Salvation by Grace Alone

The heart of the gospel is that salvation is the free gift of God, received by faith and never earned by human effort. Paul makes this unmistakable when he writes that it is by grace we have been saved, through faith — and that this is not of ourselves, but the gift of God, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The word the New Testament uses for this unmerited favor is charis G5485 χάρις, grace — the gift freely given, owed to no one, that God lavishes on those who believe.

John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Because the gift is grace, the proper response is not striving but trust: we rest in what God has already done, and salvation remains his work from first to last.