The importance and nature of faith
In 1 Timothy 1:15-16 and Titus 1:1-2 we read the following:
Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all welcome, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, foremost of whom am I. But therefore was I shown mercy, that in me, the foremost, Jesus Christ should be displaying all His patience, for a pattern of those who are about to be believing on Him for life eonian.
Paul, a slave of God, yet an apostle of Jesus Christ, in accord with the faith of God's chosen, and a realization of the truth, which accords with devoutness, in expectation of life eonian, which God, Who does not lie, promises before times eonian…
As I’ve argued in greater depth elsewhere (see, for example, the following article on 1 Timothy 4:10), the expression that’s translated “life eonian” in these two passages (and which is erroneously translated “eternal life” in most English Bibles) refers to a future blessing that will be enjoyed by believers during the future “ages,” or eons, of Christ’s reign (i.e., the “oncoming eons” to which Paul referred in Eph. 2:7). It is this salvation that Paul had in mind when he declared that God is “the Saviour…especially of believers” (1 Tim. 4:10), and later declared that he was “enduring all because of those who are chosen, that they may be happening upon the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with glory eonian” (2 Tim. 2:10).
In accord with the fact that life eonian is a blessing that will be given to those who are “believing on [Christ]” and who have “faith,” Scripture is clear that only those who believe the evangel (or “gospel”) that was entrusted to Paul to herald among the nations – i.e., “the evangel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) – are being justified by God at this time (and will thus have “life eonian” in the future). Consider, for example, the following passages from Paul’s letters:
Romans 1:16-17
For not ashamed am I of the evangel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who is believing -- to the Jew first, and to the Greek as well. For in it God's righteousness is being revealed, out of faith for faith, according as it is written: “Now the just one by faith shall be living.”
Gal. 3:22-26
But the scripture locks up all together under sin, that the promise out of Jesus Christ’s faith may be given to those who are believing. Now before the coming of faith we were garrisoned under law, being locked up together for the faith about to be revealed. So that the law has become our escort to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. Now, at the coming of faith, we are no longer under an escort, for you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 1:13-16
In Whom you also -- on hearing the word of truth, the evangel of your salvation -- in Whom on believing also, you are sealed with the holy spirit of promise (which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment, to the deliverance of that which has been procured) for the laud of His glory! Therefore, I also, on hearing of this faith of yours in the Lord Jesus, and that for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention in my prayers…
2 Thess. 2:13-14
Now we ought to be thanking God always concerning you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, seeing that God prefers you from the beginning for salvation, in holiness of the spirit and faith in the truth, into which He also calls us through our evangel, for the procuring of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But what, exactly, does it mean to believe the evangel, or to have faith in Christ? What, exactly, is faith?
Most Christians understand belief, or faith, to be a decision that one makes (or the direct result of a decision that one makes). According to this understanding, those who believe the evangel do so because they chose to believe it. Conversely, those who don’t believe the gospel after being presented with it have, according to this view, chosen not to believe it.
This understanding of faith and unbelief as something chosen is likely based on the following reasoning: If faith wasn’t a decision or choice that one “freely” makes, then it would be unfair for God to “eternally condemn” those who don’t believe the gospel (of course, because of Christ’s sacrifice, no one is going to be “eternally condemned”). It’s also the case that many who view faith as a decision understand the gospel to be an “offer of salvation” that can be willingly accepted or rejected by those to whom it’s presented. By viewing the gospel (and one’s response to the gospel) in this way, many Christians are thus able to “pat themselves on the back,” and take at least some credit for their “eternal salvation” (for to the extent that Christians view unbelievers as foolish and blameworthy for willfully rejecting the “offer of salvation,” they can view themselves as wise and praiseworthy for having made the right decision). Or, at the very least, those who view faith as a decision can see themselves as having had some degree of “say so” regarding where/how they’ll spend their “eternal destiny.”
