By Mark W. Christy, PhD
In Ephesians 2:8, Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”[i] Surprisingly, this seemingly simple and straightforward verse is the subject of much debate in part because its interpretation greatly affects the ongoing theological dissension between Calvinists and Arminians. In this short article, Eph 2:8 will be examined so as to determine whether or not it truly means that faith is indeed a gift.
Some object to the rendering of faith as a gift because ‘faith’ in Greek is a feminine and ‘that’ is neuter. If they are correct, and grammar does at least support their argument, then ‘that’ must ultimately point to something else in the text. In the context however, ‘that’ appears to refer back the grammatically viable option ‘by grace you have been saved through faith’. This, in turn, makes the phrase ‘and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God’ of redundant expression of the aforementioned. Given this, Paul is essentially re-expressing that faith that leads to salvation is a gift of God’s grace.
While disagreement may persist of this verse given one’s theological entanglements, it would be best to look to the rest of Scripture for additional assurance that this present interpretation is backed by additional witness arising from its pages. In his instruction on the process of receiving salvation, Paul teaches that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). In other words, faith is something that is external in origin, and it accompanies the proclamation of the gospel. In his explanation, he appeals to these words from Isaiah concerning those who would receive such faith through hearing the gospel: “I was found by those who did not seek Me, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me” (Rom 10:20). Here, Paul unflatteringly labels Christians, the believers of the gospel, as people who never sought or even asked for God. In other words, their faith arises from somewhere other than themselves. This rendering of Paul’s teachings appears to be supported by Peter which he addresses his first epistle “[T]o those who have received a faith of the same kind” (2 Peter 1:1; cf. Phil 1:29; Acts 3:16).
From this short engagement with the handful of verses so far, it would seem that faith is indeed a gift. To better understand this biblical assertion, perhaps it would be helpful to take a more encompassing view of the theology that surrounds the salvation experience. In Romans 8:5-8, Paul declares that people in their natural, pre-regenerate (i.e., the Holy Spirit has not done any work in their inner persons) state “set their minds on the things of the flesh…,” “…because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God…[and] cannot please God.” In essence, the unregenerate are locked in a world of darkness and are completely unable to respond to God. Such a response, if it is to be forthcoming, must therefore arise from some external source outside of the person. As Paul puts it, only “those who are according to the Spirit [set their minds upon] the things of the Spirit” (Rom 8:5). With this is view, the Holy Spirit must perform sufficient work within a person so that they can manifest believing faith in response to the gospel. In theological terms, one must affirm that regeneration must proceed salvation. To state this more simply, for a person to respond to the gospel with saving faith, the seed of that faith must have been planted in his/her heart (inner person including will, thoughts, desires, and emotions) by the Holy Spirit.
[i]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.