Ephesians 2:8

When the Apostle was recounting above the blessing of God by which we have been freed from sin, he inserted the thought that we had been saved by Christ's grace (2:5). Now he intends to prove that; he makes two points concerning it: First, he …

I found that faith was the sovereign gift of God; that I could not get it as of myself; and could not oblige God to bestow it upon me by any of my performances.

By grace ye are saved through faith - Grace, without any respect to human worthiness, confers the glorious gift. Faith, with an empty hand, and without any pretense to personal desert, receives the heavenly blessing. And this is not of yourselves - This refers to the whole preceding clause, That ye are saved through faith, is the gift of God.

For by grace are ye saved,....

Note, Every converted sinner is a saved sinner. Such are delivered from sin and wrath; they are brought into a state of salvation, and have a right given them by grace to eternal happiness.

Our faith, our conversion, and our eternal salvation, are not the mere product of any natural abilities, nor of any merit of our own: Not of works, lest any man should boast,

Php 3:10) whereby we are "raised together" with Him (Eph 2:6; Some of the oldest manuscripts read, "through your (literally, 'the') faith." The instrument or mean of salvation on the part of the person saved; Christ alone is the meritorious agent. and that--namely, the act of believing, or "faith." "Of yourselves" stands in opposition to, "it is the gift of God" (Php 1:29).

OTHER Divine attributes are manifest in salvation. The Wisdom of God devised the plan. The Omnipotence of God executes in us the work of salvation. The Immutability of God preserves and carries it on—in fact, all the attributes of God are magnified in the salvation of a sinner—but at the same time the text is most accurate since Grace is the fountainhead of salvation and is most conspicuous throughout. Grace is to be seen in our election, for, "there is a remnant according to the election of Grace, and if by Grace then it is no more of works."

OTHER Divine attributes are manifest in salvation. The Wisdom of God devised the plan. The Omnipotence of God executes in us the work of salvation. The Immutability of God preserves and carries it on—in fact, all the attributes of God are magnified in the salvation of a sinner—but at the same time the text is most accurate since Grace is the fountainhead of salvation and is most conspicuous throughout. Grace is to be seen in our election, for, "there is a remnant according to the election of Grace, and if by Grace then it is no more of works." Grace is manifestly revealed in our redemption, for you know therein the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is utterly inconceivable that any soul could have deserved to be redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The mere thought is abhorrent to every holy mind. Our calling is also of Grace, for, "He has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and Grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." By Grace also are we justified, for over and over again the Apostle insists upon this grand and fundamental Truth of God. We are not justified before God by works in any measure or in any degree, but by faith alone, and the Apostle tells us, "it is of faith, that it might be by Grace." We see a golden thread of Grace running through the whole of the Christian's history—from his election before all worlds even to his admission to the Heaven of rest. Grace, all along, "reigns through righteousness unto eternal life," and, "where sin abounds, Grace does much more abound." There is no point in the history of a saved soul upon which you can put your finger and say, "In this instance he is saved by his own merit." Every single blessing which we receive from God comes to us by the channel of free favor, revealed to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I MEAN to dwell mainly upon that expression, "Through faith." I call attention, however, first of all, to the foun-tainhead of our salvation, which is the Grace of God. "By Grace are you saved." Because God is gracious, therefore sinful men are forgiven, converted, purified and saved. It is not because of anything in them, or that ever can be in them, that they are saved, but because of the boundless love, goodness, pity, compassion, mercy and Grace of God. Tarry a moment, then, at the wellhead.

I MEAN to dwell mainly upon that expression, "Through faith." I call attention, however, first of all, to the foun-tainhead of our salvation, which is the Grace of God. "By Grace are you saved." Because God is gracious, therefore sinful men are forgiven, converted, purified and saved. It is not because of anything in them, or that ever can be in them, that they are saved, but because of the boundless love, goodness, pity, compassion, mercy and Grace of God. Tarry a moment, then, at the wellhead. Behold the pure river of Water of Life as it proceeds out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb. What an abyss is the Grace of God! Who can fathom it? Like all the rest of the Divine attributes, it is infinite! God is full of love, for "God is love." God is full of goodness—the very name, "God," is but short for, "good." Unbounded goodness and love enter into the very essence of the Godhead. It is because, "His mercy endures forever," that men are not destroyed. It is because, "His compassions fail not," that sinners are brought to Himself and forgiven. Right well remember this, for otherwise you may fall into error by fixing your minds so much upon the faith which is the channel of salvation as to forget the Grace which is the fountain and source of faith itself! Faith is the work of God's Grace in us. No man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Spirit. "No man comes unto Me," says Christ, "except the Father which has sent Me draw him." So that faith, which is coming to Christ, is the result of Divine drawing! Grace is the first and last moving cause of salvation and faith, important as it is, is only an important part of the machinery which Grace employs. We are saved "through faith," but it is "by Grace." Sound forth those words as with the archangel's trumpet—"By Grace are you saved!" Faith occupies the position of a channel or conduit.

