instead, the gift of salvation is grace. In the original Greek, the gender of the nouns is different. Paul writes, \u201cFor by grace [feminine] you have been saved through faith [feminine]; and that [neuter] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God\u201d (Eph. 2:8).[2] The grammar demonstrates that Paul isn\u2019t explicitly referring to faith as the gift of God. Instead, he is probably referring to the entire package of salvation. Klyne Snodgrass writes, \u201cSince there is no neuter noun is in the previous clause as the obvious antecedent of \u2018this,\u2019 the word most likely refers to the whole process of God\u2019s saving people by grace.\u201d[3]<\/p>\n
Moreover, note that \u201cfaith\u201d is defined as being antithetical to \u201cworks.\u201d Since faith is not a work, Calvinists and Arminians can both affirm that their salvation was entirely based on God\u2019s grace\u2014not works\u2014even if people need to freely place their faith in Christ.<\/p>\n
[1] Sproul, What is Reformed Theology? 163.<\/p>\n
[2] Stott writes, \u201cNevertheless, Paul is not directly affirming this here because \u2018this\u2019 (touto) is neuter, whereas \u2018faith\u2019 is a feminine noun.\u201d Stott, John R. W.: God\u2019s New Society: The Message of Ephesians. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1979, 1980. 83.<\/p>\n
[3] Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 105.<\/p>\n
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Eph 2:8)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CLAIM: Some Calvinists teach that this passage supports the doctrine of irresistible grace. They argue that \u201cfaith\u201d is the \u201cgift of God.\u201d Instead of exercising faith of our own freewill, God gives us the faith to believe in him, as a gift. Is this the case? Sproul writes, \u201cThe faith by which we are savedContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,3,27,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-errors","category-bible-proof","category-bible-teaching","category-calvinistic","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}