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In this same Romans 5:15 we find the Greek word dorea 'the gift' of
grace. This same word is used in 2 Corinthians 9:15 where the apostle closes
his appeal to the liberality of the Corinthians (2 Cor. 8:2) saying:
'Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift'.
The Greek word doron occurs nineteen times in the New Testament In
eighteen of these occurrences, the word is used of the bringing of gifts By
Man To God, or of gifts from man to man, the one most glorious exception
being at Ephesians 2:8. As this passage is so intimately linked with our
present high calling, we devote attention to the context of the words, 'it is
the gift of God' and believe the subject will prove of sufficient importance
to justify the space allotted. First we give the structure of Ephesians 2:8
-10 that contains the word.
Ephesians 2:8 -10
A
For by grace are ye saved through faith.
B
a
Not of yourselves.
b
The Gift of God.
a
Not of works lest (hina) any should boast
faith.
A
For we are His workmanship, created.
B
a
Unto good works.
b
Foreordained of God.
a
That (hina) we should walk
works.
Restricting our observations to the first half of this section, we must
note that the emphasis here is placed upon 'grace'; it is the instrumental
cause of salvation; 'faith' which is added, being the causa apprehendens, as
Hooker has called it, 'the hand which putteth on Christ to justification'.
Grace is objective, the cause. As Romans 4:16 has it: 'Therefore it is of
faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure'.
Faith is subjective, the medium. Grace imparts, faith receives. 'Are ye
saved', este sesosmenoi, literally, 'Ye are those having been saved'. 'And
That not of yourselves, it is the gift of God'. The fact that 'faith' is
followed immediately by 'that' has led some to teach that 'faith is the gift
of God'. This has been adopted by hyper -Calvinism in opposition to the
teaching of Calvin himself (see Alford's note in his Greek Testament, 5th.
ed., 1871, p. 94), and has introduced the element of fatalism in the gospel
of salvation. There is such a thing as 'faith, the gift of God' but it is a
special gift to one who is already a believer (1 Cor. 12:9). George M·ller
had a 'gift of faith', and by that faith he built and maintained the
orphanage that bears his name, but that gift of faith must not be compared
with the faith whereby he believed the gospel unto his salvation, neither
must we teach that because we are 'believers' we are called upon to emulate
this characteristic of George M·ller. Let us consider the matter more fully.
We read:
'He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him' (John 3:36).
Dare we, can we paraphrase this solemn passage and say:
'He, from whom God withholds the gift of faith shall not see life, but
the wrath of God abideth on him'?