OF the things which I have spoken unto you these many years, this is the sum. Within the circle of these words my theology is contained, so far as it refers to the salvation of men. I also rejoice to remember that these of my family who were ministers of Christ before me preached this Doctrine and none other. My father, who is still able to bear his personal testimony for his Lord, knows no other Doctrine, neither did his father before him.

OF the things which I have spoken unto you these many years, this is the sum. Within the circle of these words my theology is contained, so far as it refers to the salvation of men. I also rejoice to remember that these of my family who were ministers of Christ before me preached this Doctrine and none other. My father, who is still able to bear his personal testimony for his Lord, knows no other Doctrine, neither did his father before him. I am led to remember this by the fact that a somewhat singular circumstance, recorded in my memory, connects this text with myself and my grandfather. It is now many years ago. I was announced to preach in a certain country town in the Eastern Counties. It does not often happen to me to be behind time, for I feel that punctuality is one of those little virtues which may prevent great sins. But we have no control over railway delays and breakdowns—and so it happened that I reached the appointed place considerably behind time. Like sensible people, they had begun their worship and had proceeded as far as the sermon. As I neared the chapel, I perceived that someone was in the pulpit preaching—and who should the preacher be but my dear and venerable grandfather! He saw me as I came in at the front door and made my way up the aisle. And he at once said, "Here comes my grandson! He may preach the Gospel better than I can, but he cannot preach a better Gospel, can you, Charles?" As I made my way through the throng, I answered, "You can preach better than I can. Pray go on." But he would not agree to that; I must take the sermon, and so I did, going on with the subject then and there, just where he left off. "There," he said, "I was preaching on 'For by Grace are you saved.' I have been setting forth the source and fountainhead of salvation. And I am now showing them the channel of it, through faith.

For by grace are ye saved, through faith - As ye are now brought into a state of salvation, your sins being all blotted out, and you made partakers of the Holy Spirit; and, having a hope full of immortality, you must not attribute this to any works or merit of yours; for when this Gospel reached you, you were all found dead in trespasses and dead in sins; therefore it was God’s free mercy to you, manifested through Christ, in whom ye were commanded to believe; and, having believed by the power of the Holy Spirit, ye received, and were sealed by, the Holy Spirit of promise; so that this salvation is in no sense of yourselves, but is the free gift of God; and not of any kind of works; so that no man can boast as having wrought out his own salvation, or even contributed any thing towards it.

For by grace are ye saved - By mere favor. It is not by your Own merit; it is not because you have any claim. This is a favorite doctrine with Paul, as it is with all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity; compare the notes at Rom 1:7; Rom 3:24, note. Through faith - Grace bestowed through faith, or in connection with believing; see the notes at Rom 1:17; Rom 4:16, note. And that not of yourselves - That is, salvation does not proceed from yourselves. The word rendered “that” - τοῦτο touto - is in the neuter gender, and the word “faith” - πίστις pistis - is in the feminine. The word “that,” therefore, does not refer particularly to faith, as being the gift of God, but to “the salvation by grace” of which he had been speaking. This is the interpretation of the passage which is the most obvious, and which is now generally conceded to be the true one; see Bloomfield. Many critics, however, as Doddridge, Beza, Piscator, and Chrysostom, maintain that the word “that” (τοῦτο touto) refers to “faith” (πίστις pistis); and Doddridge maintains that such a use is common in the New Testament. As a matter of grammar this opinion is certainly doubtful, if not untenable; but as a matter of theology it is a question of very little importance. Whether this passage proves it or not, it is certainly true that faith is the gift of God. It exists in the mind only when the Holy Spirit produces it there, and is, in common with every other Christian excellence, to be traced to his agency on the heart. This opinion, however, does not militate at all with the doctrine that man himself “believes.” It is not God that “believes” for him, for that is impossible. It is his own mind that actually believes, or that exercises faith; see the notes at Rom 4:3. In the same manner “repentance” is to be traced to God. It is one of the fruits of the operation of the Holy Spirit on the soul. […]

our faith is a gift of God. It is a divine creation. It is the work of grace when we were dead.