Commentaries:

For-γὰρ (gar)-for, verily, therefore) by grace-χάριτί (chariti)-grace, graciousness) are ye-ἐστε (este)-"you are" (second person plural of 'to be')) saved-σεσῳσμένοι (sesosmenoi)-to make or keep sound or safe, (to save, i.e. deliver or protect)), through-διὰ (dia)-through, by means of) faith-πίστεως (pisteos)-faith, faithfulness, steadfastness), and-καὶ (kai)-and) that-τοῦτο (touto)-this (thing)) not-οὐκ (ouk)-no, not) of-ἐξ (ex)-out of) yourselves-ὑμῶν (humon)-of you, your (own, -selves)): it is the-τὸ (to)-the) gift-δῶρον (doron)-a gift, present) of God-Θεοῦ (Theou)-God, (God the Father)):: 

    For by grace are ye saved through faith.- Lest they might forget the doctrine that he ever preached, he reminds them that works of the law never saved them; that they were saved by God's grace shown in the gospel; that this salvation was obtained through the faith. The definite article-[("the")] is found before faith in the Greek, showing that the faith, or the gospel, is meant. It is the gift of God.- The salvation is not due to ourselves, but is God's gift. The grammatical construction of the Greek does not allow us to make "faith" the subject of the last clause-[("and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God")]. It is not "faith," but salvation through the faith, which is the gift of God. So says John Wesley in his Notes: "This refers to the [(whole)] previous clause, That you are saved-[(i.e. For by grace are ye saved through (the) faith)], etc." Not of works.- The salvation is not due to works of law, or to our own merit; hence there is no ground for boasting. -(People's New Testament). SL

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    Notice salvation is not by grace, nor faith alone. There is no way man could earn his salvation, so it is said here to be by the unmerited favor of God. God's grace is extended to all men who will accept that which is offered ( Tit_2:11 ; 2Pe_3:9 ; Rev_22:17 ). Man's acceptance comes through faith. Coffman suggests this actually may be "the faith". Since "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," we conclude that faith is God's gift to man whether it is the sum of all that is believed or it is the response to what God has said ( Rom_10:17 ). Therefore, it is not by works of merit that we are saved and we have no reason for a feeling of personal accomplishment in our salvation. Our salvation was procured by the death of God's Son on Calvary and we must do God's will to receive it. God outlined the works we are to perform to receive his great gift. Clearly, we do not act so as to save ourselves but to satisfy the Father's requirements (2:8-9). It is through God's working that we become Christians. We are made new creatures in Christ to perform the good works he has designed for us to do. He prepared works for Christians to do even before the first Christian was created in Christ. If we want to be what God intended for us to be, we must do his bidding. ( Ecc_12:13, /14 ). A living faith is a faith that works (James 2:10; Gal_5:6 ; Jam_2:17, /18 ).-(Gary Hampton Commentary). SL

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    For it is.- “Neither the works of The Law nor the secrets of the mystery religions could ever save you and set you free from ignorance and superstition. Only God’s grace could make that available to you. Salvation is the gift of God through faith! You seize it, not achieve it!!!” [Note: in the Greek, FAITH is feminine but IT is neuter. Faith is not the gift, but salvation is! The Holy Spirit produces faith through the message of the Good News (Romans_10:17). But faith is more than just believing (James 2:19).]-(The Bible Study New Testament). SL 

