I've been thinking about Ephesians 2:8-9 a lot lately. I think we're reading it wrong - and the equation presented there has consequently been misunderstood.
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." - Ephesians 2:4-10 NASB
I think Paul is commenting on two separate things here - grace and faith, not equating the two, and the order of the language he uses is what ultimately confuses. In checking several versions of Ephesians 2:8, some of them use a comma as in "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith" and some use none, as in the NASB translation above. I think that comma is critical. If I were to re-write it, I think this is what Paul is saying:
For you are saved by grace and this is not of yourselves so that no one can boast; and faith is involved, but God does not save people on the basis of their works, it is His choice alone.
Yes, I've added some words in there so make it flow, so don't get lost there. I think Paul is saying that it is the grace (or the unmerited choice) of God alone that determines whether or not you are saved, and that this Grace is the thing that is not of ourselves, so that no one can boast. Put another way, no one can obligate God to anything, certainly not unto salvation. Jesus is 100% justified and correct in whatever judgement He renders.
Having said that - I don't think the same can be said about the faith part of this verse. I don't think Paul is saying here that our faith is a gift of God (though He is certainly involved), or that it is not of ourselves...as in, we have nothing to do with our faith. Rather, I think Paul is saying that a pre-requisite for receiving God's gracious gift of salvation is our faith/allegiance (pistis). Our cooperation is involved. Our faith does not obligate God to save us, but if we do not have faith in Him, we are not eligible for his Grace (Scripture says that if we do not have faith we are enemies of God, Matthew 12:30).
Looking Elsewhere
This 'take' on Ephesians 2:8 jives with other scripture as well. Look at Titus 2:11-14:
"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."
In this verse also - grace is the thing tied to salvation...and it teaches us to do good works (essentially). Grace doesn't do it (faith) for us, or without our effort and cooperation and it is unto our great hope of Jesus' return.
Romans 5:14-17 is another place
"Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to many!"
The 'gift' mentioned here is salvation/eternal life. There is no mention here of faith being the gift, many had faith before Jesus was ever on the scene, rather, the 'gift' mentioned in verse 15 is in direct contrast to 'death' mentioned in verse 14.
Grace (often from the Greek word 'charis') in the New Testament is used in a number of different ways, but it is always an attribute of God's and very often is tied to a response from those who is it being bestowed upon. I don't really want to get long-winded on this point, so if you want to read more about this in particular, read this lengthy and thorough article on Paul's use of the word 'grace' through his letters.
Why Does this Matter?
If I am correct, this takes a HUGE burden off of the 'ol faith vs. works debate. No longer are faith and works at odds with each other, but instead, the author of the book of James can be taken at face-value when he says, "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:17). What James is saying is that faith without works is not faith at all. It's not faith...it's dead works. He goes on to say a few verses later, "Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." (James 2:18). Everyone knows these verses and many of us have been party to conversations where people tie themselves in knots trying to work this out. It's not difficult and James is not suggesting that we somehow earn something with God through works because - and again, if I am right - Paul never says that we are saved by faith. We are saved by Grace, and our faith is the pre-requisite that makes us eligible for a favorable ruling. It doesn't obligate God to save us, because God does not judge the outward man, but the inner man (1 Samuel 16:7), and He has the authority to judge whether our faith is genuine.
I would even go so far as to argue that we can have a deluded faith...like the people Jesus talks about in Matthew 7 when they say to him, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?" (Matt 7:22). And Jesus says to them, "away from me you evildoers, I never knew you." True faith, it would seem, involves both the inner man as well as the outer man. Outer actions that are a result of inner transformation...but the two cannot be separated. Outer actions without inner transformation are dead works (not faith) and inner transformation without outward action is dead faith (not faith). Faith and works are inseparably tied together and neither of them earns us anything.
Aside:
I think another important aspect of all of this is when you think we are 'saved'. I maintain that we are not saved until He says to us, "well done good and faithful servant". In other words, I believe in 'once saved, always saved', but I don't believe I'm saved yet. Once I am, there is nothing that can reverse that. If you believe, however, that salvation happens now, on this side of the Day of the Lord, then you are going to struggle with what I've said in this post.
Good Further Reading:
"Gospel Allegiance" by Matthew Bates (2019)
"Relational Grace: The Reciprocal and Binding Covenant of Charis" by Brent Schmidt (2023)
"Patronage and Reciprocity: The Context of Grace in the New Testament" by David deSilva
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