By Grace Through Faith
Ephesians 2:8-10, the gift and the good works, as the early church read it
"By grace are ye saved through faith… not of works, lest any man should boast… created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Paul packs the whole question of grace, faith, and works into three verses, and Chrysostom holds them together without flinching: salvation is entirely God's gift, even our faith is something He enabled, and there is no room for boasting; and yet we are God's "workmanship," made for good works we are to walk in. The Father in his own words below, with a plain restatement.
The Father's words are verbatim and attributed (Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians, NPNF, public domain; selected from the running prose, footnote apparatus omitted). The box marked "In plain terms" is our own restatement, never the Father's words.
Ephesians 2:8 · KJVFor by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
"'For by grace have ye been saved.'… Then, that… our free-will be not impaired, he adds also our part in the work, and yet again cancels it, and adds, 'And that not of ourselves.' Neither is faith of ourselves… had He not called us, how had we been able to believe?… So that the work of faith itself is not our own. 'It is the gift of God,' it is 'not of works.'"
St. John ChrysostomChrysostom traces Paul's careful balance: yes, our part is real (we believe), and yet even that is not finally "of ourselves", for we could not have believed had God not first come and called us. So salvation, faith and all, is God's gift from start to finish. Grace is not a reward for faith we generated; faith itself is grace working in us.
Ephesians 2:9 · KJVNot of works, lest any man should boast.
"No one is justified by works, in order that the grace and loving-kindness of God may be shown. He did not reject us as having works, but as abandoned of works He hath saved us by grace; so that no man henceforth may have whereof to boast."
St. John ChrysostomGod did not save people who had earned it and then deny them credit; He saved those who were "abandoned of works", who had nothing to bring, precisely so that the rescue would be visibly His grace and no one could boast. Boasting is excluded not by a technicality but by the facts: we were saved empty-handed.
Ephesians 2:10 · KJVFor we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
"Lest… thou shouldest become idle, observe how he continues… 'For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.'… He here alludes to the regeneration, which is in reality a second creation… Not merely that we should begin, but that we should walk in them, for we need a virtue which shall last throughout, and be extended on to our dying day."
St. John ChrysostomAnd lest anyone hear "not of works" and grow lazy, Paul adds the other half: we are God's handiwork, made new in Christ (a "second creation," more glorious than the first) precisely for good works. So works are not the root of salvation but its fruit and purpose, and not a one-time start but a walk that lasts "on to our dying day." Saved by grace, created for good works, the two are not rivals.
Where this stands among the traditions
This passage is, happily, more shared than disputed. Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant all confess what Chrysostom states plainly: salvation is by grace, received through faith, the gift of God, not earned by works, with all boasting excluded, and yet issuing necessarily in the good works for which we were remade. The Reformation-era arguments over justification (see Romans 3) turn on the precise relation of faith and works; but on the text in front of us the church speaks with one voice, and so does the early church: grace first and last, no boasting, and a new life that walks in good works. (See also Hebrews 11: the faith that does and Hyper-Grace.)
Patristic text from Chrysostom's Homilies on Ephesians (NPNF, public domain), selected from the running prose with footnote apparatus omitted; nothing added or paraphrased within the quotation marks. Scripture in the King James Version; the plain-language lines are our own restatement. This passage in the Study Bible; Ephesians 2 at BibleHub.