But regardless of why, exactly, faith is so commonly understood by Christians to be a choice that one makes, it should be evident from what we read in Hebrews 11:1 that this understanding of faith is simply mistaken. Here’s how this verse reads in a number of translations:
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (New International Version)
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (English Standard Version)
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.” (New English Translation)
“Now faith is an assumption of what is being expected, a conviction concerning matters which are not being observed.” (Concordant Literal New Testament)
“But faith is, of things hoped for, a confidence, of facts, a conviction, when they are not seen.” (Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible)
According to what we read in this verse (which is as close to an exact definition of “faith” as can be found in Scripture), belief/faith is not a decision or choice that one makes. Rather, it’s an assurance in, or a conviction concerning, the truth of something that’s not being observed/seen (that which isn’t being observed would, of course, include the past events concerning Christ that constitute the evangel of the grace of God). Similarly, when the object of faith is a person – e.g., Christ or God – one’s belief/faith would be an assurance in, or a conviction concerning, the truthfulness/faithfulness/reliability of that person.
Thus, one who believes the evangel of the grace of God is one who, having come to a realization that it’s true (or having come to recognize that it’s true), is thus convinced that it’s true. And this means that belief/faith in the evangel is not a voluntary response to hearing the evangel (for no one can choose or decide to have assurance or a conviction concerning something). That is, one cannot choose or decide to believe the evangel or not; when one has come to realize that the evangel is true, one will simply believe it. That is, one will be convinced/have assurance that it’s true.
We can, of course, make choices and perform actions that are based on (and are an expression of) our faith/belief. But faith itself is not a decision or choice. One’s faith in the evangel is just as much outside of one’s control as is one’s auditory awareness of a sound that one’s hearing, or one’s visual awareness of a color that one’s seeing. Just as we don’t decide to hear something that we’re hearing or choose to see something that we’re seeing, so those who believe the evangel didn’t decide or choose to believe it. They simply came to recognize that it’s true, and thus became assured/convinced of its truth.
God’s choice precedes human faith
Now, among those to whom the evangel of the grace of God has been presented (whether it was communicated to them in speech or in writing), very few actually believe it. But why, exactly, do some believe the evangel when it’s presented to them, while others (the vast majority of people) don’t? We’ve already seen that faith/belief (and, by implication, unbelief) is not a choice. So what, exactly, accounts for the difference in responses?
Paul’s words in Romans 8:28-30 can, I believe, help us begin to answer this question. Here’s how these verses read in the CLNT:
Now we are aware that God is working all together for the good of those who are loving God, who are called according to the purpose that, whom He foreknew, He designates beforehand, also, to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren. Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also, and whom He calls, these He justifies also; now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also.
It must be emphasized that what Paul wrote in these verses is not consistent with the view that only some who are called end up being justified, or that only some who are justified end up being glorified. We must, instead, conclude the following:
1. All who have been foreknown and designated beforehand by God are subsequently called by God.
2. All who have been called by God are justified by God.
3. All who have been justified by God will be glorified by God.
In other words, there is no one who has been called by God (in the sense that Paul had in mind in these verses) who hasn’t also been justified, and who won’t be glorified. Everyone who has been called by God has been justified by him, and everyone who is justified by God will subsequently be glorified by him.
It should also be noted that, when Paul referred to believers as those “whom [God] foreknew” in Rom. 8:29, he wasn’t communicating the idea that God merely foreknew that we would exist, or that God foreknew something about us. Obviously, God foreknew everything about everyone who will ever live. Rather than meaning “foreknew would exist” or “foreknew something about,” the word “foreknew” in Romans 8:29 expresses the same basic idea as it does later in Romans 11:2. In this verse, Paul referred to Israel as “[God’s] people whom He foreknew.” But in what sense did God foreknow his people, Israel (i.e., know them beforehand)? Answer: in the sense of which we read in Amos 3:1-2:
Hear this word which Yahweh has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, “You only have I known among all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
In verse 2, the word “known” doesn’t mean that God knew about Israel. Obviously, God knew everything about Israel (including everything they would ever do). But the same could be said concerning every other nation as well; God knew (and has always known) everything that could be known about “all the families of the earth.”
Rather than referring to knowledge about Israel, the term “known” in Amos 3:2 expresses the idea that God had special regard for Israel (for some other examples in which the word “know” is used in this way, see Genesis 18:19, Jeremiah 1:5 and Hosea 13:5). It’s in accord with this usage of the term “known” in Amos 3:2 (and elsewhere) that Paul referred to Israel as God’s “people whom he foreknew.” God had special regard for Israel beforehand (by choosing them to be his people). And just as God foreknew Israel, so he foreknew all who are in the body of Christ. That is, God had special regard for us beforehand (i.e., by choosing/favoring us beforehand).
