Ephesians 2:8-9 and Salvation By WHO'S FAITH

The exhalation with which some celebrate the above passage would be much more cautioned by a reasonable and careful analysis of it. There is no permission in this Text from the obligations God has bound upon sinners who desire to be saved. It therefore cannot mean, nor does it ever suggest, that "faith" is supplied by the Lord Himself, and not by sinners themselves - hence being "not of yourselves"! To this end, arrogant and persistent error with which people purposely attribute to this particular passage requires a respective exegetical study of it as will be explained here in some detail.

We therefore both suggest and support the interpretation of the above cited passage as declared in such comments as "our salvation ... is appropriated by us through faith alone." "Thus, the theology of: solo gratia, sola fide, soli Deo gloria (`by grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be the glory')." If initial justification/salvation is then by faith alone, it cannot therefore be by any other means...i.e. James 2:24, where the apostle states "we are not justified by faith alone..." Here James simply reveals that true faith is dead without the subsequent application of works/fruits - otherwise there would be a Scriptural contradiction between James 2:24 and Rom. 5:1, where Paul clearly declares that "we are indeed justified by faith". Hence, no mention of "works". As such, this by no means mandates that one cannot be saved without works. To imply that there is no salvation without works denies that the thief on the cross was indeed saved by his mere act of faith when he declared to Jesus, when he was dying without having the work of water baptism..."remember me"...and Jesus subsequently replied, "today thou shalt be with me in paradise." Faith therefore is a mentally cognitive act and expression of one's free-will while works are the subsequent actions/consequences of those thoughts. Thus, works rely heavily on opportunity.

Moreover, the father of our faith Abraham "BELIEVED" God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness (right doing - works)

In addition, kind David echoed the same "saving faith" in the following:

Saved by grace through faith ...

Many critical scholars declare the past perfect tense (see above passage interlinear) here to be un-Pauline, but it is indeed true that Paul often spoke of salvation as a continuing process (as in 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1:18 and Romans 5:9), he was here speaking of being "initially justified/saved" in the sense of having obeyed the gospel. Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16); and Paul was here addressing people who had believed and had been "raised with Christ" by baptism into newness of life (Ephesians 2:6); and, therefore, in the sense of Paul's thought here, it was mandatory to use the past perfect. The primary salvation accomplished when a sinner believes and obeys the gospel is complete, final and perfect, as regards his old sins. The use of the past perfect makes it certain that that primary salvation was referred to here.

By grace ...

The connotations of this word as used in the New Testament include the principles: (1) of human beings (all of them) being unworthy of the salvation God provides; (2) of the impossibility of any man's meriting or earning salvation, even if he had a million lives to live; and (3) that salvation bestowed upon people originated in the heart of God and that it flows out from God to people, being from God and of God alone. It is clear then that God's grace is to all people, for all people alike, and that it is available for every person who was ever born on earth (Jn. 3:16, Titus 2:11, etc.). If then, salvation is by God's grace only, all people are already saved; for God's grace has appeared to all. Christ Himself, however, taught that all people will not be saved; and the only intelligent reconciliation of those twin facts lies in accepting the premise of human salvation's being conditional, that is, made to turn upon human acceptance of it through human compliance with the conditions upon which God through Christ and the apostles promised it. The interpretation is simply that of removing or negating all conditions of salvation except the sinner's subjective trust/faith in the finishing work of Jesus, thus proclaiming what is called "salvation through faith alone." To this end, any preconditions of salvation such as baptism(s) and the acceptance by the convert of his/her Christian obligations are all hereby declared to be "works" and therefore unnecessary to be performed as preconditions for initial justification/salvation.

