Originally Posted by
Tj3
And then you denied it and wanted nothing to do the context.
By the time you got to that word, you have missed what the subject is that Paul is speaking about.
Right from the start, Paul makes his subject clear:
Eph 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,
NKJV
And goes on:
Eph 1:13-14
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
NKJV
Bringing us to chapter 2 (I trust you know chapter divisions were not in the original letter).Note that the theme of salvation is still going:
Eph 2:1-8
2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
NKJV
But suddenly you want us to think that the subject changed at this word "For", and that we should ignore the full context of the sentence:
Eph 2:8-10
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. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
NKJV
So we have the context at the start, but in case there are those who miss that, Paul often summarizes what he is speaking about with a conclusion, and the conclusion is found after the word "therefore":
Eph 2:11-13
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
NKJV
This suggests a conclusion drawn from what preceded. And that conclusion is, in vv.8 and 9, that salvation requires grace and that grace is an unmerited gift of God. It is not a reward or payment given in return for work done ("it is not a gift of works") but is given gratuitously by God. While it's true that the context is a discussion of salvation, it's also true that the context includes a discussion of the role of grace in salvation. Since grammatically the word "it" in v.8 cannot stand in for a verb ("have been saved"), it is quite evident that it refers back to the word "grace". This isn't some tricky theological maneuver; this is just grammar. But it also accords with the broader passage as you've quoted it (and as I have just explained--i.e., the role of grace in salvation, grace is an unmerited gift of God and not our just desserts for work done).
I am now thoroughly bored from repeating myself, so this will be my last post to the present thread. That means that you, Tom, get to have the last word. I know that's important to you.