In Ephesians 1:3-6 we find the same basic idea that’s being expressed in Romans 8:29 by Paul’s use of the words “whom he foreknew, he designates beforehand, also.” In these verses we read the following:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who blesses us with every spiritual blessing among the celestials, in Christ, according as He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world, we to be holy and flawless in His sight, in love designating us beforehand for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus; in accord with the delight of His will, for the laud of the glory of His grace, which graces us in the Beloved…
Just as the words “designates beforehand, also, to be conformed to the image of His Son” in Rom. 8:29 correspond to “in love designating us beforehand for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus” in Eph. 1:5, so the words “those whom he foreknew” correspond to “chooses us in [Christ] before the disruption of the world.”
In other words, God “foreknew” us (i.e., he had special regard for us beforehand) by choosing us in Christ before the disruption of the world.
In accord with this understanding of what it means for believers to have been “foreknown” by God, we know that, before the eons began, God chose a certain number of people to have eonian life. In Titus 1:1-3 we read the following:
Paul, a slave of God, yet an apostle of Jesus Christ, in accord with the faith of God's chosen, and a realization of the truth, which accords with devoutness, in expectation of life eonian, which God, Who does not lie, promises before times eonian, yet manifests His word in its own eras by heralding, with which I was entrusted, according to the injunction of God, our Savior…
The implication of what we read here is that God chose those who are referred to in this passage as “God’s chosen” when he promised them “life eonian” (which was “before times eonian”).
In accord with this understanding, it’s clear from what Paul wrote elsewhere that God doesn’t choose people in response to their faith; rather, when someone believes the evangel, it only manifests the fact that they were previously chosen by God (and thus promised life eonian by God). For example, in 1 Thess. 1:2-5 we read the following:
We are thanking God always concerning you all, making mention of you in our prayers, unintermittingly remembering your work of faith and toil of love and endurance of expectation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in front of our God and Father, having perceived, brethren beloved by God, your choice, for the evangel of our God did not come to you in word only, but in power also, and in holy spirit and much assurance, according as you are aware.
For Paul, the believing response that those to whom Paul wrote had when the evangel came to them was evidence that God had chosen them. This means that people aren’t chosen by God because they believe (or because they will believe); rather, people believe the evangel because they’ve been chosen by God. God’s choice is not a response to human faith; faith is the result of God’s prior choosing (i.e., his choosing of some to have life eonian). It’s because of this that Luke was able to write the following in Acts 13:46-48:
Being bold, both Paul and Barnabas, say, “To you first was it necessary that the word of God be spoken. Yet, since, in fact, you are thrusting it away, and are judging yourselves not worthy of eonian life, lo! we are turning to the nations. For thus the Lord has directed us: I have appointed Thee for ‘a light of the nations; for Thee to be for salvation as far as the limits of the earth.’”
Now on hearing this, the nations rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and they believe, whoever were set for life eonian.
It was only those among the nations who were “set for [or “appointed to” or “ordered into”] life eonian” who believed the message that Paul and Barnabas heralded. The clear implication is that those who weren’t “set” by God “for life eonian” didn’t (and couldn’t) believe the message that was presented to them on this occasion. As is evident from what Luke went on to write in Acts 16:14, one’s heart must be “opened” by God in order for one to “heed” the evangel when it’s being presented. But if one has been “set for life eonian,” then God will, at some point, open one’s heart to heed the truth of the evangel.
The faith-producing calling of God
Now, keeping these important points in mind, let’s now consider the nature of the divine “calling” that Paul had in mind in Romans 8:28-29 (as referred to in the expressions “those…who are called according to the purpose…” and “these He calls also”). We know that this “calling” is according to a divine purpose that has, as its goal, the glorification of those who are called. It’s further evident that this calling doesn’t refer merely to the proclamation/heralding of the evangel. It’s not a “calling” that goes out to all indiscriminately, and which those who hear can choose to ignore or disregard. It is, instead, a calling of specific individuals by God that necessarily results in their justification. This is evident from the previously-noted fact that the same individuals who are called by God are justified and glorified by God also.
