For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
All Commentaries on Ephesians 2:8 Go To Ephesians 2
John Chrysostom
AD 407
So that you may not be elated by the magnitude of these benefits, see how Paul puts you in your place. For “by grace you are saved,” he says, “through faith.” Then, so as to do no injury to free will, he allots a role to us, then takes it away again, saying “and this not of ourselves.” Even faith, he says, is not from us. For if the Lord had not come, if he had not called us, how should we have been able to believe? “For how,” he says, “shall they believe if they have not heard?” So even the act of faith is not selfinitiated. It is, he says, “the gift of God.” .
