Ephesians 2:8

[jdbrown]

In Ephesians 2:8 Paul writes:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (ESV)

Now, the immediate antecedent to the word "this" is the word "faith", correct? Therefore, Paul is saying that faith is the gift of God, correct?

 

[GrinningDwarf]

In Ephesians 2:8 Paul writes:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (ESV)

Now, the immediate antecedent to the word "this" is the word "faith", correct? Therefore, Paul is saying that faith is the gift of God, correct?

Yes.

Some people would argue that 'this' refers to the entire phrase "For by grace you have been saved through faith", but even if this were true, it doesn't change the meaning. It's all a gift from God.

 

[Iosias]

In Ephesians 2:8 Paul writes:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (ESV)

Now, the immediate antecedent to the word "this" is the word "faith", correct? Therefore, Paul is saying that faith is the gift of God, correct?

Possibly, but it could refer to the grace or the saved or the whole phrase. In reality it does not matter.

 

[crimsonleaf]

Possibly, but it could refer to the grace or the saved or the whole phrase. In reality it does not matter.

You're right, it doesn't matter.

Faith as a gift from God is shown elsewhere, as in John 6:65 - He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them." (NIV). And how does God enable them? By the gift of faith.

 

[ronathanedwards]

The immediate antecedent doesn't matter in this case. Considering there is no other neuter in the phrase and there are differing genders, the whole phrase HAS to be included. Paul did that by design. Grammatically there is no other way to take it. If Paul wanted to single out one out, he easily could have done it. The Spirit doesn't make mistakes. All three (grace,salvation, and faith) are the gift. "From Him and through Him and to Him are ALL things"

 

[Skala]

Here's a few things I've collected that address Eph 2:8:

Faith is a Gift! (Jim McClarty) - YouTube

From my nephew in seminary, translating the Greek: "I did my study of the Greek of Ephesians 2. It's quite interesting. I'll try to explain it as best as I can. Make sure that you have Ephesians 2 open while you read this. It will help. The demonstrative pronoun ("that") in Ephesians 2:8 actually has a neuter gender in Greek. In Greek, pronouns must match with their antecedents in gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and number (singular, plural). Both words "grace" and 'faith' are feminine in Greek, so it is rather impossible to say that the 'that' is pointing to either of them specifically. Rather, often times in Greek when a writer wants to refer to a whole idea he will use the neuter gender. So the antecedent of the demonstrative pronoun 'that' in this passage is actually pointing to the whole idea 'For by grace are you saved through faith.' "

"I brought this up with one of my Greek professors and pointed out that we probably should not use this passage to point to exclusively as faith as being the gift. He agreed with me. But notice that this does not disregard our faith as a gift of God. By using the 'that' to point to the whole idea that "by grace are we saved through faith" Paul is saying more. Our whole status of being children of God is "not of ourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works."

The rub: the antecedent is the collective phrase, not grace, faith, or salvation individually.

So people who say faith is the gift are wrong.
And people who say that salvation is the gift are wrong.
And people who say that grace is the gift are wrong.

The truth is, the whole process is what is the gift. And this supports Calvinism and refutes Arminianism

 

[Don Maurer]

While it is true that the entire clause (with two feminine nouns and a masculine noun) is the antecedent of the neuter pronoun, that simply means that faith is the gift, so is salvation and grace a gift. If I remember right, does Dana and Manty specifically mention this text, or did they just mention that a neuter can take a masculine/feminine phrase? On the other hand, it is not like this is the only verse in the NT that gives God credit for our faith.
1 John 5:1; Philippians 1:29; and other texts do the same thing. While Ephesians 2:8 speaks of faith as the gift of God, it is not like that text stands alone.