It is very clearly stated in Ephesians 2:8-9, yet, for some reason, people choose to ignore or it or deny it.

My favorite passage tells us all how we are saved. It says, "For we are saved by grace, through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast."

Let's unpack that verse for a second. What does the word "grace" mean? There are many dictionary definitions for this word, but the one that is useful for us states:

"Unmerited Divine assistance given man for his regeneration and, or sanctification."

A way that I have learned to describe it is through an acronym, using the letters for the word grace to say God's Riches At Christ's Expense. It is a gift. It is something that is not earned or even taken, but something that is simply given and received. If we try to earn it, then it is not grace.

The second part we must look at is the "through faith" part. Faith is described in the dictionary in many ways as well. The one that works best for us is:

"Firm belief in something for which there is no proof."

The Bible tells us a definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

In other words, Ephesians 2:8 could be paraphrased to say, "We are saved by God's riches at Christ's expense through being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

This still doesn't answer the question about how we get faith in the first place. Does it just come to us magically? Do we somehow conjure it up as if we have the power to do so? Or does God work through means to bring us to life by the power of the Holy Spirit?

To answer this question we must first look at what the Lord tells us about ourselves before conversion. He tells us that we are all are conceived and born sinful and so are in need of forgiveness when he says, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."(Psalm 51:5), or "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins." (Ephesians 2:1)

Can a dead person do anything? No. Can a dead person come back to life? A dead person can only come back to life if God acts upon him in some miraculous way as in the story of Lazarus and others, but especially in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

God must act upon us to bring us back to life. How does he do this? Well, we have the answer to this in Romans 10:17 where Paul tells us that "Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ." This word is what we would call the good news or the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The message is that Christ has died on the cross and has risen from the dead. The Holy Spirit has the power to use that message and those words of good news to bring a person, who was dead in their trespasses and sins, back to life.

Consequently, what this is saying to us is that all you need are two ears to hear the good news and you can be brought to faith. I know of 3-year-olds who can barely talk, and yet they can tell me that Jesus died for them. It doesn't take any special training or special age requirement or some sort of understanding that goes above and beyond believing that Jesus died on the cross for you.

You don't even have to be able to express it. According to this verse all you have to do is hear it. If you hear it and believe what you hear, you are saved according to everything written in the Scriptures.

The reason I am writing this article is that there has been some confusion as to how we receive the grace that God gives to us. Many different Christian denominations teach many different things. In my church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, we believe that the Holy Spirit works through means. We call these means the Word (Bible) and the Sacraments (for Lutherans there are two Sacraments — Baptism and the Lord's Supper).

Other churches believe that God works immediately, that is without means, to bring a person to faith (The Spirit goes where it wills).

Still others believe that God works with a person, this is called synergism, to bring him/her to faith. In these churches, a person still has the ability to work with God for his own salvation. Whether this is called a choice, a decision, or being slain in the Spirit, is up to the individual denomination or even congregation.

This can all get very confusing, but there is one thing we must keep straight. In order to be a true Christian, one must believe that Jesus died on the cross for them and that by His death on the cross he has saved us from all sins.

A man once asked Peter, "What must I do to be saved?" Peter answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." John said in his Gospel, "God loved the world so much that he sent his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but eternal life." Mark says, "Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

Belief (faith) is what counts, not just belief in anything, but belief in Jesus Christ, he is the Son of God and that he came to suffer, die, and rise again for us.

Some say we get faith only one way, some say that we get it through means, and still others say that we work with God to get it ourselves. What matters most to me is that people get it. If they simply hear the Gospel and believe, then great. If they get it through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, that's great. If they get it through an immediate, "Pentecost" moment, that is awesome too.

As Christians, we are simply able to praise God for the faith that we have. Thanks be to God that we receive God's grace by faith. I can't wait to get to heaven.