The Apostle Paul wrote these wonderful words in Ephesians 2:8-9 below. These words set our salvation apart from any obligatory requirement for "works" as was under "the Law."

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: "IT" is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)

I've capitalized the word "IT" as the issue we will examine here. What specifically does "it" refer to in the phrase "it is the gift of God."

Does the word "IT" in the phrase "IT is the gift of God" in verse 8 refer to "salvation," or to "grace," or "faith"  as "the gift of God"?

Keeping the grammar especially strict, "it" could properly refer to either grace or faith. But "you have been saved" could fit as well, with "it" meaning the salvation event itself is the "gift of God." (Note that in mind that in the oldest Bible manuscripts there was no punctuation; it was added by the translators as best they thought it should be according to their interpretation of the words.)

To parse the words we are studying we could consider any of the following possibilities. I find it helpful to see each of the three options by replacing the word "it" with the word grace, and then with the word faith and then again with the word salvation, in the context of the verse, as seen here below.

1. "For by grace you have been saved through faith... it is the gift of God." This then becomes;

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And it is not of yourselves; [that grace] is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast".

1. "For by grace you have been saved through faith... it is the gift of God." This then becomes;

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And it is not of yourselves; [faith] is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast."

1. "...you have been saved... it is the gift of God," This then becomes;

"you have been saved... [salvation] is the gift of God"

In looking at all three laid out before us like this, they all are pretty reasonable. There is nothing in any of those statements that would contradict other Pauline scripture or truth as a whole.

I am least convinced by the first case (1.). It seems too much a matter of course, almost redundant (since grace means a "free gift") to be what Paul would have in mind here. This would make this whole statement focused on grace "By grace you are saved... grace is a gift... grace is not a result of works."

In the third case (3.), Paul would be pitting salvation based on works against salvation by grace. This rendering seems to yield the most cohesive argument.

The second case (2.) seems to be making more of a point in its second statement, where the others use the second statement as a clarification of the first. This would have Paul saying that we are saved by faith, but even that faith itself is a gift. This strikes me as an especially Pauline approach where Paul tells us all that we enjoy is by "the faith of (ek, from) the Son of God." In Gal 2:20 (in the KJV), Paul tells us the faith we "live by: is NOT our faith, but rather "the faith of (Gk. ek, from) the Son of God." With Paul, it is Christ's faith operating within us that appropriates all that Christ is to us.

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (KJV)

Of course you will not see Galatians 2:20 and many other verse in this way if you use almost any of the many so-called "modern" (corrupted) Bible translations where they have significantly changed the work "of" to "in." Galatians 2:20 compares like this;

• "I live by the faith OF the Son of God" (KJV)
• "I live by the faith IN the Son of God" (NKJV, NIV, NASB, ESV, etc)

Sadly, their departure from the Greek text thereby puts the responsibility for faith on the believer's back and thereby robs them of knowledge of the rest they can have by the "faith of Jesus Christ." As Luther discovered by Paul's words; "the just shall live by faith" (Gal 3:11, Rom 1:17).

We as believers today;

... possess Christ "righteousness... by the faith of the Son of God " (Rom 3:22 KJV),

... are were "justified... by the faith of Jesus Christ " (Gal 2:16 KJV),

... we "live... by the faith OF the Son of God " (Gal 2:20 KJV),

... enjoy the "promise by faith of Jesus Christ... given to them that believe" (Gal 3:22 KJV),

and we have "confidence by the faith of him. (Ephesians 3:12 (KJV)

Christ's faith is operating in the saved from the moment of their salvation so they can appropriate all that He is to them and all that that He is in them.

I believe we can safely conclude from "the whole counsel of God" that...

• the "faith" that is "the gift of God" is what works for us to
• obtain "salvation" and then all the riches of Christ;
• all of which comes to us through the beneficence of God's "grace."

We can praise God for gracing us with the deposit of Christ's "Spirit of life" into our spirit with His faith operating within us.