Ephesians 2:8-9
“for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.”
Where this sits
Follows immediately from the description of readers as dead in trespasses and God being rich in mercy. Paul has already said this in a parenthesis four verses earlier.
Reflection
Paul builds this sentence to eliminate contributions one at a time.
By grace — the cause. Through faith — the means. And that not of yourselves — closing the obvious loophole, because faith is the one element in the sentence that looks like it might be yours. Then: it is the gift of God. Then: not of works. Then, in case anyone is still calculating: that no one would boast.
Five clauses, and four of them exist only to shut a door. That is not an accident of style. Paul knows how the human mind works with an offer like this, and he keeps closing exits until there is nowhere left to claim credit from.
The grammar of that not of yourselves has been debated for centuries — whether it refers to faith, or to the whole arrangement. The debate matters less than the direction, which is unmistakable either way.
And the tense is worth noting: you have been saved. Completed, in the past, with continuing effect. Not being saved, not hoping to be. Paul writes about it as something that has already happened to the reader.
What follows in verse ten keeps this from becoming an argument against effort. We are his workmanship, created for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The works are not removed. They are relocated — from the foundation to the building.
- Theme:
- Salvation
- Book:
- Ephesians