# Does Eph 2:8 Teach That Faith Is The Gift Of God?



## KMK (Feb 29, 2008)

Eph 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; *and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:*

What is the meaning of the second clause?

Hodge writes in his commentary:



> The only point in the interpretation of these verses of any doubt, relates to the second clause. What is said to be the gift of God? Is it salvation, or faith? The words ??? ????? only serve to render more proninent the matter referred to. Compare Rom. 13, 11. 1 Cor. 6, 6. Phil. 1, 28. Heb. 11, 12. They may relate to faith (?? ?????????), or to the salvation spoken of (??????????? ?????). Beza, following the fathers, prefers the former reference; Calvin, with most of the modern commentators, the latter. The reasons in favour of the former interpretation are, 1. It best suits the design of the passage. The object of the apostle is to show the gratuitous nature of salvation. This is most effectually done by saying, ‘Ye are not only saved by faith in opposition to works, but your very faith is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.’ 2. The other interpretation makes the passage tautological. To say: ‘Ye are saved by faith; not of yourselves; your salvation is the gift of God; it is not of works,’ is saying the same thing over and over without any progress. Whereas to say: ‘Ye are saved through faith (and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God), not of works,’ is not repetitious; the parenthetical clause instead of being redundant does good service and greatly increases the force of the passage. 3. According to this interpretation the antithesis between faith and works, so common in Paul’s writings, is preserved. ‘Ye are saved by faith, not by works, lest any man should 120 boast.’ The middle clause of the verse is therefore parenthetical, and refers not to the main idea ye are saved, but to the subordinate one through faith, and is designed to show how entirely salvation is of grace, since even faith by which we apprehend the offered mercy, is the gift of God. 4. The analogy of Scripture is in favor of this view of the passage, in so far that elsewhere faith is represented as the gift of God. 1 Cor. 1, 26-31. Eph. 1, 19. Col. 2, 12, et passim.



Robertson's Word Pictures says...



> And that (kai touto). Neuter, not feminine tauth, and so refers not to pistiv (feminine) or to xariv (feminine also), but to the act of being saved by grace conditioned on faith on our part.


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## AV1611 (Feb 29, 2008)

The way I look at it is simply this, it either is saying "faith is a gift" or it is saying "salvation is a gift". But think, if we are saved by grace through faith and salvation is a gift, it must be the case that faith is a gift it being the instrumental cause of our salvation.

As for the exegesis and linguistics I will leave that to others.


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## greenbaggins (Feb 29, 2008)

According to Hendriksen, there are other instances of a neuter pronoun referring to a feminine antecedent in the NT. Therefore, the conclusion of Robertson does not follow. I agree with Hodge on this matter.


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## JM (Feb 29, 2008)

http://www.puritanboard.com/f17/eph-2-8-a-18582/


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## CubsIn07 (Mar 6, 2008)

greenbaggins said:


> According to Hendriksen, there are other instances of a neuter pronoun referring to a feminine antecedent in the NT. Therefore, the conclusion of Robertson does not follow. I agree with Hodge on this matter.



I would like to see these instances


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## DMcFadden (Mar 6, 2008)

CubsIn07 said:


> greenbaggins said:
> 
> 
> > According to Hendriksen, there are other instances of a neuter pronoun referring to a feminine antecedent in the NT. Therefore, the conclusion of Robertson does not follow. I agree with Hodge on this matter.
> ...



Back when I took Greek (100 years ago or so), we were taught to look for grammatical concord. A femine antecedent would typically take a femine pronoun. Yet, while a pronoun usually agrees with its noun in gender, there are plenty of exceptions to the general rule (cf. Acts 8:10, Jude 12, 2 Pet. 2:17, 1 Pet. 2:19, 1 Cor. 6:11, and 1 Cor. 10:6) (Ref. A. T. Robertson, *A Grammar of the Greek New Testament*, p. 704).


