The overall context of the first three chapters of Ephesians is man’s salvation found in Christ. When no clear antecedent is found within a text, Greek scholar William Mounce wisely recommends that the Bible student study the context of the passage in question in order to help determine to what the relative pronoun (like “that”) is referring (1993, p. 111), then some extenuating linguistic circumstance, special idiomatic use, or other similarly mitigating factor would need to be demonstrated to justify linking “that” to “faith.” If such reasonable justification cannot be made, then one is compelled to continue studying the passage in order to know assuredly what “that” gift of God is. Since the general rule in Greek grammar is for the gender and number of a relative pronoun to be the same as its antecedent (Mounce, 1993, p. However, when one examines Ephesians 2:8 in the language in which it was originally written (Greek), he learns that the pronoun that ( touto) is neuter in gender, while the word faith ( pistis) is feminine. Those who advocate the view that faith itself is a gift (i.e., a miraculous imposition) from God, often point out that in this verse, “faith” is the nearest antecedent of “that” (“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God”).

Does “that” ( touto) refer to faith, as many have stated (e.g., Augustine, Chrysostom, Lenski, et al.), or, does “that” refer to salvation from sin? Is faith the “gift of God,” or is this gift salvation by grace through faith?Īdmittedly, from a cursory reading of the passage in Ephesians 2:8, it may appear that the relative pronoun that has faith as its grammatical antecedent. “ 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.”įor centuries, various Bible commentators have differed on the precise reference of the pronoun “that” in Ephesians 2:8.

Does Ephesians 2:8-9 teach that faith is a gift from God?

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