Thus, the nature of this divine calling must be such that it necessarily results in the justification of all who are called (just as the justification of those called will necessarily result in their glorification). And since the justification of those called is by faith (such that only those who believe Paul’s evangel are being justified by God at this present time), the “calling” of which we read in v. 30 is such that it must bring about/produce the faith by which one is justified by God. Consider the following argument:
1. According to Paul, all who are called by God were chosen by God and are justified by God.
2. It’s by faith that all who are chosen and called by God are justified by God.
3. It’s by calling those whom he has chosen that God brings about/produces the faith by which they’re justified.
Romans 8:28-30 is not the only passage in which Paul referred to the calling of God that brings about faith (and thus secures the justification of those who believe). In 1 Corinthians 1:21-31 we read the following:
For since, in fact, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom knew not God, God delights, through the stupidity of the heralding, to save those who are believing, since, in fact, Jews signs are requesting, and Greeks wisdom are seeking, yet we are heralding Christ crucified, to Jews, indeed, a snare, yet to the nations stupidity, yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, for the stupidity of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you are observing your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh; not many powerful, not many noble, but the stupidity of the world God chooses, that He may be disgracing the wise, and the weakness of the world God chooses, that He may be disgracing the strong, and the ignoble and the contemptible things of the world God chooses, and that which is not, that He should be discarding that which is, so that no flesh at all should be boasting in God's sight. Yet you, of Him, are in Christ Jesus, Who became to us wisdom from God, besides righteousness and holiness and deliverance, that, according as it is written, He who is boasting, in the Lord let him be boasting.
Notice that, according to Paul’s use of the word “called” in this passage, those who are called are not merely those to whom his evangel is heralded. Among those to whom Paul and his co-laborers heralded the gospel, only some were “called” (for it is “to those who are called” that the evangel is “the power of God and the wisdom of God”). Thus, being “called” by God involves more than simply hearing the evangel being heralded. It involves believing it as well. Although those who are called by God are called through the heralding of Paul’s evangel, their being called by God necessarily involves being given the faith to believe the evangel (such that the evangel becomes to them “the power of God and the wisdom of God” instead of “a snare” or “stupidity”).
Notice, also, that it’s “of [God]” that those to whom Paul wrote were “in Christ Jesus.” Since it’s by faith in the evangel that we come to be “in Christ Jesus,” it follows that it’s “of God” (i.e., it’s all God’s doing, in accord with his purpose) that one comes to have faith in the evangel.
We find the same truth concerning the calling of God implied in 2 Thess. 2:13-14 as well:
Now we ought to be thanking God always concerning you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, seeing that God prefers you from the beginning for salvation, in holiness of the spirit and faith in the truth, into which He also calls us through our evangel, for the procuring of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is those whom God “prefers…from the beginning for salvation” whom he subsequently calls through the evangel. “The beginning” of which Paul wrote refers to when believers were chosen/foreknown by God – i.e., “before the disruption of the world” (Eph. 1:3) and “before times eonian” (2 Tim. 1:9). Notice, also, that the calling is said to be into “faith in the truth” (hence the words, “…into which He also calls us through our evangel…”). In other words, “faith in the truth” is the direct result of God’s calling those whom he chose/preferred from the beginning for salvation. And since faith in the truth results in our being justified by God, our calling is thus said to be “for the procuring of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Later, Paul wrote the following in 2 Timothy 1:8-9:
You may not be ashamed, then, of the testimony of our Lord, nor yet of me, His prisoner, but suffer evil with the evangel in accord with the power of God, Who saves us and calls us with a holy calling, not in accord with our acts, but in accord with His own purpose and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before times eonian…
In this passage we read that the “holy calling” with which believers have been called by God is “in accord with [God’s] own purpose and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before times eonian.” The implication is that everyone whom God “calls with a holy calling” was given grace in Christ Jesus “before times eonian.” This, again, implies a prior choice made by God. In fact, Paul went on to write in this second letter to Timothy that he was “enduring all because of those who are chosen, that they also may be happening upon the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with glory eonian” (2 Tim. 2:10). It’s when those who are called by God hear and believe the evangel that they “happen upon” this salvation. Thus, the people whom Paul referred to as “those who are chosen” must include both those who have been called by God and those who will be called by God (and who, therefore, aren’t yet believers).
