Only Faith Credited by God is Saving Faith

Here are some of the key points of Credited Saving Faith:

1) “For by grace you have been saved through faith," (Ephesians 2:8) teaches our salvation is through or by way of faith. Any faith? Nope, only our individual faith in Christ Jesus, and only if credited as righteousness by God. Thus some individuals, in their unregenerate state seek God some of the time, such as when they put their trust in Christ. Many seek the narrow way, but few find it. Luke 13:23-24

2) The lost cannot do anything to merit or earn salvation, as our faith is a filthy rag to God. When a person puts their trust in Christ, that does not earn or merit or in any way contribute to God's gracious salvation. Salvation depends of God alone. (Romans 9:16)

3) Our faith is based on God's revelatory grace, but God crediting our faith as righteousness is a pure gift of grace. (Romans 4:23-25)

4) The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict humanity of sin, righteousness, and judgement. Christ's birth, sinless life, death, resurrection and coming judgment convicts humanity because of testimony of the New Testament. (John 16:8)

5) Faith alone refers to faithful faith, the faith from which faithfulness flows, or using James illustration, live faith not dead faith. Thus actual faith, of the kind God might choose to credit as righteousness, includes a commitment to stop going our own way and to strive to follow Christ upon the paths of righteousness. (1 Peter 2:21)

6) The call to repent and believe is simultaneous, not sequential. Two sides of the same coin. You don't believe if you don't repent, and you don't repent if you don't believe. (Mark 1:15)

7) Yes, eternal life begins when we are made "alive" together with Christ. And our spiritual eternal life is a prelude to our bodily redemption and physical eternal life. (Ephesians 2:5) (Romans 8:23)​

 

Sorry, but your view of this passage and Paul's effort to win some is entirely mistaken.

Philippians 3:7 - 9 NET
But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things - indeed, I regard them as dung! - that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ's faithfulness - a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ's faithfulness. ​

First we come to have an intimate knowledge of Christ only after we are transferred into Christ and sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit who helps us grow into Christ maturity.

Second, our commitment to Christ must be our overriding priority, thus "all things" must be sacrificed when adherence to Christ is at issue.

Third, our righteousness comes by way not of our faith, but by way of Christ's faithfulness unto death, because we are made righteous not by imputation but by the washing of regeneration.

NASB1995
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. ​

Note Paul is not trying to "win" himself to Christ, but to persuade the lost to put their complete trust in Christ and thus by all means lead the lost to Christ's salvation. Christ alone, of course, is the one who actually saves the person.

But you ended on a high note, that we might become the righteousness of God only "in Him."

 

Faith credited by God is a requirement of salvation, but our faith does not and cannot earn or merit our salvation.

Here we have the vague phrase, author and finisher of faith, used to imply an unstated falsehood.
5) Faith alone refers to faithful faith, the faith from which faithfulness flows, or using James illustration, live faith not dead faith. Thus actual faith, of the kind God might choose to credit as righteousness, includes a commitment to stop going our own way and to strive to follow Christ upon the paths of righteousness. (1 Peter 2:21)

The gospel message allows the lost to become the elect if God credits their faith in the truth as righteousness. If not, they are condemned already.

 

Isaiah 64:6 NASB
For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our wrongdoings, like the wind, take us away ​

If we are still lost, all our righteousnesses, such as our uncredited faith, are like a filthy garment. So the Bible does indeed teach our uncredited faith is like a filthy rag.

 

What does it mean for many to seek eternal life but few find it?

First the idea that all of the lost cannot seek God is unbiblical nonsense.

Can we nullify scripture by saying those who seek eternal life but do not find it were not actually seeking eternal life? Nope
Romans 9 teaches that some Jews sought God by works, but did not find God by that effort. But they were seeking God.
The Bible contains several verses which clearly indicate lost individuals were seeking or had sought God.