Ephesians 2:8-9 grace of faith

[Fatima-Crusader]

8 For by grace you have been saved athrough faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Was St Paul talking about faith being a gift of God or just other graces?,

 

[adf417]

CCC 153

Faith is a grace

153 When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come “from flesh and blood”, but from “my Father who is in heaven”.24 Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and ‘makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.’"25

Peace!!!

 

[po18guy]

In all such matters of grace and faith versus “works” it is crucial to remember that Saint Paul was comparing faith and grace to the works of the Mosaic law. James 2 clearly indicates that we are expected to use God’s grace to do good to others.

For the sake of empty anti-Catholicism, many Bible Christians get this flat out wrong. They look at words on the page (as “I” used to do) and lose all concept of usage and historical context.

 

[De_Maria]

8 For by grace you have been saved athrough faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Was St Paul talking about faith being a gift of God or just other graces?,

St. Paul is speaking of salvation being a gift of God. Specifically, he is speaking of the grace which is given to us in Baptism, which now saves us. Let me explain.

8 For by grace you have been saved athrough faith.

This is a description of Baptism. It is in Baptism that we receive the grace of salvation when the Holy Spirit washes away our sins while we make a profession of faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

We can’t save ourselves. God saves us through His Sacraments. Jesus works through His Sacraments.

CCC#740 These “mighty works of God,” offered to believers in the sacraments of the Church, bear their fruit in the new life in Christ, according to the Spirit.

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Our works do not save us. But God does not save those who do not work. Consider the Sheep and the Goats. The Sheep did good works of corporal mercy. But that didn’t get them into heaven. God judged their works and determined that the Sheep merited salvation because of their works.

In the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church said:
TRENT VI
CHAPTER VIII
HOW THE GRATUITOUS JUSTIFICATION OF THE SINNER BY FAITH IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD

and we are therefore said to be justified gratuitously, because none of those things that precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace of justification.

I hope that helps.

 

[JerryZ]

When an infant is Baptized, he is infused with the Holy Spirit and given grace.
The infant has not merited this. And also since he did not make the decision to be Baptized it is definitively NOT his own doing. It is a gift from GOD.
Also of course NOT the result of Works since the infant is incapable of performing any thing, he is totally dependent on the parents.

Now after Baptism there are other gifts that we can obtain from GOD.
The seven virtues are mentioned as gifts of the Holy Spirit, but there are others as well.

 

[fhansen]

Was St Paul talking about faith being a gift of God or just other graces?

Faith is a gift of grace. It’s actually considered to even be a dim foretaste of the immediate knowledge or vision of God; it’s to taste of, to know, His existence and nature and will. However, as with all gifts it can still be dismissed and rejected by man.