Bible Study on Ephesians 2:8-9 (“Saved by Grace”)
Ephesians 2:8-9
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (NIV)
Welcome to the Bible Study Guide for Ephesians 2:8-9, which leverages questions from the CHARA Bible Study Guide when studying this verse. Below are the questions the Chara team chose to ask, in the order they chose to ask them, but feel free to use other questions or change up the order as you dive into this passage. For ANSWERS from the Chara team on these questions, check out the video below.
The book of Ephesians is one of Paul’s epistles. We’ll look at different parts of this letter as we study grace, but to gain a more complete understanding we recommend that you read the whole letter (just as you would with any letter you received today). With only six chapters, reading Ephesians shouldn’t take long!
APPLY
Yield: What personal, cultural, or religious assumptions do you bring to the Ephesians 2:8-9? Describe your understanding of grace. How have you heard this word used?
RESEARCH
Observations & Questions: What observations do you have when you reread Ephesians 2:8-9 more than once? List all that you learn about grace from these two verses.
Here are three observations that we made about God’s grace: 1) it makes salvation possible, 2) it is a gift, and 3) is not earned. Let’s apply CHARA to each of these and see what we can learn!
1) GOD’S GRACE MAKES SALVATION POSSIBLE - “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (Ephesians 2:8a)
CONTEXT
Immediate: What is the theme or main idea found in the surrounding paragraph(s) and how does that help determine what the verse means? What is the overall theme found in Ephesians 2:1-9?
AUTHOR
Related Text: What is revealed through Compare and Contrast? The author compares the old life (verses 1-3) with the new life of a Christ follower (verses 4-6). What do you learn about each? What did God save the believer from?
CONTEXT
Book: Is the theme repeated throughout the book? Read Ephesians 1:7-8. How is God’s grace described in these verses? What is your response to this?
Bible: Does my interpretation hold true throughout the rest of the Bible? In Ephesians 1:7-8, we see that it is by the richness of God’s grace that we are forgiven of our sins and this is made possible “through his blood.” Using cross references, we learn in Romans 3:21-26 that Jesus died for our sin and became an atoning sacrifice so that we could be declared righteous (saved). How are we declared righteous? (Hint: Romans 3:22,26) How are we not declared righteous? (Hint: Romans 3:21)
Grace is often defined as receiving something you don’t deserve. After reading these passages, how do you see this definition play out?
What then is the role of faith? How would you define faith? “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…” (Ephesians 2:8a).
We are saved when we place our faith, our trust, in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. God graciously provided the way for our redemption, it was not something we could accomplish on our own. Which leads us to our second observation.
2) GRACE IS A GIFT - “and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8b)
Think about the nature of a gift. What makes something a gift? What motivates someone to give a gift?
CONTEXT
Immediate/Connective Words: How are connective words (e.g. therefore, and, but, however) used to develop a complete thought around our verses? Notice what connective word Ephesians 2:4 begins with. By nature we are dead in our sin and children of wrath… but God in his mercy offers each of us a gift instead of the punishment we deserve. Why? How does Ephesians 2:4 enhance your understanding of the nature of God’s gift? What about the nature and motive of the gift giver?
Bible: Does the text quote or allude to another passage in the Bible and what understanding does that give? Cross references may point you to Romans 3:24, which at this point should be somewhat familiar. How does this verse add to your understanding of the nature of God’s gift?
Now look up Romans 4:4-5. What disqualifies something from being a gift? How then does one receive God’s gift and how does this differ from earning it?
Now let’s look closer at our third observation about grace.
3) GRACE IS NOT EARNED -“not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:9)
Has someone close to you ever been freely given something that you had to work hard to receive? How did that make you feel?
HISTORY
What worldview, cultural, religious, political factors and experiences were a part of their world and how did that influence them? There are two ways to answer this. One is to look at resources, such as Study Bible notes or commentaries (Research), and the other is by simply reading the text (Context). We suggest doing both, starting with reading the text:
CONTEXT
Ephesians 4:17-19. In the Old Testament, God chose and made a covenant with the Hebrew people (also known as Israel and the Jews). Part of this covenant was God’s Law, which showed the Jewish people how to live and love God. By contrast, according to Epheisans 4:17-19, how did the Gentiles live?
Ephesians 2:11-22. As you can imagine, tension existed between the righteous Jews and the unrighteous Gentiles. What can you learn about the relationship between Jew and Gentile from Ephesians 2:11-22?
Ephesians 2:14-15. The Law stood as a barrier dividing Jew and Gentile. To the Jew, obedience to the Law was believed to be a means to earning righteousness (aka right-standing with God). How did Jesus unite Jew and Gentile? (Hint: try reading in the New Living Translation, NLT).
Galatians 2:15-16. Gentiles were viewed as unclean sinners. And yet here we are - all saved the same way. Which means that even the righteous Jews needed to place their faith in Christ. What good works might we turn to today in an attempt to earn our own righteousness? And who do these cause you to boast about?
RESEARCH
Resources: What else can you glean from Bible scholars? (Hint: look at study Bible notes or commentary on any of these passages).
HISTORY
Who was it written to and who was it written about? How does the Bible describe them? (Hint: see Ephesians 1:1,15; 3:1) We know from the book of Acts, which records the history of the early church, that Paul had spent nearly 3 years in Ephesus and shared a close relationship with the elders of the Ephesian church (Acts 20:17-38). Despite their relationship, Paul’s letter to the Epheisans excludes any personal names of believers (in contrast to some of his other letters, such as Philippians, which includes many personal names). This suggests that this letter was intended to be a circular letter - written to the Christ followers, both Jew and Gentile (non-Jew), in Ephesus, then to be shared with the surrounding churches. Why do you suppose this message was needed to be heard by all?
How would the original audience have heard the message found in Ephesians 2:8-9? Who might have struggled the most accepting this message and why?
AUTHOR
Person and Purpose: Who was the author and what was his purpose? Read Ephesians 3:1-12. What can you learn about the author and the “special responsibility” (3:2, NLT) that God gave him? Why is the message in verse six so significant?
Patterns: What is highlighted through the use of repetition in Ephesians 4:3-6? (Hint: count how many times you see the word “one”)
Why was Paul’s ministry so important? Is his message still needed today?
APPLY
A deeper understanding of the significance of God’s grace as found in Ephesians 2:8-9 should transform your life. Paul gives direction as to what this response should look like in the last half of his letter to the Ephesians (chapters 4-6).
Pray: “Lord, what do you want me to learn and how should I apply this to my life?”
Ask: What do you learn about God - His character, attributes, or desires? If we could be justified (saved) by our own good works, what would that make of God’s grace? And what role would faith play in that scenario?
Yield: What personal, cultural, or religious assumptions do you bring to the text? Whenever we begin with this question we like to end with its follow up question: What do you need to surrender, if anything, to be in harmony with the Bible?
Reflect: What specific questions do you have upon further reflection of the passage? Is there a verse that you’d like to memorize to speak truth to your heart and mind? Ephesians 2:8-9 is one of our go-to places in the Bible to learn about God’s grace!
Join the Chara Project team as they study Ephesians 2:8-9 and see their ANSWERS to the questions asked from the CHARA Bible Study Guide.