"Were we saved by grace through certainty, or saved by grace through faith?"
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." — Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)
Eph_2:5; Eph_2:8 "by grace you have been saved"
This is a Perfect passive periphrastic participle, repeated in Eph_2:8 for emphasis. This meant that believers have been saved in the past, by an outside agent, with abiding results; "they have been and continue to be saved by God." This same construction is repeated in Eph_2:8 for emphasis. See Special Topic at Eph_1:7.
This is one of the biblical passages which forms the basis for the doctrine of the security of the believer (cf. Joh_6:37; Joh_6:39; Joh_10:28; Joh_17:2; Joh_17:24; Joh_18:9; Rom_8:31-39). Like all biblical doctrines, it must be balanced (held in tension) with other truths and texts.
Through faith (dia pisteōs). This phrase he adds in repeating what he said in Eph_2:5 to make it plainer. “Grace” is God’s part, “faith” ours.
And that (kai touto). Neuter, not feminine tautē, and so refers not to pistis (feminine) or to charis (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 humōn, out of you) in men, but from God. Besides, it is God’s gift (dōron) and not the result of our work.
through faith -- Mankind must respond to God's offer of grace and forgiveness in Christ (cf. Joh_1:12; Joh_3:16-17; Joh_3:36; Joh_6:40; Joh_11:25-26; Rom_10:9-13), and this is done through a faith that "trusts and obeys." Salvation by faith means we trust in God's trustworthy promises and yeild oursleves to him as our Lord, which means then that we keep is commandments. (John 14;15; 1Jn_5:3; 2Jn_1:6)
and that -- This is the Greek demonstrative pronoun (touto), which is neuter in gender. The closest nouns, "grace" and "faith," are both feminine in gender. Therefore, this must refer to the whole process of salvation as completed in Christ. (Utley)
“That” refers to the entire previous statement of salvation. FSB
not of yourselves -- This is the first of three phrases which clearly show that salvation is not based on human performance: (1) "not of yourselves" Eph_2:8; (2) "gift of God" Eph_2:8; and (3) "not as a result of works (either OT works or one's own merit) " Eph_2:9.
gift -- Also see Heb_6:4 -- Heavenly gifts -- forgivness of sins, salvaion. The paradox of salvation as both a free gift and a mandated covenant response are difficult to grasp. Yet both are true! Salvation is truly free, yet costs everything. (Utley).
tc The feminine article is found before πίστεως (pisteōs, “faith”) in the Byzantine text as well as in A Ψ 1241 1881 al. Perhaps for some scribes the article was intended to imply creedal fidelity as a necessary condition of salvation (“you are saved through the faith”), although elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum the phrase διὰ τῆς πίστεως (dia tēs pisteōs) is used for the act of believing rather than the content of faith (cf. Rom 3:30, 31; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:17; Col 2:12). On the other side, strong representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א B D* F G P 0278 6 33 1175 1505 1739 al bo) lack the article. Without the article, the meaning of the text is most likely “saved through faith” as opposed to “saved through the faith.” On both internal and external grounds the anarthrous wording is preferred.
tn Or “not as a result of.”
tn Grk “lest anyone should boast.”
tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).
sn So that we may do them. Before the devil began to control our walk in sin and among sinful people, God had already planned good works for us to do.
Of course I don't support the Alexandrian texts.
“For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord who rules over all. “It will not leave even a root or branch. But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication will rise with healing...
netbible.org
J.
