Ephesians 2:9
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
KJV
οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων, ἵνα μή τις καυχήσηται.
Greek NT
non ex operibus, ut ne quis glorietur.
Vulgate
not of works, that no man should glory.
ASV
Not of works, that no man may glory.
Douay-Rheims
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In the original Greek
7 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.
καυχάομαι
kauchaomai
verb · 37×
μή
me
particle · 1033×
οὐ
ou
particle · 1626×
τὶς
tis
indefinite_pronoun · 527×
ἐκ
ek
preposition · 915×
ἔργον
ergon
noun · 169×
ἵνα
ina
conjunction · 665×
Doctrines that cite this verse
Historic Christian voices
16 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.
It is taught among us that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God through our own merit, work, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God out of grace for Christ's sake through faith when we believe that Christ has suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life …
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and …
If we believe that Christ redeemed men by His blood, we are forced to confess that all of man was lost; otherwise, we make Christ either wholly superfluous, or else the redeemer of the least valuable part of man only; which is blasphemy, and sacrilege. Man's salvation is wholly dependent on the working of God, not on the works or will of man.
He that believes the Gospel shall be saved; he that believes not shall be damned. In the Gospel one learns that human doctrines and decrees do not aid in salvation. That Christ has suffered for us and is our only merit — whoever attributes to works what is Christ's dishonors God.
Q. How are you right with God? A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, ri…
Canons of Dort · 5 passages
The Synod rejects the errors of those who teach that God's good pleasure and purpose, which Scripture mentions in its teaching of election, does not involve God's choosing certain particular people rather than others, but involves God's choosing, out of all possible conditions (including the works of the law) or out of the whole order of things, the intrinsically unworthy act o…
But all who genuinely believe and are delivered and saved by Christ's death from their sins and from destruction receive this favor solely from God's grace — which God owes to no one — given to them in Christ from eternity.
The Synod rejects the errors of those who teach that what is involved in the new covenant of grace which God the Father made with humanity through the intervening death of Christ is not that we are justified before God and saved through faith, insofar as it accepts the merits of Christ, but rather that God, having withdrawn his demand for perfect obedience to the law, counts fa…
…and 2 more from this source.
We teach that sinful man is justified before God (that is, absolved from all his sins and from the sentence of death) only by the grace of God, for the sake of Christ, through faith alone, without any merit of his own. For "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Christ took…
We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.
The longest and most important article of the Apology. Melanchthon defends the Reformation teaching that sinners are justified freely by grace through faith in Christ, apart from works of the Law. Faith is not merely knowledge but trust (fiducia) in God's promise of mercy for Christ's sake. Justification is forensic — God declares the sinner righteous by imputing Christ's right…
Justification is a free gift, purchased by the blood of Christ and received by faith alone. Spurgeon thunders against any system that mixes human merit with divine grace. If justification is by works, then Christ died in vain; if it is by grace, then boasting is excluded. The sinner contributes nothing to his justification except the sin from which he needs to be saved. God dec…
Cross-references
- 1Cor 1:29 — That no flesh should glory in his presence.
- 1Cor 1:29 — That no flesh should glory in his presence.
- 2Tim 1:9 — Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
- Judg 7:2 — And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
- Num 23:4 — And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.
- Rom 3:20 — Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
- Rom 3:27 — Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
- Rom 3:28 — Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
- Rom 4:2 — For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
- Rom 4:2 — For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
- Rom 9:11 — (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
- Rom 9:11 — (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
- Rom 9:16 — So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
- Rom 11:6 — And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
- Titus 3:3 — For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.