Is Faith a Gift of God?
Calvinists say faith is a gift of God. People are born totally depraved,[1] Calvinists assert, unable to turn to God because of their sinful nature. So God infuses faith into certain people—the elect—making them “faithful” to God. The passage often used to support this view is Ephesians 2:8-9, which says:
“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
Does this passage support the Calvinist view of faith?
Response: The gift of God is salvation, not faith. God graciously gives salvation to the faithful. He forgives their sins and gives them eternal life. That’s what this passage is teaching.
The Greek construction supports this interpretation:
“From a cursory reading of this verse, it appears that the relative pronoun ‘that’ (v 8b) has ‘faith’ (v 8a) as its grammatical antecedent. However, in its Greek construction ‘that’ is a demonstrative pronoun with adverbial force used in an explanatory phrase. This particular construction uses a fixed neuter singular pronoun (that) which refers neither to ‘faith,’ which is feminine in Greek, nor to any immediate word which follows. (See Blass, Debrunner, Funk, 132, 2.) What all this means is that the little phrase ‘and that’ (kai touto in Greek) explains that salvation is of God’s grace and not of human effort. Understood accordingly, Ephesians 2:8 could well be translated: ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, that is to say, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.’
“Moreover, there is a parallelism between ‘not of yourselves’ in v 8b and ‘not of works’ in v 9. This parallelism serves as a commentary to v 8a (‘For by grace you have been saved through faith’) which speaks of salvation in its entirety. It is difficult to see how ‘faith,’ if it is the gift of God, harmonizes with ‘not of works’ of v 9. We must conclude, then, that in Ephesians 2:8 salvation is the gift of God.”[2]
Romans Confirms this Interpretation
Paul confirms this in Romans. Keep in mind, this the same Paul who wrote Ephesians. And in Romans, Paul says:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:28).
As Paul says, the gift of God is eternal life/salvation. God graciously gives the faithful eternal life/salvation.
So the gift of God isn’t faith—that’s man’s part!—the gift of God is eternal life/salvation for those who choose to be faithful. That’s Paul’s point in Romans 6:28; and that’s Paul’s point in Ephesians 2:8-9.
What about Romans 12:3?
Another passage Calvinists cite to “prove” that faith is a gift of God is Romans 12:3, which says:
“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3).
This passage says, “God has dealt each person a measure of faith,” which seems to support the Calvinist view…at least until one reads the context. As the context shows, this passage is about spiritual gifts, not salvation. The next verses confirm this:
“For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness” (Rom. 12:4-8).
As the context shows, this passage is about spiritual gifts, not salvation. God has given each person a measure of faith—that is, God has given each person spiritual gifts—to be used for the body of Christ. Paul’s point is: “Be humble. Your spiritual gifts didn’t come from you. They came from God.”
Conclusion: neither of these passages (Romans 12:3 or Ephesians 2:8-9) support the Calvinist view of faith.
For more information about this topic, please see my article, “Does Regeneration Precede Faith?”
By Alex Polyak, Answering Calvinism, 2/12/26
[1] Total depravity is the theological concept that teaches that because of the Fall, every part of man’s nature—mind, will, emotions, and body—has been so tainted by sin that he is unable to seek or choose God unless God first regenerates him.
[2] Grace Evangelical Society, “Is Faith a Gift of God? – Ephesians 2:8 Reconsidered,” 7/1/89.