As part of a perspective I was sharing in Bible study Saturday night, I made a statement that faith is a gift from God. My son-in-law after several minutes had elapsed, looked at me, scratched his head, and asked where I got that idea. I quoted him from Ephesians 2:8 which says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ..." Any thoughts or opinions out there, y'all? :scratch: PS - the late Jack Kelley of www.gracethrufaith.com agrees (agreed?) with me, but don't let that stifle expressions of how you feel. B-) :yes: He may have consulted Jesus on that question by this time, but can't communicate any corrections or retractions. :scratch: :whistle: I agree .... salvation is a “free” gift of God ... we can’t earn or pay for it ... we accept the “free” gift by belief that Jesus is God and that He shed His blood for our sins ... and that we ask Him to be our personal Savior. When we hear God’s Word, the Holy Spirit empowers it, and if we receive the truth, God’s supernatural faith enters us. We were so destitute that we couldn’t even believe the good news on our own. God had to make His kind of faith available to us so that we could believe in Him and receive His salvation. We were saved by using God’s supernatural faith to receive His grace. Indeed a gift from God, no doubt! Where people get confused or mixed up is that faith is not a static gift, but rather grows and needs development. Faith is like a seed, once planted into the spirit it needs tending. Like any vegetable or flower of the garden. If it is not nurtured and exercised, it can wither and die! TR It is also truly a diamond in the rough! :yes: :good: TR The discussion, not my position, was that the gift is either (1) salvation or (2) grace, but certainly not (3) faith being referred to. These are evidently not unusual interpretation preferences, nor evidently unimportant to some believers who insist the antecedent to "...that..." in ".... through faith; and that not of yourselves ...," simply cannot be (3) faith. It has to be one of the other two. Does anyone here have a strong feeling about whether the antecedent of "that" is "faith?" You cannot know how many times I have made that bold claim in talking to people at for example the weekly assisted living center Bible studies I lead, and in other discussions with Christians for decades. It was never questioned before, so I started looking into online sources. I wonder if my Systematic Theology book disagrees with me... I may let you know. I always took this verse to mean that His grace and salvation was the gift of God when you have faith. That has just always been my interpretation on the verse. We can see in verses 5 & 6 leading up to verse 8 are speaking about the grace and salvation in Christ. Then in verse 8 it tells us that His grace is a gift and cannot be earned. Sorry, me ....... still working on "is"! TR Yes, the “that” is the faith needed. Faith not in ourselves to earn our way to heaven but faith in who Christ is and his shed blood. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:9 Yes, the faith that leads to salvation is a gift. Anything else would lead to boasting, and God will not allow that to be a part of our redemption. Some choose to act upon the light they are given, and some choose to ignore it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevenient_grace The topic generates some friction between Calvinists and Arminians. 
