Featured Faith? Where does it come from?

We have been down this road already. I think you may even agree with me.
Do you trust your wife? Do you "have faith" in her? Even the unsaved have faith or believe in one another.
Faith is faith--confidence, trust, belief.
It is the object of faith that is important. Your wife cannot save you, but Christ can. Therefore "saving save" is when Christ is the object of one's faith--when they put their faith in Christ.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

Your faith; not God's faith brings salvation, that is your faith in shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Who are you supposed to be to tell me not to use a passage of Scripture as proof my friend? You hold no authority over me in that sense whatsoever. Perhaps you should word this differently and not say 'don't use it' as again, you have no authority over me nor my usage of Scripture.

All believers were in an unregenerate state and were gifted faith. That is what the passage teaches, just as God granted them faith to believe on Jesus, he has also granted them to (has given them) the suffering that shall come. The context supports this, but I will hardly get into that with you, seeing you are dull of hearing the truth.

God does indeed gift faith to the unregenerate, Rom. 12:3, 10:17, Php. 1:29. All thing pertaining to salvation are gifted to those who are lost in order to save them. Soli. Deo. Gloria.

 

You said "God gives faith to the believer"

Redundant much???

What purpose would it serve for God to give faith to people who already have faith? God gives faith to those WHO LACK IT. All unregenerate people lack a saving faith, being dead and unable to believe. Therefore, the quickening of the person and the gift of faith are 2 sides of the same coin. I don't focus on chronological priority but rather logical priority. Though the happen simultaneously, I acknowledge that one has to happen in order for the other to logically follow. For me, the way I read Scripture, only those alive can believe. 1 Jn 5:1 grammatically makes this point.

 

You are simply drawing a conclusion based on pre-conceived facts. You have no scriptural basis for your position. It is the Calvinistic position but it is not scriptural. No one here has yet to back it up with scripture. As I have demonstrated Phil.1:29 fails to do that. It is directed to Christians, not to the unregenerate.

Faith that saves a soul always has Christ as its object, not a car, a plane or a family member. That is why it can save. Furthermore, faith is intangible. The work is the work of the cross. It must simply be received by faith. Just as a child receives a gift from his or her parent, so the unsaved receives salvation, the work of Christ by faith as the gift of God. It is salvation/eternal life that is the gift, not faith.

Faith is faith by definition: trust, confidence, belief. You have confidence and trust in your wife don't you?
Even the unsaved can say that.

To use a parallel illustration: One cannot deny that love exists before salvation. A man will love his wife. He will love his parents and other relatives. He will love material things as the rich young ruler did. The object of his love may be something other than Christ.
However, when he becomes saved, the love for one's wife does not diminish, but ought to grow greater. You still love your wife don't you? (I am only assuming you are married). So what is the difference? The love that you have now has a spiritual aspect to it. With a love for Christ (even though your love for Him ought to be first and foremost), He enables you to have an even greater love for your wife.

The same is true with faith. Man has faith. When he is saved that faith then has a divine or spiritual side to it. He becomes more discerning. He is able to put his trust more in Christ and less in other things of this world. That doesn't mean that his "faith" in the ability of his car to take him to the other end of the city has diminished any, or that his confidence in the airline has diminished. It may make him more discerning in choosing an airline. God gives wisdom along with faith. If in a journey he runs into trouble, he now, by faith, has the Lord to rely on. God gives him peace instead of anxiety. These "divine graces" as you call them are accepted by faith. They are not available to the unsaved. Thus faith is divinely enabled for the saved.

Salvation is by faith, not the faith of God but accepted by man's faith. Jesus said "according to YOUR faith so be it."
"Believe" on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." The "belief" was the jailer's faith, not God's faith.

 

Not God-given. But faith in Christ. The object of their faith had to be in Christ and his atoning work. Where does it say that God is going to believe on behalf of the unsaved. God does not give any spiritual gift or fruit of the Spirit to the unregenerate. That is why it is "his faith."

