John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 2:9

"not of works, that no man should glory." — Ephesians 2:9 (ASV)

Not of works. Instead of what he had said, that their salvation is of grace, he now affirms, it is the gift of God. Instead of what he had said, Not of yourselves, he now says, Not of works. From this we see that the apostle leaves nothing to men in procuring salvation. In these three phrases—not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works—he embraces the substance of his long argument in the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians: that righteousness comes to us from the mercy of God alone—is offered to us in Christ by the gospel—and is received by faith alone, without the merit of works.

This passage provides an easy refutation of the idle quibble by which Papists attempt to evade the argument that we are justified without works. Paul, they tell us, is speaking about ceremonies. But the present question is not confined to one class of works. Nothing can be clearer than this. The whole righteousness of man, which consists in works—indeed, the whole man, and everything that he can call his own—is set aside. We must attend to the contrast between God and man, between grace and works. Why should God be contrasted with man if the controversy related to nothing more than ceremonies?

Papists themselves are compelled to admit that Paul ascribes to the grace of God the whole glory of our salvation, but they attempt to nullify this admission by another device. This mode of expression, they tell us, is used because God bestows the first grace. It is truly foolish to imagine that they can succeed in this way, since Paul excludes man and his utmost ability—not only from the beginning but throughout—from the whole work of obtaining salvation.

But it is still more absurd to overlook the apostle’s inference, lest any man should boast. Some room must always remain for man’s boasting as long as, independently of grace, merits are of any avail. Paul’s doctrine is overthrown unless the whole praise is given to God alone and to his mercy.

And here we must turn our attention to a very common error in the interpretation of this passage. Many people restrict the word gift to faith alone. But Paul is only repeating in other words the former statement. His meaning is not that faith is the gift of God, but that salvation is given to us by God, or that we obtain it by the gift of God.