Grace and Faith. (God’s Gift)
Ephesians 2:8,9
8. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
9. Not of works lest any man should boast.
Obviously these two verses are talking about salvation. (Being saved)
The question is this, is the gift of salvation by the grace of God and through our faith, or is salvation, by grace through faith, which is the gift of God?
There are two different ways of looking at this.
1. If the grace of God is separate from our faith, God has grace and we have faith.
This would mean that God’s part is grace and our part is faith and these two together gives salvation.
2. This other way of looking at this is, it is God’s grace and faith, which He gives to us freely.
For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
Neither grace nor faith have their origin in ourselves, it is the gift of God.
The first way, in fact would deny the whole meaning of the verse, for the verse tells us that salvation is not of ourselves but a gift of God.
If faith is something that we do of ourselves, then we have a part to play in our own salvation, therefore our salvation is not all of God but a joint effort between ourselves and God.
However, Not of ourselves, means that we have nothing of ourselves that enables us to come to God.
God in Christ is the author of our salvation.
Hebrews 5:9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
The second way of understanding these verses is the fact that both grace and faith come from God.
When the Apostle Paul preached at Derbe and Lystra, he met a woman named Lydia.
Acts 16:14 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
The first move towards Lydia was an act of God.
God opened her heart.
It was God that made it possible for Lydia to listen and heed the words of Paul.
It was God that gave grace and it was God that gave faith to believe.
For by grace are you saved through faith…………. it is the gift of God.
Ephesians tells us that we were dead in sin.
Eph 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Dead means dead, unable to do anything towards our salvation. We could not respond to the words of the Gospel, we could not hear, we could not rise up, we could do nothing, the dead have no faith.
It was God that moved on us by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit and made us alive and gave us the ability and the faith to accept His grace and favour and His salvation.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin of righteousness and judgement and God gives us the means to repent and believe the Gospel.
God is truly the author of our salvation.
The whole thing was God’s gift.
For by grace are you saved through faith,………………. it is the gift of God.
We are saved by grace through faith, for works and not of works.
I had nothing to do with my physical birth. I received my physical life through the genes of my father.
I did not ask to be born. I had no part to play in it.
So too, with my spiritual birth. I was given the gift of life by and through my heavenly Father.
It was His choice, not mine. He chose me, I did not choose Him.
John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
John 5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
My new birth was authored and orchestrated by God alone in Christ by the Holy Spirit.
In the fullness of time, God regenerated my heart by the work of the Holy Spirit, making it possible for me to respond to His grace through His gift of faith.
God told Ezekiel to preach to the dead dry bones and it was God that breathed life into them.
Eze 37:4,5 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.
