Ephesians 2:8
Ephesians 2:8 (see also Titus 3:4-7)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
J. Vernon McGee comments: “Paul is not talking about faith when he says, ‘And that not of yourselves.’ He is talking about salvation. Salvation is a gift that eliminates boasting. It is all of God and not of us. It is God’s gift.” (Thru the Bible commentary series: Ephesians, p.80, emphasis mine)
The gift is not faith. Faith comes from hearing the Gospel: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) The gift is Jesus. According to John 3:16, God gave His only begotten Son. He is the gift.
The contrast is between faith vs. the works of the Law. The Jews supposed that they could earn salvation through keeping the Law, but Paul is saying that salvation cannot be earned because the Law cannot be kept. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that God holds out salvation as a free gift through faith. That’s grace. That’s the mercy of God, because otherwise, no one could be saved. We are fallen and depraved creatures, and cannot keep the Law to perfection, as a holy God demands, but thank God that He has been so gracious as to provide another way, a way in which we could, in fact, become holy and blameless before God, which is through the shed blood of His own dear Son on the cross of Calvary, so that through Him, salvation is held out as a free gift, which is received by trusting in Him. Nowhere is this passage teaching that faith is the gift. The subject is salvation, and the gift of salvation is received through faith. But none of that matters, because today’s Calvinist needs a proof-text for Calvinism, and hence, “faith is the gift.” Keep in mind, however, that yesterday’s Calvinist did not teach the same thing at Ephesians 2:8:
Apparently, John Calvin agrees: “…if we bring nothing but faith, which strips us of all praise, it follows that salvation is not of us.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.144, emphasis mine)
Next, believe it or not, Calvin will explain how a grace-alone salvation is a faith-alone salvation:
Calvin explains: “Now it may be asked how men receive the salvation offered to them by the hand of God? I reply, by faith. Hence he concludes that here is nothing of our own. If, on the part of God, it is grace alone, and if we bring nothing but faith, which strips us of all praise, it follows that salvation is not of us. … When, on man’s side, he places the only way of receiving salvation in faith alone, he rejects all other means on which men are accustomed to rely. Faith, then, brings a man empty to God, that he may be filled with the blessings of Christ.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.144, emphasis mine)
Calvin adds: “It is the gift of God. Instead of what he had said, that their salvation is of grace, he now affirms that it is the gift of God. Instead of what he had said, ‘Not of yourselves,’ he now says, Not of works. Hence we see that he leaves nothing to men in procuring salvation. For in these three phrases, he embraces the substance of his long argument in the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians, that righteousness comes to us from the mercy of God alone, is offered to us in Christ and by the Gospel, and is received by faith alone, without the merit of works.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.144, emphasis mine)
Calvin acknowledges that faith is non-meritorious and Calvinists should take notice. Secondly, he affirms that God’s mercy is an offer, and founds such mercy in Christ, where it truly does originate.
Question: What is “that” which is “not of yourselves”?
Answer: Salvation. That is the gift of God: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [salvation] not of yourselves, [salvation] is the gift of God.”
Question: If I could choose to believe in Christ, wouldn’t that give me something to boast about?
Answer: Sometimes Calvinists get the notion that we are saved by grace, and not by faith, lest any man should boast, and then the Calvinist will try to cover it up by lumping faith in together with good works. However, the fact is that Ephesians 2:8 says that we are saved by grace “through” faith. The fact is, however, that a faith-alone salvation is not opposed to a grace-alone salvation, even as John Calvin had admitted. Besides this, Romans 4:5 eliminates the possibility of lumping faith and works together, and Romans 3:27 reveals that boasting is excluded by a law of faith, which makes sense because faith is a matter of trusting in someone else, namely Jesus, which, by His mercy and grace, He imputes His righteousness to the believer.
Summary:
Both Arminians and Calvinists agree that grace precedes faith, yet disagree as to exactly what that grace is, whether Prevenient Grace or Irresistible Grace. If the correct answer is Irresistible Grace, as Calvinism teaches, and if Irresistible Grace is Regeneration, and if Regeneration is the New Birth of being made Born Again, and if the New Birth of being made Born Again is being made into a New Creature, and if being made a New Creature is solely reserved for those who are in Christ, as per 2nd Corinthians 5:17, and if being “in Christ” there is no condemnation, as per Romans 8:1, then Calvinism has presupposed a doctrine of preemptive placement of the condemned unbeliever “in Christ.” Non-Calvinists and Arminians have characterized this as a doctrine of being “saved before you believe,” to which the Calvinist responds that Regeneration, that is, the New Birth of being made Born Again, being made into a New Creature, being “in Christ” where there is no longer any condemnation, is not salvation. The puzzled Arminian naturally asks how, in any reasonable way, could a person who is a Regenerated, Born Again, redeemed child of God, not be simultaneously saved? Calvinism tries to differentiate between Regeneration and Salvation, but the problem that arises is all that comes along with Regeneration, includes Salvation with it, as it is virtually indistinguishable from the whole package of Regeneration, and hence the charge that Calvinism really is a doctrine whereby one is “saved before you believe,” contrary to Ephesians 2:8-9.
Question: Are we saved “through” faith, or saved unto faith?
Answer: We are saved “through” faith and unto “good works”: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) However, Calvinism teaches that salvation is without the cooperation of man, such that we are not saved “through” the free cooperation of our will, but rather that we are saved monergistically, that is, unilaterally, in order that we may be made willing. Regardless of the fact that “made willing” is a contradiction in terms, the point that Calvinists raise is that faith is the response from regeneration, for salvation, rather than faith being the instrument of salvation, with regeneration being the ensuing result.
Salvation is a gift: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) However, some Calvinists engage in proof-texting, and try to make this mean that “faith” is the gift. (Some Calvinists have a tendency to try and make everything teach Calvinism, when it does not.)
Today’s Calvinist says that if you come by faith, then it cannot be said that salvation is “not of yourselves.” Today’s Calvinist says that you have to come by election for it to be “not of yourselves.” Otherwise, to them, it would very much be of ourselves. However, Paul states: “Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.” (Romans 3:27) Additionally, Paul states: “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” (Romans 4:5) It is not of ourselves if we come by faith. However, if we come by good works, then it would be of ourselves. That’s the difference. Faith excludes merit, and directs the focus on the One in whom we are placing our hope and trust.
