Ephesians 2:8-9

The apostle Paul writing (God speaking via scripture...The Word) to the Jesus believers at the church in Ephesus.

Wycliffe Bible of 1384: 2:8 For bi grace ye ben sauyd bi feith, and this not of you; for it is the yifte of God,
2:9 not of werkis, that no man haue glorie.

King James Bible of 1611: 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

NAS Bible of 1960: 8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

NIV Bible 1973-78: 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9not by works, so that no one can boast.

From my nephew in seminary, translating the Greek: "I did my study of the Greek of Ephesians 2. It's quite interesting. I'll try to explain it as best as I  can.  Make sure that you have Ephesians 2 open while you read  this. It will help. The demonstrative pronoun  ("that") in Ephesians 2:8 actually has a neuter gender in  Greek. In Greek, pronouns must match with their antecedents in gender (masculine, feminine, neuter)  and number (singular, plural). Both words "grace"  and  'faith' are feminine in Greek, so it is rather  impossible to say that the 'that' is pointing to  either of them specifically. Rather, often times in  Greek when a writer wants to refer to a whole idea  he  will use the neuter gender. So the antecedent of  the  demonstrative pronoun 'that' in this passage is  actually pointing to the whole idea 'For by grace  are  you saved through faith.' "

"I brought this up with one of my Greek professors  and pointed out that we probably should not use this  passage to point to exclusively as faith as being  the  gift. He agreed with me. But notice that this does  not disregard our faith as a gift of God. By using  the 'that' to point to the whole idea that "by grace  are we saved through faith" Paul is saying more.  Our  whole status of being children of God is "not of  ourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works."

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(posted 11 January 2004)