Charles Spurgeon Commentary Ephesians 2:8

"for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God;" — Ephesians 2:8 (ASV)

For by grace are ye saved

There it is again. Paul rings that silver bell in the deaf ears of men. By grace are ye saved.

For by grace are you saved

Not by your own merits, not by priestcraft, not by your own free will. By grace are you saved. This is the great summary of the gospel. Let this doctrine be preached, and we shall soon see the errors of Rome fly before it. By grace are you saved.

Through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Neither the faith nor the salvation are of ourselves. They are both the gifts of divine love, both wrought in us by the divine spirit.

It is the gift of God.

And that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of yourselves. What do those people mean who keep on extolling the power of the human will, the wonderful dignity of human nature, and all that kind of foolish talk? Salvation is not in ourselves; it is the gift of God, not a reward which we have earned, but a free gift which God bestows according to the riches of his grace.

For by grace are ye saved through faith;

We have this expression, "by grace are ye saved," twice over in this chapter. Paul knew that he needed to repeat himself, or people would forget what he taught. At bottom, all the wanderings from the faith today amount to this: salvation by works instead of salvation by grace. The battle of the Reformation has to be fought over again. Men are justified by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.

All the enmity of natural men is against that truth. They want to be saved by their own morality, and all sorts of things that they put instead of salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.