Through faith ... (3 arguments)

The most likely meaning of this phrase, as attested by the Emphatic Diaglott rendition of it, is "through the faith," that is, "through the Christian faith," or the Christian religion. One thing is absolutely certain: this must mean the subjective free-will trust/faith of sinners themselves. However, many support the nonsensical and misguided notion that there are no less than three reasons which deny such an interpretation: (1) the Diaglott rendition is supported by the Vatican manuscript which has the article (the); and furthermore the inclusion of it is often understood anyway so that the absence of the article in some manuscripts does not deny it; and, in all probability, the translators would have supplied it (as permitted) if they had properly understood the meaning of it. (2) The qualifying clause next given, "and that not of yourselves," absolutely denies that the faith of sinners is in view here. See under the clause below. (3) Recent extensive studies by George Howard of the University of Georgia argue that the usual meaning of "faith" in the New Testament is not sinner's trust/faith at all, but fidelity. "Faith" as used in the vocabulary of current theological jargon to mean sinner's trust/faith experienced inwardly and subjectively is not a New Testament concept at all. Also, it is impossible to reconcile such a perverted understanding of the word "faith" in this clause, because of the qualifier thundered in the next clause.

And that not of yourselves ... (3 arguments)

The placement of this modifying clause applies it to faith, no matter whether the word for "that" is rendered as here, or "this" as it should be rendered. Both the Nestle Greek Interlinear Greek-English Testament and the Emphatic Diaglott translate the word "this" making it absolutely mandatory to understand "the faith" as being that which is "not of yourselves." Those who have already interpreted "faith" here as sinner's faith, however, are under the necessity of removing the meaning of this qualifier which so effectively denies their interpretation; and they have labored prodigiously in a losing cause:

1. MacKnight injected a word foreign to the Greek text, mistranslating the verse thus, "By grace are ye saved through faith, and this affair is not of yourselves, etc." He added, "I have supplied this affair (making it mean) your salvation through faith is not of yourselves." Others have sought to base their objections to the obvious meaning upon grammatical considerations.
2. Robertson made faith in this passage sinner's faith, saying, "Grace is God's part, faith is ours," basing his conclusion on the fact of the adverb, this (mistranslated that in the English Revised Version (1885)) being of neuter gender, and thus not corresponding to the word faith which is feminine gender, flatly affirming that there is no reference at all in this place to faith as used in that same clause, but referring to salvation as used in the clause before! Lenski called this "careless," and then used the same argument himself! The simple truth is that no rule of grammar requires an adverbial phrase to agree in gender with its antecedent. This writer has long insisted that it is grammar, not Greek, that foils the work of many interpreters. F. F. Bruce explained this argument from grammar thus: The fact that the Greek word for faith ([pistis]) is feminine, while the pronoun that is neuter here, is no barrier to regarding faith as the gift of God. The phrase "and that" is really adverbial! A similar usage by Paul is in Philp. 1:28 thus: A token ... of your salvation, and that from God; and in that reference that is similarly neuter, while both token ([Greek: endeixis]) and salvation ([Greek: soteria]) are feminine.
3. Hendriksen and others, being aware of the total failure of the argument from grammar to sustain their thesis, support still another theory, credited to A. Kuyper, St., which makes "faith" in this verse to mean "faith exercised by the sinner", "is not of yourselves but is God's gift." This, of course, is the prize winner, being, without doubt, the most unbelievable of all these false explanations. If allowed, it would make the New Testament say that people are saved by faith, but there is no need really for them to believe, since God Himself gives the faith He requires! The human theories would then have to be revised to teach that people are saved by faith only; but people do not even have to believe, for God gives them faith! This to be sure would remove all conditions without exception, making salvation of all men to depend utterly upon the action of God. The conception that "faith" in this place means some kind of subjective (inward) faith exercised by a person must really be dear to its adherents who will subscribe to any theory as ridiculous, unscriptural and unbelievable as this.

In the final analysis, there is only one possible way of understanding "faith" as the subjective response of a person (in this particular passage), and that is, by referring to it as the invocation of individual free-will faith of the believer in Jesus Christ. If this is done, then the availability of the gift of God and His marvelous "plan of salvation for all mankind", would have the gravity of not contradicting any of the sacred Scriptures. To this end, in all likelihood, the simple meaning here then is "the Christian plan of salvation," which results from a gift/grace/mercy of God to "all" mankind, is a plan which is not a result of any human contribution whatsoever. See more on "faith of Christ" under Gal. 2:16, 20.

