Is Faith A Gift?

Is faith a gift or a work? "Who makes you to differ? What do you have that you didn't receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7). Are we not clay in the hands of the potter? "For it has been granted unto you...to believe..." (Phil. 1:29). Jesus is the "author and finisher of our faith;" hence He originated it. Let us live according to "the faith God has distributed to each [of us]..." (Rom. 12:3).

Some believe it is a meritorious work because they believe in merit plus grace and not sola gratia or grace alone as the reformers championed. "This is the work of God [not our work] that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29). "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God [antecedent is faith as the gift], lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). If faith were a work then we would be saved by works.

Faith is not our salvation and faith is not reckoned as righteousness but unto righteousness (cf. Rom. 4:3 translation of dia meaning unto). Faith is the instrumental cause of salvation (cf. Acts 18:27; 16:14), and we don't put faith in faith but in God. Faith doesn't' save, Christ does! God opened the door of faith to the Gentiles in Acts 14:27, and He opened Lydia's heart to believe in Acts 16:14. It might be interpreted as God quickening faith within us (cf. Acts 18:27). The Spirit kindles faith in a dead person.

Why is this important? 1 John 5:1 says that "Everyone who believes that Christ is the Christ has been born of God [ESV]." That means that regeneration precedes faith--we don't conjure up faith and then get saved. If we could believe without regeneration, we don't need it to be saved and we would get some merit in our salvation. God gives us faith and expects us to use it. 

It is our faith but it is the gift of God. "Who believed through grace" means that we're enabled by God to believe as 2 Pet. 1:1 says, we have "received a precious faith like theirs." "... [B]ecause God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thess. 2:13, KJV). [NB: sanctification precedes belief.]

This is an issue that separates theologians and some call it a doctrine that divides. If you believe faith is a work, then you are saved by works. If you believe faith is a gift, then you are saved by the grace of God. Titus 3:5,7 says we are "saved by grace." Faith is not something we conjure up, but it is bestowed on us through the preaching of the Word. "Faith comes by hearing and by hearing of the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17). 

Regeneration actually precedes faith according to John Piper and John Orr. If we could believe without regeneration, what good is it? The Spirit is like the wind that blows where it wills. "For by grace are you saved by faith, and that (the complete deal) not of yourselves, it is the gift of God..." (Eph. 2:8-9).

We don't psych ourselves up for faith, and we don't catch it like an illness from others, we don't conjure it up--it comes directly from the Holy Spirit who quickens faith within us. He overcomes our hardened hearts and reluctance to believe. God can cause us to do something willingly in His omnipotence. Some, on the other hand, have made faith into a meritorious work, and deny that there is any such "gift." What else could it be, a work? Are we saved by grace or works, then?

Some pertinent verses are as follows for meditation:

"For you have believed through grace..." (Acts 18:27). "...To those who have obtained like precious faith..." (2 Pet. 1:1). "For it has been granted unto you ... to believe in Him..." (Phil. 1:29). "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ HAS BEEN born of God..." (1 John 5:1 ESV). Nota bene that this is the past tense indicating that regeneration precedes faith. "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him..." (John 6:29). "God ... opened the door of faith to the Gentiles..." (Acts 14:27). "God opened Lydia's heart to pay attention to Paul..." (Acts 16:14). "What do you have that you didn't receive?"
(1 Cor. 4:7).

Faith is our act (God doesn't have faith), but it is God's work. Soli Deo Gloria. God gets all the glory, and we have nothing to boast of. It isn't our virtue nor our wisdom, but God's. God is no man's debtor and isn't obligated to save anyone. It is grace that He saves anyone. God works all things "according to the pleasure of His will." "We are the clay, He is the potter" (See Isaiah 64:8).lSoli Deo Gloria!

Thus we are given faith. This doctrine is important so that we don't have a merit-based rather than grace-based salvation. God wants all the glory (Soli Deo Gloria). To sum up, "Faith comes by hearing and by hearing of the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17)    Soli Deo Gloria!

Behold! All Things Are New!

The greatest work of grace and sign or the miracle of God in man is the conversion of the sinner to a new life in Christ.  It is not just a matter of turning over a new leaf, but a transformation of the soul.  Without a change in the person's life, his conversion is suspect. Life forms, sin deforms, education informs, prison reforms, but Christ transforms!

Without God life has no meaning and purpose:  "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless"  (Bertrand Russell).  If we are considered without reference to God we become a "useless passion" according to Jean-Paul Sartre. Blaise Pascal said that there is a vacuum in the soul that only God can fill.  Enter God into the equation or put him into the Big Picture changes everything and gives us a whole new belief system or worldview.  Our past is forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is guaranteed and secured forever!

When we are saved we are renewed from the inside out--God puts a new man in the suit, not just a new suit on the man!   "Behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17).  What is new?  Here's what:

Regeneration means a new nature; repentance means a new direction; faith means a new relationship; justification means a new standing or status quo in Christ; sanctification is a new state of being considered holy unto the Lord or being set apart for God's usage; perseverance means a new trust; and finally, glorification means new values and rewards and purpose in living (Isa. 49:7--which says we are created for God's glory--The Westminster Confession Shorter Catechism says the "chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.")  We go "from glory to glory" according to 2 Cor. 3:18 and ultimate glorification will be achieved upon our final transformation into glorified bodies and ushering into the very presence of God.    Soli Deo Gloria!

Can Man Be Born Again?

Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again to see the kingdom of God. He rejoined, "How can an old man reenter his mother's womb and be born again?" The question is not whether one has the permission to be born again but the ability. It is from the word for "power" in the Latin Vulgate whereas in English "can" often implies permission. Martin Luther also translated it "Wie kann ein Mensch geboren werden,..." German is similar to English but kann means ability while darf means permission and the two are not to be confused. This refers to total depravity, the T of TULIP.

God isn't out to reform your life but to give you a full life. "No man can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44). We are helpless and totally dependent on God's grace to save us--we are at His mercy, He is the Master of our fate and Captain of our soul. Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

We had no say in our first birth and we were born again by God's miracle also. Did you cooperate in your birth or were you just a victim so to speak?  (It was the counter-reformation Council of Trent in 1546 that declared that if you don't believe you cooperated with God of your own free will you are anathema.)   We have no indigenous power or inherent ability to reform ourselves or transform our nature or to make ourselves suitable for salvation--God is the potter and we are the clay. Notice that Jesus used the passive voice meaning that we are acted upon and we don't do anything ourselves--we become born again through the power of the Holy Spirit. We are regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit and adopted into God's family as brethren of Christ.   Soli Deo Gloria!