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guest1
Guest
A highly debated and controversial passage is not evidence for either side as you are well aware of brother. But I think everyone agrees that salvation is a free gift that can be affirmed in Eph 2 apart from works.Of course it was their own faith, no one has denied this. Again, faith can be given by God and one's own. As far as I know, this is the consistent position of the thread by Calvinists.
I'll repeat, lest the point be missed, I certainly did read the passages you appealed to where Jesus said it was their faith. This does not invalidate the fact that God gives faith, since the giving of faith by God does not invalidate personal ownership. Since other revelation from God is true, then we do have to take into account what Paul says in Ephesians 2.
Yes, the passage is debated, but I think that the best understanding of the referent of "touto" is the preceding clause. Thus, the gift, from God is the "by grace through faith salvation." The relationship of the parts to the whole leads us to realize that faith, as part of the whole clause, is one of the elements that has been gifted by God.