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Post #625 (Me):
I request of Josiah that he direct us to the Scripture which tells us that:
- Abraham's belief (faith) was a free gift from God;
- That he had the Holy Spirit;
- And that he was actually directed by that Holy Spirit.
The meaning of any and all Scripture quoted must be true to that in the original language(s) (rather than assigning meanings that can be read into the English translations, but which are untrue to the original – a practice that is demonstrably ingrained in some religious environments).
Post #626 (MennoSota):
Is faith a gift from God to the elect? Ephesians 2:8 says yes.
Post #642 (Arsenios):
No it doesn't...
It says that Salvation is the Gift of God...
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Arsenios is absolutely correct.
The Greek grammar in Ephesians 2:8 shows conclusively that the “that not of yourselves” cannot possibly relate to the word “faith”, but to the word “saved”.
Unlike English, in many languages nouns have assigned gender (male, female, as well as neuter in some). French, German, Latin and Greek are examples. Adjectives and pronouns are constrained to have the same gender as the nouns to which they refer. In this case, the “faith” is feminine and the “that” is neuter. The neuter indicates that the “that” refers to the preceding verb (“saved”).
I did counsel in Post #625 (see above) against invalid meanings being read into Holy Scripture.
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All Readers are now aware of the true meaning of Ephesians 2:8. Being saved is God’s gift to Mankind. We can do nothing to merit it. But the God-defined mechanism for receiving that gift, is a personal response of faith – a personal, self-motivated response.
However, a certain cherished belief relies on the much-promoted, invalid interpretation of Verse 8. So can we expect to see from here on in, a cessation of its misuse?
