"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..." (John 6:44, ESV).
"And he said, 'This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father'" (John 6:65, ESV). "For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you didn't receive..." (1 Cor. 4:7, ESV).
One of the most overlooked and misunderstood heresies of the church, as embraced by the Papists, is that faith is a work--some Catholics realize it's a gift, but's it's generally not accepted and are downplayed. The Romanists officially teach faith as a meritorious work, not a gift at all; for they don't believe grace is sufficient to save us, but merit must be added (they teach that grace is necessary, but not sufficient!). The Bible makes it clear, by any careful perusal of the pertinent verses, that faith is a gift we have no right to boast of (cf. Eph. 2:9), as if it were, meritorious, but Catholics add merit to grace and works to faith, and we're not saved by works (cf. Tit. 3:5; Eph. 2:9).
Examples of it being a gift in Scripture are manifold: God "opened" Lydia's heart to believe in Acts 16:14; Paul saw "those who had come to believe through grace" (Acts 18:27, CEV), by which we can infer it's a gift and we are "enabled;" "... everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:43, CEV). That means it's something we receive, which Peter reiterates in as this: "... To those who received a faith equal to ours..." (2 Pet. 1:1, ESV); Acts 11:18, CEV, says that "God has enabled Gentiles to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life"; finally, it is written, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but suffer for his sake" (Phil. 1:29, ESV). Without God's work, no one would believe! But we must take the leap!
Faith must be seen as the flip-side of repentance (cf. Acts 20:21; 26:20; Luke 24:47), but not its equivalent--both are necessary (either believing repentance or penitent faith, if you will). It makes sense that faith is a gift as the famous verse of Eph. 2:8 says if you realize the antecedent of "gift" is faith, so both salvation and faith are a gift! It's a gift, which means God decides who receives it by election, according to His good pleasure (cf. Eph. 1:5) and will: "... Everyone who was appointed [or elected] for eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48, CEV).
Faith is the instrumental means of righteousness, not righteousness itself--it cannot be both! Abraham believed God and it was reckoned unto (not as) righteousness (cf. Rom. 4:3). Faith is not the destination, but the door to eternal life--a hurdle to get through and pass with flying colors as we receive the gift of eternal life, that cannot be forfeited, but our state of grace is permanent. Note: "... how God had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles" in Acts 14:27, CEV. Jesus is the enabler, and opens our hearts by melting them and turning them from stubborn "hearts of stone into hearts of flesh" (cf. Ezek. 36:26) that can respond to the gospel message: "God has exalted Jesus to his right side as our Leader and Savior so that he could enable Israel to change its heart and life and to find forgiveness for sins," (Acts 5:31, CEV).
The point is that we cannot believe on our own: "For without Me you can do nothing" (cf. John 15:5)--not even believe! No one can come to the Father without being drawn or wooed (cf. John 6:44, 65 quoted above). We do not have the so-called willpower (cf. Rom. 9:16) to come to God on our own, but must be enabled or empowered. What God does by grace is quicken faith within us or kindle faith so that we can come to the Father through the Son. God opens our eyes to see! Romans 12:3 says we all (as Christians) have received a measure of saving faith! We don't believe because we are wiser, smarter, more educated, or more sophisticated--we're all in the same boat as God has leveled the playing field and made us all incapable of faith apart from a work of grace in our hearts.
We must also realize what faith isn't: It's not acquiescence or agreement to a dogma, like the Papists teach; it's not temporal faith, like believing God for a healing or material blessing; it's not gullibility either; and it's not faith in the church or any other misdirected zeal and fanaticism--because it's the object that's crucial and it must be "Christ alone" or as the Reformers taught: soli Christo! God owes no one salvation and has mercy on whom He will; if we believed of our own initiative (and God always takes the initiative and makes the overture), we have reason to believe we deserve salvation, and it wouldn't be grace but justice to save us!
Who's saved then? The elect whom He chose from the beginning: "... The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened" (Rom. 11:7, ESV); We didn't choose Him, He chose us (cf. Jn. 15:16); Scripture says, "For many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22:14, ESV).
In summation, we don't achieve faith (conjuring it up or working ourselves into it by convincing ourselves), but we receive our faith as a gift of regeneration--any other interpretation leads to denial of the doctrine of total depravity which tells us that our wills are also wicked and stubborn and need conversion; God does a work of grace sufficient to transform our lives. Soli Deo Gloria!
