8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast
You left out the "and this not from yourselves" part of the verse. It's important. There can be arguments over it, but I see it saying that even faith is a gift from God.
Yes, but since that gift is available to everyone, it's a given. It's a baseline from which everyone starts.
You are so correct. I simply copied that verse from the text of the article but you are correct. That really needs to be included as far too many people would like to take credit rather than understand it is the faith of Christ. Thank you for pointing that out.