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NASB | Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace [God's remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; |
Subject: Salvation is of the Lord |
Bible Note: Here's another, based on Ephesians 1:2-14: "Above he (Paul) used the word, 'He chose us;' here he saith, 'we were made a heritage.' But inasmuch as a lot is a matter of chance, not of deliberate choice, nor of virtue, (for it is closely allied to ignorance and accident, and oftentimes passing over the virtuous, brings forward the worthless into notice,) observe how he corrects this very point: 'having been foreordained,' saith he, 'according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things.' That is to say, not merely have we been made a heritage, as, again, we have not merely been chosen, (for it is God who chooses,) and so neither have we merely been allotted, (for it is God who allots,) but it is 'according to a purpose.' This is what he says also in the Epistle to the Romans, (Rom. 8: 28-30.) 'To them that are called according to His purpose;' and 'whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them he also glorified.' Having first used the expression, 'to them that are called according to a purpose,' and at the same time wishing to declare their privilege compared with the rest of mankind, he speaks also of inheritance by lot, yet so as not to divest them of free will. That point then, which more properly belongs to happy fortune, is the very point he insists upon. For this inheritance by lot depends not on virtue, but, as one might say, on fortuitous circumstances. It is as though he had said, lots were cast, and He hath chosen us; but the whole is of deliberate choice. Men predestinated, that is to say, having chosen them to Himself, He hath separated. He saw us, as it were, chosen by lot before we were born. For marvellous is the foreknowledge of God, and acquainted with all things before their beginning." --John Chrysostom (Homilies on Ephesians) |