True Salvation gives no reason to boast !
Men we are by nature boasters
2 Tim 3:2
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Romans 1:30
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud,
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
And so when writing about Salvation the Apostle Paul says
Eph 2:8-9
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works,
lest any man should boast.
In order that no one has a reason to boast, Salvation is by Grace through Faith and that not of ourselves ! Whats not of ourselves ? Salvation by Grace through Faith is not of ourselves, thats what ! You see both the Salvation and the Faith to believe it make up the whole of the Gift of God. Remember The writer of Hebrews speaks things that accompany Salvation .
Heb 6:9
But, beloved,we are persuaded better things of you, and
things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
This word accompany is the greek word a verb echo and means:
used of those
joined to any one by the bonds of natural blood or
marriage or friendship or duty or law etc, of attendance or
companionship
That adhere together or that are closely Joined
to hold one's self to a thing, to lay hold of a thing, to adhere or cling to
a) to be closely joined to a person or a thing
The thought is of things being joined together or companions or that which clings with.
The ESV Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—
things that belong to salvation
The BIBE But, my loved ones, though we say this, we are certain that you have better things in you, things which go with salvation
The DBT But we are persuaded concerning you, beloved, better things,
and connected with salvation, even if we speak thus.
Well Faith is one of those Things with Salvation that accompanies it or is connected with it, and Paul says , don't boast, its all a Gift of God's Grace.
So Neither Item in the whole Phrase Salvation nor Faith is of ourselves, and hence there is no ground for boasting.
One cannot say, well I am saved because I had Faith or I believed and you did not. Now I am not suggesting that those of us who believes that their act of Faith or believing is the ground of their Salvation opposed to one who had the same opportunity and did not believe or did not exercise Faith and so remained lost, I am not saying that they make a thing of boasting consciously about it, but nevertheless you have a reason or ground to boast, simply because you believe your act opposed to the no action of the lost one, is that which made the difference between saved and lost, so you were the closer, you closed the deal, and not the effectual benefits of the Death of Christ.
So any of us believing that by our Faith, our belief, our accepting,is the reason for Salvation, we are Trusting in our works, in the arm of the flesh for Salvation , and unless God grants to us repentance from this evil thinking., we are under His legal condemnation and that means Christ did not die for us, in order to give us Repentance, a Change of Mind !
Acts 5:31;
11:18