Ephesians 2:8 Commentary and Bible Study

There is a debate about this verse. Some people say grace is God’s part, faith is ours. God gives undeserved favour in salvation but it is our faith, which accepts the salvation. Grace is God’s part, faith is ours but, you know, that is to gravely misunderstand these terms.What does the apostle mean when he says, ‘and that not of yourselves’? What is he referring to? Is it referring to grace? ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that [grace] not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.’ Some people say that is what it is – it is grace which is emphasised as the gift of God. Now if you take that view, that it is grace and grace alone, not faith which is the gift of God, then you can slide into thinking along these lines: ‘Oh but the faith is mine. The grace is God’s, salvation is God’s, my contribution is the faith.’ In other words, we are back were we started. This is the so-called Arminian view. Everybody has a chance of salvation. It all depends on whether they have the faith or not. But it is very unlikely to be the right view, because that is what grace means – something that is not of ourselves. If that were what he meant, Paul would be just repeating himself rather foolishly. Grace is favour from one who is higher than you, who bends towards you. It is God bending towards you and giving you something you could not have for yourself, which you cannot deserve, which you cannot earn. He must give it to you out of his favour. But we know that; we do not need to be told that. Then other people say it is being saved. By grace you have salvation, and that salvation is not of yourselves, it is entirely the gift of God. Yes, but that is obvious too. Paul has spent all the previous verses saying that, and it would be completely unnecessary repetition for him to single out salvation and say that salvation is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.The most obvious and natural sense of the passage is that the very last of the three words is the one Paul refers to – ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith.’ Now faith is the one part that can be the casualty. I could so easily think that is all of me, that is my doing. That is the word that needs some correction, that needs qualifying. That faith is not of yourselves either, it is the gift of God. It is because God in his great love quickened you, illuminated your mind by the Spirit, and convicted you of your sin that you came to exercise faith. That is where faith was born. He brought you to see that the word was true. Suddenly what you doubted previously, you now believed. ‘This gospel is true. I know it instinctively. It has come to me, it all is true’, and I exercised that faith and reached out to God and appropriated his salvation. That is what needs qualifying. That faith ‘is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.’