Which Is The Gift?

Q

Thank you for your outstanding ministry. I noticed that you stated that our faith is a gift from God and you used Ephesians 2:8-9 as a verse to show this. I do believe that God gives us faith, but I thought these verses were saying salvation is the gift from God. Is faith or salvation the gift that is given in these verses?

A

In the NIV Ephesians 2:8-9 says;

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.

In the ultimate sense both our salvation and the faith to receive it are gifts from God, because we didn’t do anything to earn either one.

But the rule of grammar requires that the pronoun “this” refers to the closest preceding noun, which is “faith”. (In the KJV the pronoun is “that” but the result is the same.) This makes faith the most correct answer to your question.