Now, since only those who have been justified by faith will have eonian life, it follows that, before the eons began, God intended to give a definite number of people – i.e., his chosen – the faith to believe and be justified. And from this it follows that it’s God alone who determines who will (and who won’t) believe. In accord with this understanding are the following words of Paul in Philippians 1:29:
“…for to you it is graciously granted, for Christ's sake, not only to be believing on Him, but to be suffering for His sake also…”
In other words, just as it was “graciously granted” to those to whom Paul wrote “to be suffering for [Christ’s] sake,” so it was “graciously granted” to them “for Christ’s sake” – and, by implication, graciously granted to all who are in the body of Christ – “to be believing on Christ.” This can only mean that their faith was a gift from God.
We find the same truth stated in a different way in Romans 12:3, as follows:
For I am saying, through the grace which is given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to be overweening, beyond what your disposition must be, but to be of a sane disposition, as God parts to each the measure of faith.
Here’s how this verse reads in the New English Translation:
For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith.
If the “measure of faith” that each believer has was distributed to them by God, then it follows that our faith is a gift from God.
Another verse that supports the truth of God-given faith is Ephesians 2:8:
“For in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not out of you; it is God’s approach present, not of works, lest anyone should be boasting.”
That which is “not out of [us]” – and which is God’s “approach present” (or gift) to us – is the entire salvific event of which we read in the first part of v. 8 (i.e., our having been saved in grace, through faith).[i] Since this entire event is “not out of us” (and is God’s gift to us), it follows that the faith that’s part of this event is also “not out of us.” It’s just as much a part of God’s gift to us as is the salvation that we’ve received through the faith.
We can therefore conclude that the faith that every believer has is produced in us by God when he calls us. But how does God call (and thus bring about the faith of) those whom he’s chosen for life eonian?
Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 4:4-6, as follows:
Now, if our evangel is covered, also, it is covered in those who are perishing, in whom the god of this eon blinds the apprehensions of the unbelieving so that the illumination of the evangel of the glory of Christ, Who is the Image of the invisible God, does not irradiate them. For we are not heralding ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, yet ourselves your slaves because of Jesus, for the God Who says that, out of darkness light shall be shining, is He Who shines in our hearts, with a view to the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
According to what we read here, the “apprehensions of the unbelieving” are blinded by “the god of this eon” (i.e., Satan). And it’s this blinding activity that prevents people from being “irradiated” by “the illumination of the evangel of the glory of Christ.” In other words, it keeps people in unbelief.
However, the unbelief-preserving activity of “the god of this eon” is undone by God when he “shines in our hearts” (which results in “the illumination” of which Paul went on to write). This means that, when God “shines” in a person’s heart and brings about this “illumination,” their “apprehensions” are no longer “blinded.” And what is the direct result of this activity? Answer: one is irradiated by “the illumination of the evangel of the glory of Christ.” In other words, the result of God enlightening the hearts of unbelievers is that they come to “a realization of the truth,” and thus cease to be unbelieving.
We can thus conclude that God “calls” people through the evangel by bringing about this heart-enlightenment when they’re presented with (or, in some cases, after they’ve been presented with) the evangel. And this calling from God is what directly results in someone believing the evangel and thus being justified by God/sealed with the holy spirit (which occurs the moment one first believes).
What about unbelievers?
According to the view of most Christians, those who don’t believe the evangel will never be saved. However, not only does Scripture not say this, but the very evangel itself (i.e., the “evangel of the grace of God” that Paul heralded among the nations) is completely contrary to the idea that those who die in unbelief will never be saved by God. To believe the evangel is to believe that Christ died for the sins of all mankind, and was roused the third day (1 Cor. 15:3-4). As I’ve argued in more depth elsewhere (see, for example, my previous article: What Did Christ Accomplish By His Death?), this means that the sins of all mankind will ultimately be forgiven (and all mankind will be justified) by virtue of Christ’s death.
