One other passage demands a consideration, namely Ephesians 2:8:

'For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:

it is the gift of God'.

In the passage before us this salvation which is by grace is declared

to be through faith, and this statement is followed by the words, 'and that

not of yourselves: it is the gift of God'.  If the latter statement be

limited to faith, it is apt to lend colour to a hyper -calvinistic view that

becomes almost fatalism.  The word rendered 'that', however, in the

expression.  'and that not of yourselves', does not agree with the word

'faith': rather must we conceive of 'a grace -by -faith -salvation' as a

whole, and realize that this is the gift of God.  This gift is evidently

unique.  The Greek word translated 'gift' here is doron.  Its first

occurrence is in Matthew 2:11 where the Wise Men bring their gifts of gold,

frankincense and myrrh in worship.  It is associated with the work of a

mediating priest (Heb. 5:1; 8:3,4; 9:9) and with the offering made by Abel

(Heb. 11:4).

In nearly every case the word doron refers to a gift or an oblation

brought By Man to God, but Ephesians 2:8 is the glorious exception.  Here it

is that grace makes the great reversal, and represents God as coming forth

With an Oblation to Man! another of the features of Ephesians that make that

Epistle unique.  (See for further notes, Gift, p. 247).

To understand the abyss of sin and the power of its dominion; to ponder

the vanity of life which ends in the grave; to know, only too well, the utter

inability of the flesh to accomplish justification by works is to realize

something of the blessedness of this great salvation.  It is nothing less

than the exchange of the horrible pit and the miry clay for the solid rock.

This puts a new song into our mouths, a song that glories in grace.

Had such a salvation cost us our all, it would have been beyond our

estimation; what then shall we say when we realize that this, which has

verily lifted us from the dunghill and seated us with princes, is the gift of

God?  He has done all, provided all, and we are the unworthy recipients.

This is salvation by grace through faith, not of works, it is the gift of

God.  It is expressly so planned to exclude boasting.  Salvation in all its

parts, wisdom, and righteousness, as well as sanctification and redemption,

is in Christ:

'... in order that, according as it hath been written, He that

boasteth, let him boast in the Lord' (1 Cor. 1:30,31 author's

We must beware of thinking that until and unless God gives to the

sinner a miraculous gift, he cannot believe, for this reduces all preaching

to a piece of theatricals.  John puts it this way:

'If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater' (1

John 5:9).

If we believe the

of fallible, erring and sinful men, as we

must and do in order to

live at

all, how much easier, how much more

reasonable should it be

for man

to believe God!  Again, 'He that believeth

not God hath made Him a

True, our reason has become blighted and