It is wrong to suppose that for Paul faith is a 
meritorious act on man's part, which wins salvation, or even, 
in a more modern way of speech, a creative moral principle in 
itself. Paul does not, in fact, speak (when he is using the 
language strictly) of "justification by faith," but of 
"justification by grace through faith," or "on the grounds of 
faith." This is not mere verbal subtlety. It means that the 
"righteousness of God" becomes ours, not by the assertion of 
the individual will as such, but by the willingness to let God 
work.
    ... C. Harold Dodd (1884-1973), The Meaning of Paul for 
        Today [1920]