Faith as a gift
This is further emphasized in the New Testament by the fact that faith is the fruit of the Spirit's ministry and is seen in the New Testament as a gift of God. Here,again there is an apparent tension between the Spirit's activity and human response. Paul provides an important perspective for us in this respect by drawing a further analogy between believing and suffering. "It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for him" (Phil 1:29). Suffering,like faith is a grace gift in Christian expereience.But the gift of suffering is not a commodity given to usas a fait accompli. We, not God,suffer. Yet this suffering is a gift from him. In a parallel way,faith is noot a package placed in our hands. It is the activity oof the whole man, directed by the Spirit toward Christ.God does not believe for us,or in us; we believe.Yet, it is only by God's grace that we believe. His gift is simultaneously our act.
The classic text in this connection is Ephesians 2:8. "It is by grace you have been saved,through faith,and this not from yourselves,it is the gift of God" . There is a well known exegetical crux here; what is the antecedent of 'this' and,therefore,what exactly constitutes the gift?
To the casual reader 'faith' reads as the natural antecedent(is is the immediate antecedent) But 'this' touto is neuter while both of the obvious antecedents are feminine (charis,grace and pistis,faith);so also is soteria, which might be understood as the unwritten antecedent;( "....and this i.e [salvation] is not of yourselves.....")
It is a long recognized principle that in languages in which the grammatical gender of a noun may differ from the gender of the thing itself,the gender of a pronoun may agree with the gender of the antecedent itself rather than the gender with the word which denotes it. In this specific context,since both pistis and charis are gender neutral,either might serve as the antecedent.
Three considerations suggest that the antecedent (i.e the thing that is the gift of God) is faith.
1. It is the immediate antecedent and therefore the most natural one.
2. It would be an unusual tautology (but admittedly not impossible;as Romans 3:24 and 5:15 indicate)to speak of grace as a gift from God,since by definition grace is a gift from God.
3. It gives a coherent reading of Pauls thought pattern which may be paraphrased as follows:
God made us alive-by grace you have been saved 2:5
God raised us up-to shoow his grace 2:6-7
It is indeed by grace you have been saved 2:8
But this grace engages rather than ignores our action
(salvation is by faith i.e it engages our active response)
Yet this active faith on our part does not prejudice grace'
For even the ability to believe is not ours independently' Faith (too) is the gift of God'
Thus: the salvation which is by grace is also by faith.
But,as should now be clear,this salvation,while recieved by our action (faith) is not thereby 'by works''
It engages our activity,
but it leaves no room for boasting (2:9
Hence. salvation is not our work;
instead,we are God's workmanship. (2:10)
Even if we adopt the view that it is 'being saved through faith" that forms the antecedent (the view favored by Calvin and others) There would still be a hint that faith is a gift od grace
That faith in any case is viewed by Paul as a gift is confirmed in Ephesians 6:23,when he prays for "Faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" There would be little point in praying for what comes from the Father and the Son unless that faith were,in somme sense. given by them. Similarly Peter refers to believers who have; "Recieved a faith as precious as ours" (2 Pet 1:1) Which seems to refer to the content of faith.