 

It is called debate. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the frying pan.

That is not what the passage teaches. Even. SG admits to that. Phil.1:29 is written to believers.
God grants faith to believers. He doesn't believe on behalf of the unregenerate as you would have others to believe.
When you can't give an intelligent answer you resort to adhominen. Typical.
[quote[God does indeed gift faith to the unregenerate, Rom. 12:3, 10:17, Php. 1:29. All thing pertaining to salvation are gifted to those who are lost in order to save them. Soli. Deo. Gloria.[/QUOTE]
Not one verse you have quoted supports your position. For example Romans 12:3 is speaking of spiritual gifts being given to believers, not unbelievers. You don't have a leg to stand on.

 

You already admitted that you agree that others have faith in their spouse and car, etc. You agreed with me on that point. What is the source of that faith. You tell me.

After a person is saved, then one may say the source of faith is God, but not before. Salvation is a gift accepted by faith.
Read the account in Romans 4. Abraham was not justified by works but by faith. What faith? His faith. God did not give him faith, but rather he believed God and therefore righteousness was imputed unto him.

 

No, not at all. I believe that the spiritual gifts listed in 1Cor.12 have ceased. However when they were still operative, the gift of faith is listed among them. If God would give the gift of faith to the unregenerate, then why not the gift of healing, the gift of miracles, the gift of prophesy, why not even make an apostle from one who is unsaved. That one is listed too. Your position makes no sense.
Faith is listed among the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Does God give the fruits of the Holy Spirit to the unregenerate? The obvious answer is no. However, you fail to look at scripture and say I am the one being redundant.
--It becomes painfully apparent that God gives faith to the believer.
The disciples prayed "Lord increase our faith." Did the Lord answer them or not? Did he give them more faith. Where does faith come from these days as a believer?
Faith comes from the Word of God and hearing the Word of God (Rom.10:17).

God does not give such a precious commodity, a spiritual gift to an unbeliever. Why would he?
Salvation is a wonderful gift provided at the cross to be accepted by faith, not the faith of God, but the natural faith of man. Why is that so difficult to believe?
Jesus said: "According to YOUR faith, so be it." He said this many times.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ... It is not with God's faith does one believe.

The disciples then lacked faith, as they expressed. "Lord increase our faith."
But we are talking about spiritual things here. One cannot be spiritual until he is first made spiritual. For that he must first be saved, accepting by faith (his faith) the gift of God (eternal life/salvation).

A person is only dead by virtue of being separated from God. That doesn't mean he is a corpse and unable to respond to the message of God. It means he needs the Holy Spirit to convict him so that he will respond to the gospel message by faith. Why does the Calvinist seem to believe there is no free will and thus God forces the unbeliever to believe. I don't find that taught in the Bible.

 

Yes, people believe or come to Christ without having "God-given faith."
Why would God give a spiritual gift or the fruit of the Spirit to the unregenerate?

 

Would you go so far as to say you become a believer, that is are moved from unbelief unto belief and or your eyes and ears are opened, by being given the Spirit of Truth?

 

It is easier to see things with love.
With love (as far as my understanding), there is eros, phileo, and agape, that are used for love.
Agape is the word that is used to define divine love. Correct?
Eros is used to define the physical love between a man and a woman. Correct?
Now philial love is that love that would be between relatives, friends, and others. Correct.

What I find interesting is the passage in John 21. In the three passages where Jesus asks Peter: "Do you love me he uses two different verbs as almost all commentaries point out. I will quote from BKC.

Even Christ used phileo. Just because a Christian gains divine love does that cause phileo to dissapear?
Does that cause "eros" the physical love to his spouse to disappear?
Obviously not!

As with love, faith is both innate and spiritual. That should be easy to see.
It is with love. Why is it so hard to believe it cannot be the same way with faith?

 

I believe the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God to bring a person to Christ.

1Pe 1:23
(23) Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

And the work of the Holy Spirit:
John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

 

I hope I have answered that already. I think we are posting past each other. See post #98