Is Faith a Gift from God?

Recommended Reading
“Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics” by Dan Wallace: [ Ссылка ]

“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, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

A position that distinguishes the Christian faith uniquely from other religious systems is the understanding that man can’t be brought into right relationship with God without God extending grace to man in the first place. Ephesians 2 is one of the chapters of the Bible that substantiates this. Man is dead in his sin and, as such, he is incapable of bringing about his own salvation. For someone to be saved, God must grant that person grace & forgiveness. The visible proof of God’s grace in someone’s life is the presence of faith in Christ.

Among orthodox Christians, the point of discussion has historically been whether the faith of the individual believer is expressed prior to their receiving God’s grace or if faith is the immediate consequence of God having granted that individual grace to believe.

Verses 8-9 are at the center of this discussion. At first glance, it certainly appears that verse 8 teaches that faith is a gift of God – the resulting interpretation being that God’s grace does in fact precede the individual faith of the believer. However, those who disagree with this understanding point out that there is more going on in this passage than what first meets the eye of the English-speaking reader.

If we look at this passage in Greek, the question is raised with respect to the pronoun τοῦτο (“this,” or, “that,” depending on the translation). Greek is a language that uses grammatical gender – some words are masculine, some are feminine and some are neuter. We can tell which gender a word possesses based on its form.

The pronoun τοῦτο is neuter in form. Because it is a pronoun, there is a proper noun that it is in reference to (its antecedent). We typically expect the antecedent to be in the same form as the pronoun. At this point, we note an interesting observation – the word for faith (πίστεως) is a feminine noun, not a neuter one. This would seem to indicate that πίστεως is not the antecedent for τοῦτο (i.e. that “faith” is not in view as the, “gift of God”).

Before coming to this conclusion however, there is more that needs to be said. While it is true that τοῦτο is neuter and πίστεως is feminine, the word for, “saved,” is σεσῳσμένοι, a masculine participle. If we apply the same rules of grammar to this instance, then we have to conclude that σεσῳσμένοι is also not the antecedent of τοῦτο. The consequence of this would be that in the same way that, “faith,” could not be a gift of God, neither could be salvation. Of course, nobody on either side of the discussion would affirm such an understanding of salvation.

So, with all of that being said, what’s going on in Ephesians 2:8? Why is τοῦτο neuter while, “grace,” and, “faith,” are feminine and, “saved,” is masculine? And what does this mean for what Paul is referring to as the gift of God?

In the words of noted New Testament scholar Dr. Dan Wallace, the likely interpretation is that, “… τοῦτο refers to the concept of a grace-by-faith salvation,” because, “…τοῦτο regularly takes a conceptual antecedent.” In other words, the antecedent to τοῦτο is the entire phrase, “Τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι διὰ πίστεως – For by grace you are saved through faith.” The reason then for why τοῦτο is neuter is because it is in reference to both the feminine nouns χάριτί (grace) and πίστεως (faith) at the same time as the masculine participle σεσῳσμένοι (saved). The gift of God is not merely one of the three – it is all three simultaneously.

Thus, I believe the proper understanding of Paul’s words here is that the gift of God is the individual believer’s faith as the inevitable product of their salvation in Christ via the grace of God. Ergo, the understanding is that the regenerative power of God’s grace is the precedent for the individual man, woman or child professing saving faith in Christ.

I have expressed this concept in my lectures as the planting of the seed of faith in the heart of the believer – a process that is invisible to the creaturely eyes of man. I do not know who has had the seed of faith planted in them by God…that is, until that person makes an individual profession of faith in Christ – the inevitable first fruit that grows on the proverbial, “tree” that is the man, woman or child who has come to know Jesus as their Savior. By the power & indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Christian’s life then is set apart for bearing even more good fruit on their tree. Paul refers to this in verse 10 as the, “… good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Salvation begins with the sovereign grace of God and it results in the abundant fruit-bearing of good works as a testimony to the reality of that salvation.

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