SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:8
Porque por gracia sois salvos por la fe; y esto no de vosotros, pues es don de Dios;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Ephesians 2:8
Verse 8. For by grace are ye saved, through faith] As ye are now brought into a state of salvation, your sins being all blotted out, and you made partakers of the Holy Spirit; and, having a hope full of immortality, you must not attribute this to any works or merit of yours; for when this Gospel reached you, you were all found dead in trespasses and dead in sins; therefore it was God's free mercy to you, manifested through Christ, in whom ye were commanded to believe; and, having believed by the power of the Holy Spirit, ye received, and were sealed by, the Holy Spirit of promise; so that this salvation is in no sense of yourselves, but is the free gift of God; and not of any kind of works; so that no man can boast as having wrought out his own salvation, or even contributed any thing towards it. By grace arc ye saved, through faith in Christ. This is a true doctrine, and continues to be essential to the salvation of man to the end of the world. But whether are we to understand, faith or salvation as being the gift of God? This question is answered by the Greek text: th gar cariti este seswsmenoi dia thv pistewv? kai touto ouk ex umwn? qeou to dwron, ouk ex ergwn? ina mh tiv kauchshtai? "By this grace ye are saved through faith; and THIS (touto, this salvation) not of you; it is the gift of God, not of works: so that no one can boast."The relative touto, this, which is in the neuter gender, cannot stand for pistiv, faith, which is the feminine; but it has the whole sentence that goes before for its antecedent." But it may be asked: Is not faith the gift of God? Yes, as to the grace by which it is produced; but the grace or power to believe, and the act of believing, are two different things. Without the grace or power to believe no man ever did or can believe; but with that power the act of faith is a man's own. God never believes for any man, no more than he repents for him: the penitent, through this grace enabling him, believes for himself: nor does he believe necessarily, or impulsively when he has that power; the power to believe may be present long before it is exercised, else, why the solemn warnings with which we meet every where in the word of God, and threatenings against those who do not believe? Is not this a proof that such persons have the power but do not use it? They believe not, and therefore are not established. This, therefore, is the true state of the case: God gives the power, man uses the power thus given, and brings glory to God: without the power no man can believe; with it, any man may.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 8. For by grace are ye saved , &c.] This is to be understood, not of temporal salvation, nor of preservation in Christ, nor of providential salvation in order to calling, and much less of being put in a way of salvation, or only in a salvable state; but of spiritual salvation, and that actual; for salvation was not only resolved upon, contrived and secured in the covenant of grace, for the persons here spoken to, but it was actually obtained and wrought out for them by Christ, and was actually applied unto them by the Spirit; and even as to the full enjoyment of it, they had it in faith and hope; and because of the certainty of it, they are said to be already saved; and besides, were representatively possessed of it in Christ their head: those interested in this salvation, are not all mankind, but particular persons; and such who were by nature children of wrath, and sinners of the Gentiles; and it is a salvation from sin, Satan, the law, its curse and condemnation, and from eternal death, and wrath to come; and includes all the blessings of grace and glory; and is entirely owing to free grace: for by grace is not meant the Gospel, nor gifts of grace, nor grace infused; but the free favour of God, to which salvation in all its branches is ascribed; as election, redemption, justification, pardon, adoption, regeneration, and eternal glory: the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, by his grace, and so some copies; and it may refer to the grace of all the three Persons; for men are saved by the grace of the Father, who drew the plan of salvation, appointed men to it, made a covenant with his Son, in which it is provided and secured, and sent him into the world to obtain it; and by the grace of the Son, who engaged as a surety to effect it, assumed human nature, obeyed and suffered in it for that purpose, and has procured it; and by the grace of the Spirit, who makes men sensible of their need of it, brings it near, sets it before them, and applies it to them, and gives them faith and hope in it: hence it follows, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ; salvation is through faith, not as a cause or condition of salvation, or as what adds anything to the blessing itself; but it is the way, or means, or instrument, which God has appointed, for the receiving and enjoying it, that so it might appear to be all of grace; and this faith is not the produce of man's free will and power, but it is the free gift of God; and therefore salvation through it is consistent with salvation by grace; since that itself is of grace, lies entirely in receiving grace and gives all the glory to the grace of God: the sense of this last clause may be, that salvation is not of ourselves; it is not of our desiring nor of our deserving, nor of our performing, but is of the free grace of God: though faith is elsewhere represented as the gift of God, ( John 6:65 Philippians 1:29) and it is called the special gift of faith, in the Apocrypha: And blessed is the eunuch, which with his hands hath wrought no iniquity, nor imagined wicked things against God: for unto him shall be given the special gift of faith, and an inheritance in the temple of the Lord more acceptable to his mind. (Wisdom 3:14) - (I asked the following question from a Greek and Hebrew professor: In this verse, to what does the word that refer to? Adam Clarke, Wesley & company say that it is neuter plural and Faith is feminine hence it cannot refer to faith, (Such an admission would destroy their theological system.) However Grace is also feminine as is Salvation.