"And he said, 'This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father'" (John 6:65, ESV). "For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you didn't receive..." (1 Cor. 4:7, ESV).
One of the most overlooked and misunderstood heresies of the church, as embraced by the Papists, is that faith is a work--some Catholics realize it's a gift, but's it's generally not accepted and are downplayed. The Romanists officially teach faith as a meritorious work, not a gift at all; for they don't believe grace is sufficient to save us, but merit must be added (they teach that grace is necessary, but not sufficient!). The Bible makes it clear, by any careful perusal of the pertinent verses, that faith is a gift we have no right to boast of (cf. Eph. 2:9), as if it were, meritorious, but Catholics add merit to grace and works to faith, and we're not saved by works (cf. Tit. 3:5; Eph. 2:9).
Examples of it being a gift in Scripture are manifold: God "opened" Lydia's heart to believe in Acts 16:14; Paul saw "those who had come to believe through grace" (Acts 18:27, CEV), by which we can infer it's a gift and we are "enabled;" "... everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:43, CEV). That means it's something we receive, which Peter reiterates in as this: "... To those who received a faith equal to ours..." (2 Pet. 1:1, ESV); Acts 11:18, CEV, says that "God has enabled Gentiles to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life"; finally, it is written, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but suffer for his sake" (Phil. 1:29, ESV). Without God's work, no one would believe! But we must take the leap!
Faith must be seen as the flip-side of repentance (cf. Acts 20:21; 26:20; Luke 24:47), but not its equivalent--both are necessary (either believing repentance or penitent faith, if you will). It makes sense that faith is a gift as the famous verse of Eph. 2:8 says if you realize the antecedent of "gift" is faith, so both salvation and faith are a gift! It's a gift, which means God decides who receives it by election, according to His good pleasure (cf. Eph. 1:5) and will: "... Everyone who was appointed [or elected] for eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48, CEV).
Faith is the instrumental means of righteousness, not righteousness itself--it cannot be both! Abraham believed God and it was reckoned unto (not as) righteousness (cf. Rom. 4:3). Faith is not the destination, but the door to eternal life--a hurdle to get through and pass with flying colors as we receive the gift of eternal life, that cannot be forfeited, but our state of grace is permanent. Note: "... how God had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles" in Acts 14:27, CEV. Jesus is the enabler, and opens our hearts by melting them and turning them from stubborn "hearts of stone into hearts of flesh" (cf. Ezek. 36:26) that can respond to the gospel message: "God has exalted Jesus to his right side as our Leader and Savior so that he could enable Israel to change its heart and life and to find forgiveness for sins," (Acts 5:31, CEV).
The point is that we cannot believe on our own: "For without Me you can do nothing" (cf. John 15:5)--not even believe! No one can come to the Father without being drawn or wooed (cf. John 6:44, 65 quoted above). We do not have the so-called willpower (cf. Rom. 9:16) to come to God on our own, but must be enabled or empowered. What God does by grace is quicken faith within us or kindle faith so that we can come to the Father through the Son. God opens our eyes to see! Romans 12:3 says we all (as Christians) have received a measure of saving faith! We don't believe because we are wiser, smarter, more educated, or more sophisticated--we're all in the same boat as God has leveled the playing field and made us all incapable of faith apart from a work of grace in our hearts.
We must also realize what faith isn't: It's not acquiescence or agreement to a dogma, like the Papists teach; it's not temporal faith, like believing God for a healing or material blessing; it's not gullibility either; and it's not faith in the church or any other misdirected zeal and fanaticism--because it's the object that's crucial and it must be "Christ alone" or as the Reformers taught: soli Christo! God owes no one salvation and has mercy on whom He will; if we believed of our own initiative (and God always takes the initiative and makes the overture), we have reason to believe we deserve salvation, and it wouldn't be grace but justice to save us!
Who's saved then? The elect whom He chose from the beginning: "... The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened" (Rom. 11:7, ESV); We didn't choose Him, He chose us (cf. Jn. 15:16); Scripture says, "For many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22:14, ESV).
In summation, we don't achieve faith (conjuring it up or working ourselves into it by convincing ourselves), but we receive our faith as a gift of regeneration--any other interpretation leads to denial of the doctrine of total depravity which tells us that our wills are also wicked and stubborn and need conversion; God does a work of grace sufficient to transform our lives. Soli Deo Gloria!
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