Moreover, if only those who believe on Christ before they die will ever be saved, then it would follow that all who die as infants/young children (as well as adults who live and die without the mental capacity to believe) will never be saved. But I’ve never heard any Christian affirm or defend this view (even those Christians who claim that they can’t be “dogmatic” on the subject of the salvation of infants or mentally handicapped people seem entirely open to the possibility – and are in fact inclined to believe – that such people will, in fact, be saved by virtue of Christ’s redemptive work).
So, on the one hand, we’re assured by most Christians that the only way people can be “eternally saved” is through faith in Jesus Christ (which is just another way of saying that God is the Savior of believers only, and isn’t the Savior of all mankind). On the other hand, it’s also commonly believed by Christians that a vast number of human beings who die without having ever believed the gospel will, in fact, be finally saved. However, for Christians to make any category of human beings an exception to the requirement that one must believe on Christ in this lifetime in order to be eternally saved is to completely undermine their position that only believers will be eternally saved. That is, the exception that most Christians are willing to make for infants/young children (and many mentally handicapped people) completely invalidates their belief that only those who have faith in Christ before they die will be saved.
Rather than affirming that only believers will be saved, Paul wrote that God is “the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers” (1 Tim. 4:10). God’s being the Savior of any group of people necessarily means that they will be saved (Eph. 5:23; Titus 1:3-4; 2:13); the salvation of those whom God wills to save is the very reason why God can be considered their Savior. And since the word “especially” in this verse doesn’t mean “exclusively” (click here for a more in-depth defense of this point), we can conclude that, because of Christ’s death on our behalf, all mankind will ultimately be saved by God. God is the Savior “especially of believers” because believers – those whom God has called, and to whom he has thus given the faith to believe – are being given “life eonian” (and will thus be saved before the rest of humanity is saved). The later salvation of unbelievers, on the other hand, will be bestowed apart from faith (for at that future time, faith will be neither necessary nor possible).
[i] The demonstrative pronoun “this” (touto) has an antecedent to which it refers. But what is the antecedent? Some have argued that the antecedent is “faith” (for an in-depth historical and grammatical defense of this view, click here: Is Faith God's Gift? (10) (Ephesians 2:8-9): The Grammatical Issues). According to this interpretation, we could paraphrase the verse as follows: “For in grace you are saved, through faith, and even your faith is not out of you; it is a gift from God.”
The most commonly-raised objection to this view could be summarized as follows: Although it’s generally true that a pronoun refers to the nearest antecedent or closest noun, the pronoun “this” is a neuter demonstrative pronoun, while “faith” is a feminine noun. As a general rule, there should be agreement in the gender of the pronoun and the antecedent; thus, if the pronoun “this” refers back to “faith,” then “this” would also be feminine. Since “this” is neuter, it’s unlikely that it refers back to “faith.”
The other interpretation is that “this” refers back to the whole preceding thought (“For in grace, through faith, are you saved”). In defense of this view, certain grammatical parallels from Paul’s letters are appealed to (i.e., 1 Cor. 6:6, 8; Phil. 1:28; Rom. 13:11). In each of these verses, the demonstrative pronoun refers to the whole preceding clause or sentence.
Although the view that I “went with” in my article is the second view (which is the least controversial, and more widely-accepted view), I remain undecided on this issue. However, it should be emphasized that, according to either interpretation, faith is a gift from God. For even if “this” refers back to the entire event (i.e., that of being saved in grace through faith), faith is still an essential part of the event. Thus, the entire event of being saved in grace through faith wouldn’t be a gift from God if the faith through which we’re saved isn’t a gift (and is “out of us”).
Finally, it should also be noted that some understand the faith to which Paul was referring in Eph. 2:8 to be Christ’s faith (rather than the faith of the believer). Although I do think that Paul had Christ’s faith in view elsewhere in his letters (e.g., in Rom. 3:22 and Gal. 2:16), I’m not convinced that Paul was referring to Christ’s faith here. It seems more likely that he’s referring to the believer’s faith (as he does elsewhere in this letter; see, for example, Eph. 1:13, 15, 19; 3:17; 4:13; 6:16, 23). In any case, this understanding of what Paul had in mind when he used the expression “through faith” seems most consistent with the second interpretation summarized above (for it would be odd, to say the least, for Paul to tell us that Christ’s faith is “not out of us”).
