THAT!

Every Christian has a testimony of grace.  We all have our individual story of how God pursued us with mercy and love, so that when we acknowledged Him as Lord and Savior, we could trace the hand of God that brought us to that point.

This week I have been meditating on this verse.  Ephesians 2:8 shows how God's gift of grace leads us to salvation.  The above is from the NIV; many of us first memorized it from the KJV: "For by grace you have been saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."  Let's take a broad view--God has given us the saving grace we need, so that by faith we accept it, and thus we receive His salvation.  Think of it as a mathematical formula:

(His)Grace + (our)Faith = Salvation

But the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.  And it is all because of that one word, the pronoun "that".  (Or, in the NIV, the more specific "this").

What does "that" refer to?  When I look in the Amplified version, they seem to imply the word "that" refers to salvation:

For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith.  And this [salvation] is not of yourselves--of your own doing, it came not through your own striving--but it is the gift of God.

I can see how they would make that connection.

There are other commentaries that seem to underscore the idea of "grace" is what the "that" refers to.

So then, grace, that is to say, the gift of God, and faith, stand with one another, to which two it is contrary to be saved by ourselves, or by our works. Therefore, what do those mean who would join together things of such contrary natures?--Geneva Study Bible

But I seem to recall from my English lessons (way back in the Stone Age) defining the term "that" as

used as a function word after and to indicate emphatic repetition of the idea expressed by a previous word or phrase <he was helpful, and that to an unusual degree>

So the translators of the oldest and most reliable English version of the Bible put the word "that" in close conjunction to the word "faith", meaning that is is not our faith.  We cannot take any credit at all for our own salvation.  It is all a gift of God--even our faith.  Look at 1 John 5:4: "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith."  Here we know that "our faith" overcomes the world, because it is born of God.

Please don't misunderstand me.  I don't think that God predestines some to become His children, and some to burn in hell.  "It is not His will that any should perish."  I do think that some people can more easily grasp the faith that God offers, and thereby tap into the grace He offers.

Many scholars say that the Greek word  τοῦτο is gender neutral, and the Greek word for "faith" is feminine; therefore it cannot possibly relate back to the most recent idea "faith"; it must certainly relate back to "Saved".  However, some tend to disagree.  Note this excerpt from Gill's Exposition Of The Entire Bible:

----- (I asked the following question from a Greek and Hebrew professor:

"In this verse, to what does the word "that" refer to? Adam Clarke, Wesley & company say that it is neuter plural and "Faith" is feminine hence it cannot refer to faith, (Such an admission would destroy their theological system.) However "Grace" is also feminine as is "Salvation".''

His reply was:

"Here you ask a wonderful theological/exegetical question to which I can only give an opinion, and not a definitive answer. The problem is that there is NO precise referent. Grace is feminine. Faith is feminine. And even Salvation (as a noun) is feminine. Yet it must be one of these three at least, and maybe more than one, or all three in conjunction. Since all three come from God and not from man, the latter might seem the more likely. However, it is a tautology to say salvation and grace are "nor of yourselves," and in that case it certainly looks more like the passage is really pointing out that man cannot even take credit for his own act of faith, but that faith was itself created by God and implanted in us that we might believe (i.e. the normal Calvinistic position). In which regard the whole theological issue of "regeneration preceding faith" comes into play. So, that is basically my opinion, though others obviously disagree strenuously, but from an exegetical standpoint, the other positions have to explain away the matter of the tautology.''

Whether you accept the reply or not, it is sufficient to show that the Greek is not as definitive in this verse as some scholars would have you believe. Editor)

Notice the play on words--the term "tautology", which has as its root word the Greek word  τοῦτο (and thus is the focus of our little study here), means

tau·tol·o·gy

tôˈtäləjē/

noun

1. the saying of the same thing twice in different words, generally considered to be a fault of style (e.g., they arrived one after the other in succession ).

   synonyms:

   pleonasm, repetition, reiteration, redundancy, superfluity, duplication "avoid such tautology as "let's all work together, everyone, as a team" by saying simply "let's work together""

   • a phrase or expression in which the same thing is said twice in different words.

     plural noun: tautologies
   • LOGIC

     a statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form.

"Every word of scripture is inspired by God", and understanding every word in this particular verse (Ephesians 2:8) leads us to an appreciation that God has given us everything necessary for salvation.  If you meet someone who says, "I just don't have enough faith to believe in Jesus," tell them that faith is a gift, and God offers it to them, if they are willing to put aside their skepticism.  Christian apologist Ravi Zecharias has said, "God has put enough into the world to make faith in Him a most reasonable thing. But He has left enough out to make it impossible to live by sheer reason or observation alone."