There has been an ongoing controversy on the structure of this verse. The question arises, what is the antecedent of ‘this’ or ‘it’ in the text where it says, ‘by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God’. Does this refer to salvation? Or does this refer to faith? Is Paul saying that salvation is a gift of God? Or is he saying that faith itself is a gift of God?

Although Greek scholars argue about which of these is the preferred rendition of the Greek text, theologically it really doesn’t matter. In both ways of reading that sentence, we have to come to the conclusion that faith is a gift of God. It is not an expression of human achievement, or of human effort, or of human ability. This is why every believer should be praising God daily for the fact that he has received as a gift not only the salvation that comes through faith, but the gift of faith itself.

“Καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν. It has been not a little debated, among both ancient and modern commentators, to what noun τοῦτο should be referred. Some say, to πίστεως; others, to χάριτι; though on the sense of πίστις they differ in their views. The reference seems, however, to be neither to the one nor to the other, but to the subject of the foregoing clause, salvation by grace, through faith in Christ and his gospel; a view, I find, adopted by Dr. Chandler, Dean Tucker, Dr. Macknight, and Dr. A. Clarke. And to show that this interpretation is not a mere novelty, I need only refer the reader to Theophylact, who thus explains: Οὐ τὴν πίστιν λέγει δῶρον Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὸ διὰ πίστεως σωθὴναι· τοῦτο δῶρόν ἐστι Θεοῦ. ‘He does not Say that faith is the gift of God; but to be saved by faith, this is the gift of God.’ Such also is the view adopted by Chrysostom and Theodoret.”—Bloomfield

by grace are you saved through faith-it is the gift of God, v. 8. Note, Every converted sinner is a saved sinner. Such are delivered from sin and wrath; they are brought into a state of salvation, and have a right given them by grace to eternal happiness. The grace that saves them is the free undeserved goodness and favour of God; and he saves them, not by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, by means of which they come to partake of the great blessings of the gospel; and both that faith and that salvation on which it has so great an influence are the gift of God. The great objects of faith are made known by divine revelation, and made credible by the testimony and evidence which God hath given us; and that we believe to salvation and obtain salvation through faith is entirely owing to divine assistance and grace; God has ordered all so that the whole shall appear to be of grace.

There is one last idea in Ephesians 2:8–9. It tells how God does not save sinners: “not by works, so that no one can boast.” This makes “faith” something other than a work; for although faith is a channel by which the grace of God comes to us, it is not a deserving action or attitude on our part. In speaking on this text I have sometimes referred to the previous phrase in verse 8 (“and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”) as referring to faith, teaching that even faith is God’s gift. This is probably not what Paul had in mind, because “faith” (pistis) is feminine, and “this” (touto) is neuter. The statements in verse 8 probably refer to the whole of the previous sentence, teaching that the salvation which is ours through faith is not of ourselves but rather is God’s gift.