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## Semper Fidelis (Mar 6, 2008)

CubsIn07 said:


> greenbaggins said:
> 
> 
> > According to Hendriksen, there are other instances of a neuter pronoun referring to a feminine antecedent in the NT. Therefore, the conclusion of Robertson does not follow. I agree with Hodge on this matter.
> ...


Hendricksen


> *8**.* Reflecting on what he has just now said about grace, and repeating the parenthetical clause of verse 5b, the apostle says, *For by grace**59* *yo**u **have been saved.…* For explanation see on verse 5. He continues: *through faith; and this not of yourselves, (it is) the gift of God …*
> Three explanations deserve consideration:
> (1) _That offered by A. T. Robertson._ Commenting on this passage in his _Word Pictures in the New Testament_, Vol. IV, p. 525, he states, “Grace is God’s part, faith ours.” He adds that since in the original the demonstrative “this” (and _this_ not of yourselves) is neuter and does not correspond with the gender of the word “faith,” which is feminine, it does not refer to the latter “but to the act of being saved by grace conditioned on faith on our part.” Even more clearly in Gram.N.T., p. 704, he states categorically, “In Eph. 2:8 … there is no reference to διὰ πίστεως [_through faith_] in τοῦτο [this], but rather to the idea of salvation in the clause before.”
> Without any hesitancy I answer, Robertson, to whom the entire world of New Testament scholarship is heavily indebted, does not express himself felicitously in this instance. This is true first because in a context in which the apostle places such tremendous stress on the fact that from start to finish man owes his salvation to God, to him alone, it would have been very strange, indeed, for him to say, “Grace is God’s part, faith ours.” True though it be that both the responsibility of believing and also its activity are ours, for God does not believe for us, nevertheless, in the present context (verses 5–10) one rather expects emphasis on the fact that both in its initiation and in its continuation faith is entirely dependent on God, and so is our complete salvation. Also, Robertson, a grammarian famous in his field, knew that in the original the demonstrative (_this_), though neuter, by no means always corresponds in gender with its antecedent. That he knew this is shown by the fact that on the indicated page of his Grammar (p. 704) he points out that “in general” the demonstrative “agrees with its substantive in gender and number.” When he says “in general,” he must mean, _“not always_ but most of the time.” Hence, he should have considered more seriously the possibility that, in view of the context, the exception to the rule, an exception by no means rare, applies here. He should have made allowance for it.60 Finally, he should hare justified the departure from the rule that unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise the antecedent should be looked for in the immediate vicinity of the pronoun or adjective that refers to it.
> ...


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## Grymir (Mar 6, 2008)

Robertson - "but to the act of being saved by grace conditioned on faith on our part. " ??? 

Of course this passage is saying that faith is the gift of God. It's part of the doctrine of ordo salutis, and the fleshing it out. hmm the flesh at work?? works??? mwhaa ha ha


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## KMK (Mar 6, 2008)

Rich, is Hendriksen available online, or di you type that up yourself?


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## Semper Fidelis (Mar 6, 2008)

KMK said:


> Rich, is Hendriksen available online, or di you type that up yourself?



I have the electronic version. You can get it at Christianbooks for about $90. I actually just got the 12 volumes too.


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## JM (Mar 6, 2008)

New Testament Commentary, 12 Volumes - By: William Hendriksen, Simon J. Kistemaker - Christianbook.com


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## KMK (Mar 6, 2008)

JM said:


> New Testament Commentary, 12 Volumes - By: William Hendriksen, Simon J. Kistemaker - Christianbook.com



$100 is not bad! But I was wondering if it was availabe to read somewhere online. It looked like Rich just cut and pasted the article above.


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## Semper Fidelis (Mar 6, 2008)

KMK said:


> JM said:
> 
> 
> > New Testament Commentary, 12 Volumes - By: William Hendriksen, Simon J. Kistemaker - Christianbook.com
> ...



I did copy and paste but it's from the Libronix version. You can get that at Christianbooks too:

Baker's New Testament Commentary on CD-ROM - By: Simon J. Kistemaker, William Hendriksen - Christianbook.com


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