I recently read Tinted Glasses on Eph 2:8,9 at The Bible Archive, where Rey put up some alternate wording for Ephesians 2:8-9 as people of different persuasions would interpret the wording. In an attempt to lazily plagiarize Rey, I have decided to steal his post title, as well as the theme for this post.

For a solid foundation, I’ll put the original here in the ESV translation:

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

Perhaps it would be helpful, considering the spirit of his post and the friendly rapport I have with that scoundrel, for us each to exposit this passage, including surrounding verses, and see how the other half looks at it. Rey, you can consider this a public request for conversation and understanding between a Calvinist and a… um… non-Calvinist/non-Arminian. And now comes the fun of changing the wording around in the name of humor. Man, I’ll have a lot to answer for on the last day…

First, I have decided to share the Finneyism version:

For by approaching the alter you have been saved through the pleas of the evangelist with shiny white shoes. And this is not your own doing; you came forward for the sake of peer pressure and an sermon of uncertainty, not a result of God, so that no one may boast, save the evangelist with the compassionate plea.

And now for the Synergist interpretation (which sounds much like the Arminian version by some strange coincidence:

For by grace you have been saved through some good that is within us all. And this is your own doing; yet humility remains the gift of God, so that no one may boast in anything besides the number of people they have saved.

Here is He-Man’s version:

For by the power of Greyskull you have been saved through the Power Sword. And this is not your own doing, for the sword has imbued you with unnatural strength and turned your kitty into a ferocious green tiger thingy, so that you may be a Master of the Universe.

Why shouldn’t Hindus join in?

For by practicing yoga and meditation you have been reincarnated to a more glorious life each time. And this is not your own doing; but by your undoing, that you may one day become a glorious bovine.

Here’s one for Josiah:

For by regurgitation, you have purged the uncleanness from your system. And this is not your own doing; it is the gag reflex gone wild, so that all may avoid undercooked chicken.

For the record, Wrestlemania was in Madison Square Garden recently:

For by the cheers of all of the Hulkamaniacs, you have been initiated into the WWE Hall of Fame. And this is not your own doing; it is the grace of Vince McMahon, so that you will owe him a favor.

For followers of Conditional Election:

For by some forseen act, you have been saved. And this is your own doing; and also a gift of God, so that anyone may boast.

Open Theism:

For by the chance God took on you, you have been saved by slaying pretend dragons in your backyard. And this is also your own doing; for John Eldridge said so. Before he denied it.

Hyper-Calvinism (sounds much like what Rey said of Calvinism…)

For by grace you have been saved through regeneration by the Holy Spirit; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by faith, lest anyone should boast.

And finally one for the New England Patriots:

For by selling your souls, you have won the Super Bowl…again. And this is not through developing top notch players; it is the hours of study and the paying off of league officials, so that no one may have a legitimate chance.

Man can alter their interpretation of the scriptures to any degree we wish. We can try to make it say something it doesn’t and ignore the things that it does say. We can pretend that the Bible is two different stories with only vague references and can act like 75% of it doesn’t apply to us today, but that doesn’t change the truth. From the very beginning, God was the initiator and Man was the receiver. To assume that this is changed for the current period of time is to assume that God has changed His ways and become less proactive. A reactionary God is not a God to worship, however. One that has been saving wretches like me from the beginning is.

Enough commentary, though. Would anyone else care to add to my or Rey’s list? And Rey, I’d like some sort of response to this comparison request, even if it’s a declination. Is “declination” even a word? This isn’t some baiting action on my part. I’d just like to see how you interpret… say… all of Ephesians 2. I’ll do the same and we can each post on the same day, linking to each other. Whaddya say?