It must be noted, that with regards to Eph. 2:8 and its pronounced "faith", any theological arguments that suggests a faith other than the specific individual free-will faith of the believer, will force the unsuspecting reader into many erroneous false doctrines; i.e., "limited atonement, irresistible grace, predestination, unconditional eternal security," and a misguided host of others. Moreover, these much debatable and questionable theologies, create a plethora of inevitable and irreconcilable Scriptural conflicts. As such, the glaring fallacy of any arguments that suggests interpretations of Eph. 2:8-9 based solely on theological theories promoting Greek grammar only ignores the overwhelming gravity of cumulative Scriptural "CONTEXT", and denies the created God given free-will of man in relation to God's "plan of salvation".

Not of works, that no man should glory ...

This does not refer solely to works of the Law of Moses, and nothing else; and is not based on any expression itself as one of a kind of proverb in Paul's writings during those long years of his struggles against Judaizing teachers. It is simply outrageous that scholars will suggest verse (9) to mean that "God does not indeed reject every work of man in his pursuit and attempts of initial justification/salvation". Apostle Paul sums up his argument on salvation by faith vs. works in Rom. 4:1-5 - God is not a debtor to any man!

Paul taught that salvation was indeed progressive. He said "work out your own salvation" (Philippians 2:12), and he also praised the Thessalonians for their "work of faith" (1 Thessalonians 1:3). However, this was subsequent to initial justification/salvation. God only rejects "every work of man," when attempting to earn his own justification/salvation. Likewise, at any time during the progressive salvation experience when one begins to reject the faith of the Cross for their salvation and look more and more towards their own individual works then they are attempting to force God to become a debtor - which will never work and ultimately end in disaster for that believer and any others who may follow them.

That no man should glory ...

The intention of the Father here was to absolutely remove any motives of a want to be Christian from the possibility of earning by works, their mandatory inclusion into the faithful family of God - thereby providing a basis for human glorying in forcing God into obligatory debt. God has concluded in Rom. 3:23 that "ALL" have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Faith ...

This is not faith in one's self, but in the crucified Saviour - no grounds for glorying here.

Repentance ...

This entails Godly sorrow for past sins committed, issuing in a reversal of the human will - no grounds for glorying.

Confession ...

This is a confession of one's sins and the acknowledgement that they are a sinner and in need of the saving grace of God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This is not a confession of how saved one is, or what wonders the Lord has done for one, but of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God - no grounds for glorying here.

Baptism into Christ ...

In this act, which is the sinner's only in the sense that they are commanded to "have themselves baptized into the body of Christ," both spiritually and physically. One is of faith and the other is the subsequent consequence of that applied faith. In physical water, they are passive, silent, meek, helpless; with hands folded over a penitent heart, they permit their entire persons to be buried in a liquid baptismal grave, this action showing that they do not trust themself for salvation any more than they would trust a dead body, fit only to be buried to arise a new creature in Christ like as Jesus. Those who are glorying in this generation are none other than those who are obeying the gospel in order to be saved, as the Scriptures teach. However, on the other hand, there are those who are screaming to high heaven that they are being saved in a better way, by doing nothing except "believing" or "trusting," but have dead works/fruits and have not actually divorced themselves from the desires of the flesh and the things of the world. They are glorying in being saved without truthfully "obeying the gospel"; and they are glorying against those whom they denounce and decry as "legalists" because they do render obedience to these primary commandments and strive to teach all people to do likewise.

Most true Christians are never gloried in rendering primary obedience to the gospel, or who for one moment believe such obedient actions on their part "earned" them salvation, or "placed God under obligations to them," or put themselves in a position of "deserving" or "meriting" eternal redemption. The implied truth of Christians who believe that Christ meant what He said when He declared that, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" is merely an application of their love and faith in God's Word. Since the groups who believe and practice obedience to the primary condition(s) of redemption most certainly attempt in error to attach additional constraints to "faith in Christ Jesus" as being the one and only precondition for justification. Meanwhile, are believers then disqualified as Christians because they also obey the Lord's Word in the areas of subsequent initial justification of individual works? God forbid - NO! Therefore, no one must be ridiculed for accepting "obedience of faith" for it betrays the true allegiance and sonship/fellowship of them that manifest it, but they must equally not attempt to encumber God's simple plan of justification/salvation with ridiculous claims for mandatory works in conjunction with faith - else one is lost.