Does the appearance of curious inconsistencies captivate you? Do you mull over seemingly mysterious misfits? Ever examined Ephesians 2:8?
Normally when Paul describes the basis for salvation, he credits God’s work through Christ. He might point to Jesus’ blood providing forgiveness or Jesus’ atoning death. Although obscured in many English translations, he even described the “faith of Jesus” as the foundation for redemption and righteousness, as in Romans 3:22-24 and Philippians 3:9.
Conversely whenever he describes our appropriation of God’s gifts of forgiveness and sonship, Paul shifts to the language of believing in Christ, being baptized into Christ, obeying the gospel or confessing Christ. God saves; we respond in order to receive.
Why then in Ephesians 2:8, did Paul run counter to his customary manner by describing salvation based upon our faith?
The deeper we look at this verse the more profoundly puzzling it becomes. From Ephesians 1:18-19 through at least the end of chapter 2, Paul outlined God’s power through Christ toward the believer.
God raised Christ from the dead. God makes us alive. God will show the richness of his grace in Jesus. God created us in Christ to do good works. Through Christ’s blood a new body is created where unity exists. Why, then, disrupt this doggedly determined focus upon God’s activity in Christ toward us to interject the role of our faith?
Moreover, although the early part of chapter 2 is filled with baptismal concepts and imagery – compare with Colossians 2:12-13 – Paul refuses to mention our baptismal response! Rather, Paul remains centered upon God’s work and initiative throughout this context!
Ephesians 2:8 is embedded in a context about God’s work and initiative. Why then, at the very heart of this message, reverse engines to speak about our faith being the basis?
Could it be, when Paul anchored salvation upon grace through faith, he did not have our faith in mind? Might Paul have been focused upon God’s grace saving us through Christ’s faith? If this is the case, then the emphasis would remain upon what God has provided us through Christ. Even the prior verse, Ephesians 2:7, directs us to recognize God’s grace toward us in Christ.
Furthermore, Paul then qualifies this faith with “and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” He seems to be making it clear that the saving faith he has in mind is not ours.
Context is king. We need to consider Ephesians 2:8 within its larger contexts.
First, Paul can be understood as building upon Ephesians 2:8 by later describing that the basis for our confident access to God is "though his faith" (Ephesians 3:12).
Second, what should we make out of the parallels between Ephesians 2:8-9 with both Galatians 2:16 and Philippians 3:9? All of these texts contrast faith and works. However in Galatians and Philippians, Paul amplified upon faith by penning, “faith of Christ.”
This is not to deny that we must trust in Jesus for salvation. The question is, in this text was Paul describing our faith or the role of Jesus’ faith?
Ephesians 2:8 might not be mysterious at all. However, it might beckon us to reframe how we interpret it.
The Greek word translated faith can also be translated as faithfulness (Galatians 5:22). The KJV and NET will translate verses such as Romans 3:22 with faith of Christ or Christ’s faithfulness.
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