a simple desire

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

Let me get on my hobby-horse again, and suggest that “saved through faith” may not mean “saved through our decision to trust and believe,” although that is certainly a possibility. Rather, let me suggest that “faith” here is used in the sense of “faithfulness,” or “loyalty,” that is, through a steadfast and long lasting perseverence in acting for the good of another.

Of course, it cannot mean this if we are the ones who are loyal–after all, the point of these verses is that our being saved is a gift from God. The obvious question: who, then, is so loyal? The obvious answer: It is through God’s faithfulness that we are saved. This is completely consonant with the theme of these verses: if God is the faithful one, how much more a gift it is!  It also explains how the gift comes about: God’s decision to act on our behalf and God’s acting on our behalf again and again and again, especially (but not only) through sending Jesus to live and die for us, bring about our salvation. God continues to act for us, answering our prayers, sending the Spirit to empower us and intercede for us, sending us both trials and blessings to train and restore us. As the next verse says, we are one of God’s ongoing projects:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.