The Grammar of Grace: What is the Gift of God in Ephesians 2:8?

What is the Gift of God?

For the believer, few passages of Scripture are as cherished or as foundational as Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." These words are often the first a new convert memorizes, yet for centuries, they have also been a profound mystery.

While all agree that salvation is a work of grace, a significant debate persists over the pronoun "it" in our English Bible translations. When we read, "it is the gift of God," what is being referred to? Is the gift grace? Is it faith? Or is the gift salvation? Knowing the answer is not just an academic exercise. It actually determines whether we tell a seeking soul to look to Christ or to wait for a supernatural "feeling" of faith that may never come. By looking into the original Greek and the grammar of the New Testament, we can gain clarity that preserves the true simplicity of the Gospel.

To solve this mystery, we must first put on the hat of a grammarian. The phrase "and that not of yourselves" is the key. Paul uses the demonstrative pronoun "that." The Greek word is touto, which is not masculine or feminine in gender, but rather neuter. In the Greek language, pronouns are strict: they must agree with the word or concept they refer to in both gender and number. So the question is, "Does the pronoun 'that' (v.8) refer to grace, faith, or something else?"

• The Mismatch: The Greek word for "faith" (pistis) is feminine. So is the Greek word for "grace" (charis). However, the pronoun "that" (touto) is neuter.

• The Translation: Literally, touto means "this thing." If Paul had intended to identify "grace" or "faith" as the gift, Greek grammar would have required him to use the feminine form (haute). This might seem like a technicality, but not for those who believe in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Bible. God placed every word in the Bible to convey the exact message He wanted delivered. That means even the very gender of a small pronoun is God-breathed (inspired).

  
  

• The Resolution: Because the pronoun is neuter, it cannot grammatically point back to the feminine "grace" or "faith." Instead, it refers to the entire concept or "thing" Paul has just been describing: the act of being saved by grace, which he states twice in the passage. As Daniel Wallace observes, a neuter pronoun commonly takes a "conceptual antecedent." Thus, the grammar tells us: "By grace you are saved through faith—and this thing [salvation] is not of yourselves; it [salvation] is the gift of God."

Verse 9 continues the thought by clarifying that this gift is "not of works, lest any man should boast." When we test this phrase against the rest of the New Testament, the identity of "the gift" becomes even clearer. Throughout his epistles, Paul consistently applies the phrase "not of works" to justification and salvation (see Romans 3:20, 4:2; Titus 3:5; 2 Timothy 1:9). However, there is not a single passage in Scripture that combines "not of works" with "faith" because that makes no sense.

Think of it this way. While faith produces works (James 2:26), faith is all about stopping and no longer working, isn’t it? Faith simply acknowledges that you can’t do anything to win God’s approval. But saying salvation isn’t of works really hits the nail on the head because salvation cannot be earned. How are we saved? "Believe (You have faith) on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). We just believe that Christ paid for our debt of sin when he died on the cross in order to receive salvation. Faith is the requirement, not the gift.

A common reason for viewing faith as the gift of God is that some in Reformed Theology believe a person must be "born again" (regenerated) before they are even capable of believing. This creates a specific logical formula: Life → Faith. This often comes from the Lordship or Discipleship Salvation crowd who confuse justification with sanctification by requiring works, such as submission to Christ’s lordship or a promise of future obedience, to be added to faith as a condition for receiving the free gift of eternal life.

However, the Biblical order is the reverse: Faith → Life. John 1:12 tells us that to those who received Him (faith), He gave the power to become sons of God. John 20:31 states that "believing you all might have life." Charles Spurgeon famously critiqued the "Life First" view, noting the absurdity of waiting for a man to be healed before providing the remedy:

"Is not this waiting till the man is cured and then bringing him the medicine? This is preaching Christ to the righteous and not to sinners...It takes away a gospel for sinners and offers us a gospel for saints."

Biblically, the sinner is regenerated the moment they believe, not before. We do not bring medicine to the healthy; we bring the medicine of the Gospel to the sick so that they may live.

When we examine the word "gift" across the New Testament, a striking pattern emerges. Greek uses several words for gift (dorea, charisma, dorema), and they are consistently used to describe three things:

1. The Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38, 10:45)

2. The Person of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 9:15)

3. Eternal Life and Justification (Romans 5:17, 6:23; John 4:10)

Crucially, the word dorea (the most common word for a free gift) is never once used to describe saving faith in the entire New Testament. If Ephesians 2:8 refers to faith as the gift, it would be a hapax legomenon—a unique, one-time exception to the established Biblical pattern. This consistency reinforces our grammatical finding: salvation is the gift; faith is the means of receiving it.

This distinction is not merely a matter of syntax; it carries immense practical weight for how the Gospel is preached. At NESBC, we believe that salvation is the gift of God received by personal faith.

When this distinction is lost, the "invitation" to the sinner changes in a dangerous way. In some circles, such as those influenced by John MacArthur or Arthur Pink, the sinner is told that since faith is a gift only God can grant, they should "pray and ask" for the gift of faith. This shifts the Gospel requirement from "Believe on the Lord" (Acts 16:31) to "Pray for the ability to believe." D.L. Moody used a simple analogy to remind us of our responsibility: "Some say that faith is the gift of God. So is the air, but you have to breathe it; so is bread, but you have to eat it... It is not for me to sit down and wait for faith to come stealing over me... it is for me to take God at His Word."

Conclusion: The Simple Responsibility of the Heart

The grammar, the logical context, and the broad usage of the New Testament all point to a beautiful conclusion: Salvation is the gift; faith is the hand that receives it.

While the power to save belongs exclusively to God, the responsibility to believe rests entirely with you. Salvation is wholly the work of God, but believing is wholly the responsibility of the individual. This preserves the absolute grace of God without removing the necessity of a human response.

If salvation is a gift already held out to you, are you focusing on the gift itself, or are you waiting for a "feeling" of faith that God has already commanded you to exercise? Do not wait for a gift of faith; trust in the Gift that has already been given.