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        “Through faith”:- God does not have any problem in attaching conditions to grace. Grace is undeserved but it still has conditions. Jesus equally attached conditions to salvation ( Mar_16:16 ; Luk_24:47 ), and so did the apostles ( Act_2:38 ; 1Pe_3:21 ). Salvation by grace must have conditions, seeing that the grace of God has appeared to all men ( Tit_2:11 ), and yet all men are not automatically and unconditionally saved ( Mat_7:13, /14 ). The faith in this passage is not faith only [(i.e. a mental assent)], because faith by itself has never saved anyone ( Joh_12:42, /43 ). This faith includes repentance ( Act_2:38 ); confession ( Rom_10:9, /10 ) and baptism ( Act_22:16 ). In addition, it also includes a life of faithfulness following the initial conversion experience ( 2Ti_2:11, /12, /13 ). “And that not of yourselves”:- “Is not due to yourselves” (TCNT). “It is not your own doing” (NEB). “It is the gift of God”:- “The gift is God’s” (TCNT). Some have erroneously concluded that "faith" is the gift of God in this verse, and that man is so sinful that God must give him the faith in the first place, but that would contradict other passages. "Faith" involves human effort. One must listen to God's word ( Rom_10:17 ), and must then be honest and humble ( Jam_1:21 ). Instead of getting mad at the truth or resenting the preacher ( Act_7:54 ), one needs to be convicted of their own sins ( Act_2:37 ). Calvinism needs to be seriously opposed, because it makes God look dishonest and hypocritical. God clearly condemns the unbeliever ( Mar_16:14 ; Mar_16:16 ; 2Th_1:8, /9 ), but at the same time Calvinism asserts that God gives the faith. Calvinism presents a picture of a God who desires all men to be saved ( 2Pe_3:9 ), and yet at the same time refuses to give all men the faith they need to gain salvation. Calvinism must logically say that the only reason people remain unbelievers, is because God refuses to help them. Even the translators of the NASV understood the "gift" to be salvation. Notice the side reference "i.e. that salvation". [Note: _ New American Standard. Wide Margin Edition, Holman.] If you are interested in grammar, Boles argues, “Since faith is a word of feminine gender, and this and it are neuter gender, normal grammar disallows referring back to faith” (p. 226).-(Mark Dunagan). SL

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    The error of people in their interpretations of this passage is evident in such comments as "our salvation ... is appropriated by us through faith alone."[22] "Here is the basis for the watchword of Reformation theology: solo gratia, sola fide, "soli Deo gloria" (`by grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be glory')."[23] The Old Testament injunction was "Thou shalt not yoke the ox with the ass"; but, in the so-called "watchword" of Reformation theology the ox is yoked with two asses, namely "solo gratia" and "sola fide". If salvation is by grace alone, it cannot, at the same time be of faith; and if it is of faith alone, it cannot, at the same time, be of grace also. Could a man be married to Ruth alone and to Ann alone at the same time? Thus, the "watchword" is a contradiction on its face; and, besides that, the so-called "Scriptures" grace only and faith only, are bastard Scriptures, being nowhere mentioned in the word of God, with the lone exception of James 2:24, where that sacred writer says "we are not justified by faith alone." But what does the text say? By grace have ye been saved through faith ... Some of the critical scholars declare the past perfect tense-[(saved-σεσῳσμένοι)] here to be un-Pauline; [24] but, while it is true that Paul often spoke of salvation as a continuing process (as in 1 Corinthians 1:18-[("which are saved": (Present, Passive), or, "ones-beING-SAVED")] and Romans 5:9-[("we shall be saved": (Future, Passive), or, "WE-SHALL-BE-BEING-SAVED")], he was here speaking of being "saved" in the sense of having obeyed the gospel. . . . By grace ...- The connotations of this word as used in the New Testament include the principles: (1) of human beings (all of them) being unworthy of the salvation God provides; (2) of the impossibility of any man's meriting or earning salvation, even if he had a million lives to live; and (3) that salvation bestowed upon people originated in the heart of God and that it flows out from God to people, being from God and of God alone. It is clear then that God's grace is to all people, for all people alike, and that it is available for every person who was ever born on earth (Titus 2:11). If then, salvation is by grace only, all people are already saved; for God's grace has appeared to all. Christ himself, however, taught that all people will not be saved; and the only intelligent reconciliation of those twin facts lies in accepting the premise of human salvation's being conditional, that is, made to turn upon human acceptance of it through human compliance with the conditions upon which God through Christ and the apostles promised it. The Reformation heresy was simply that of removing or negating all conditions of salvation except the sinner's subjective trust/faith-[(e.g. "simply trust/have faith in the work that Jesus did")], thus proclaiming what was called "salvation through faith alone." Such preconditions of salvation as repentance, confession, baptism and the acceptance by the convert of his Christian obligations - all these are declared to be "works" and therefore unnecessary to be performed as conditions of salvation, and this despite the truth that none of them is a "work" at all, except in the sense that the sinner's faith is also a "work." Through faith ... The most likely meaning of this phrase, as attested by the Emphatic Diaglott rendition of it, is "through the faith,"[25] that is, "through the Christian faith," or the Christian religion. One thing is absolutely certain: this cannot mean the subjective trust/faith of sinners-[(the emphasis is in "the faith", as opposed to "one's own faith")].-(Coffman Commentaries). SL