EPHESIANS 2:8-9

 

“For is is by grace you have been saved through faith; and this (that) is not of yourself, it is the gift of 

God.” (NIV) 

 

Many popular Bible teachers assume that the pronoun “this” refers, as it does in English, to the last 

noun mentioned: faith. That idea certainly fits well into the ultra-Calvinistic idea that God chooses 

whom He gives faith to and those from whom He withholds it. Most translations leave it somewhat 

vague as to what “this” refers to. 

 

The problem is, as any responsible commentator will point out, the pronoun is neuter in gender while 

"grace," "salvation" and "faith" are all feminine nouns. Therefore the pronoun "this" cannot refer to 

"faith." Instead, Bible scholars feel that the pronoun "this" must refer instead to the scheme of 

salvation, the concept of salvation or the whole experience of salvation. The Anchor Bible says “It may 

refer to the eternal election by grace and the 'outpouring' of grace mentioned in 1:4-8, and to the 

preaching of the 'true word, the message that saves' (1:13).” 

 

 In other words, “this” probably refer to the whole paragraph rather than to our personal faith.