His reply was: Here you ask a wonderful theological/exegetical question to which I can only give an opinion, and not a definitive answer. The problem is that there is NO precise referent. Grace is feminine.
Faith is feminine. And even Salvation (as a noun) is feminine. Yet it must be one of these three at least, and maybe more than one, or all three in conjunction. Since all three come from God and not from man, the latter might seem the more likely. However, it is a tautology to say salvation and grace are nor of yourselves, and in that case it certainly looks more like the passage is really pointing out that man cannot even take credit for his own act of faith, but that faith was itself created by God and implanted in us that we might believe (i.e. the normal Calvinistic position). In which regard the whole theological issue of regeneration preceding faith comes into play. So, that is basically my opinion, though others obviously disagree strenuously, but from an exegetical standpoint, the other positions have to explain away the matter of the tautology.
Whether you accept the reply or not, it is sufficient to show that the Greek is not as definitive in this verse as some scholars would have you believe.
Editor) Ver. 9. Not of works , &c.] Of any kind, moral or ceremonial, before or after conversion, done without faith or in it, nor of these in any sense; works are neither the moving causes, nor the procuring causes, nor the helping causes, nor causa sine qua non, or conditions of salvation; the best works that are done by men, are not done of themselves, but by the grace of God, and therefore can never merit at his hand: and salvation is put upon such a foot, lest any man should boast ; of his works before God, and unto men; wherefore he has denied works any place in justification and salvation, in order to exclude all boasting in man; and has fixed it in a way of grace, and has chosen and called poor sinful worthless creatures to enjoy it, that whoever glories, may glory in the Lord.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-10 - Sin is the death of the soul. A man dead in trespasses and sins has n desire for spiritual pleasures. When we look upon a corpse, it gives a awful feeling. A never-dying spirit is now fled, and has left nothin but the ruins of a man. But if we viewed things aright, we should be far more affected by the thought of a dead soul, a lost, fallen spirit A state of sin is a state of conformity to this world. Wicked men ar slaves to Satan. Satan is the author of that proud, carnal dispositio which there is in ungodly men; he rules in the hearts of men. From Scripture it is clear, that whether men have been most prone to sensua or to spiritual wickedness, all men, being naturally children of disobedience, are also by nature children of wrath. What reason have sinners, then, to seek earnestly for that grace which will make them of children of wrath, children of God and heirs of glory! God's eterna love or good-will toward his creatures, is the fountain whence all his mercies flow to us; and that love of God is great love, and that merc is rich mercy. And every converted sinner is a saved sinner; delivere from sin and wrath. The grace that saves is the free, undeserve goodness and favour of God; and he saves, not by the works of the law but through faith in Christ Jesus. Grace in the soul is a new life in the soul. A regenerated sinner becomes a living soul; he lives a lif of holiness, being born of God: he lives, being delivered from the guilt of sin, by pardoning and justifying grace. Sinners rol themselves in the dust; sanctified souls sit in heavenly places, ar raised above this world, by Christ's grace. The goodness of God in converting and saving sinners heretofore, encourages others i after-time, to hope in his grace and mercy. Our faith, our conversion and our eternal salvation, are not of works, lest any man should boast These things are not brought to pass by any thing done by us, therefor all boasting is shut out. All is the free gift of God, and the effec of being quickened by his power. It was his purpose, to which he prepared us, by blessing us with the knowledge of his will, and his Holy Spirit producing such a change in us, that we should glorify God by our good conversation, and perseverance in holiness. None can from Scripture abuse this doctrine, or accuse it of any tendency to evil All who do so, are without excuse.
Greek Textus Receptus
τη 3588 γαρ 1063 χαριτι 5485 εστε 2075 5748 σεσωσμενοι 4982 5772 δια 1223 της 3588 πιστεως 4102 και 2532 τουτο 5124 ουκ 3756 εξ 1537 υμων 5216 θεου 2316 το 3588 δωρον 1435
Vincent's NT Word Studies
8. For by grace, etc. This may truly be called exceeding riches of grace, for ye are saved by grace. Grace has the article, the grace of God, in vers. 5, 7. And that. Not faith, but the salvation.
Of God. Emphatic. Of God is it the gift.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:8 {For by grace} (tei gar cariti). Explanatory reason. "By the grace" already mentioned in verse #5 and so with the article. {Through faith} (dia pistews). this phrase he adds in repeating what he said in verse #5 to make it plainer. "Grace" is God's part, "faith" ours. {And that} (kai touto). Neuter, not feminine taute, and so refers not to pistis (feminine) or to caris (feminine also), but to the act of being saved by grace conditioned on faith on our part. Paul shows that salvation does not have its source (ex humwn, out of you) in men, but from God. Besides, it is God's gift (dwron) and not the result of our work.
