Faith # 7

Faith to Believe in God !

Natural mans religion always seeks to deprive Christ/God of their Glory due. One way they do this is by attributing Faith Heb 11:1 unto the natural man, which is a lie. Sure man may have a natural faith, but that has absolutely nothing to do with God in Salvation. But the Faith in God that has to do with Salvation in and through Jesus Christ, who is God, comes from Christ and is part of the Glory He received from the Father when He raised Him from the dead. Lets look at 1 Pet 1:21

Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him[Christ] glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.


Faith and Hope in God, in the realm of Salvation, is the result of God giving Christ Glory after raising Him from the Dead.

Thats what 1 Pet 1:21 tells us. Key to understanding this is the word that:

that your faith and hope might be in God.

Its the greek Conjunction hóste and it means:

so that, therefore, so then, so as to.

hṓste (a conjunction, derived from 5613 /hōs, "as" and 5037 /té, "both-and") – wherefore (with the result that both . . . ), connecting cause to necessary effect which emphasizes the result (the combined, end-accomplishment). The result involved then is the combination of both elements in the correlation, underscoring the inevitable effect of the paired elements.


So understand that according to Peter here Faith in God is the necessary effect, the inevitable of effect of God raising up Christ from the dead and giving Him Glory !

Thats why Peter writes in his 2 nd epistle to these same believers 2 Pet 1:1

Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 29

Faith to believe on Christ as to salvation/conversion isn't something men naturally can do, Jn 6:44

44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

It must be given by God as a Gift of Grace to believe on Christ Phil 1:29

29 For unto you it is given in the behalf/for the sake of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

You see that ? Its given for men to believe on Christ for the sake of Christ. This is a favour God does for Christ, His sake because of what He done, hence Jn 6:44 says the Fathers draws them and vs 65 its given to some by the Father to come/believe on Christ, but its not natural for man to do so !

If unsaved people cannot have faith in God, why did Jesus preach “repent and believe the gospel”?

According to Calvinist teaching, the preaching should have been “hope God will give you repentance and put faith in you”.

The Father draws souls to Christ, but each person still has to believe in Christ.

Mark 1:14, 15

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Ascetic X said:

If unsaved people cannot have faith in God, why did Jesus preach “repent and believe the gospel”?

According to Calvinist teaching, the preaching should have been “hope God will give you repentance and put faith in you”.

The Father draws souls to Christ, but each person still has to believe in Christ.

Mark 1:14, 15

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

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Ascetic X, your mocking rewrite of Christ’s preaching doesn't expose a flaw in my theology; it only exposes your complete ignorance of the purpose of God's commands and the redemptive-historical timeline of the Gospels. You are suffering from the ancient Pelagian delusion that just because God commands a sinner to do something, the sinner must automatically possess the natural free-will power to perform it.
Let's look at the raw data of the text and apply sound biblical theology to completely flatten your conditional timeline:

1. You Completely Misunderstand Christ’s Audience and Purpose: You look at Mark 1:15—"repent ye, and believe the gospel"—and blindly assume this was a universal offer to every single human being proving universal human ability. You are dead wrong. Christ’s earthly preaching of the Kingdom was strictly and primarily restricted to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24).Furthermore, Christ knew exactly who was sitting in His audience, and He was not offering a free-will gamble to everyone. John the Baptist explicitly confronted the false religious leaders, demanding they "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:8) because he knew their natural hearts were corrupt.Christ Himself did not preach a message of potential free-will salvation to the reprobate leaders. In Matthew 23:32-33, He looked at the religious elites and commanded them: "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Christ did not invite them to use their willpower to get saved; He judicially commanded them to fulfill their wayward, wicked course to destruction! God’s commands to the reprobate do not prove their ability; they seal their condemnation. The saving command to repent and believe is an efficacious voice meant exclusively to arrest and gather His lost sheep, whom the Father sovereignly draws.
2. You Completely Fled From Philippians 1:29: You didn't even attempt to touch the premier verse I put right in front of your face. Paul declares explicitly: "For unto you it is GIVEN in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake."The Greek word for "given" here is charizomai, which means to bestow as a favor or an act of pure grace. Paul states point-blank that the actual act of believing is a gift given to the elect for the sake of Christ—because of what Christ legally accomplished at the cross 2,000 years ago! Faith is a blood-bought benefit of the covenant, legally earned by Christ and sovereignly applied to His sheep. It does not originate in the factory of your natural willpower. By claiming that unsaved people can just choose to believe on their own, you are stripping Christ of His glory and making man the author of his own faith.
3. The Father's Drawing is Efficacious (John 6:44, 65): You claim the Father draws souls, but "each person still has to believe." You are turning the Father's drawing into a weak, conditional tug-of-war that man can easily defeat. But look at the text! Christ says, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."The drawing and the final resurrection are bound together in an unbreakable chain! Everyone who is drawn is raised up. The drawing is not a vague, universal invitation; it is an efficacious, sovereign operation of grace. And why do they come? Because verse 65 says it is "given unto him of my Father." The Father doesn't just put an offer on the table and wait for your free-will permission; He crushes the heart of stone, gives a heart of flesh, and sovereignly causes His elect to walk in His statutes (Ezekiel 36:26-27). The faith is the immediate, living breath of a soul that has already been quickened by divine power.

Your system presents a defeated savior who begs dead serpents to walk, but lacks the power to actually give his sheep life unless they help him out with their free will. My Bible presents a Triune God who commands repentance externally through the Word, judicially hardens the reprobate in the sins they freely love, and sovereignly creates saving faith internally in His elect vessels of mercy by the power of the Holy Spirit. [1]
Stop trying to turn a divine command into human ability. Answer the words on the page, Ascetic X: If Christ explicitly commanded the generation of vipers to fill up the measure of their sins unto damnation (Matthew 23:32-33), how can you claim His commands prove universal free-will ability?

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Brightfame52 said:

Ascetic X, your mocking rewrite of Christ’s preaching doesn't expose a flaw in my theology; it only exposes your complete ignorance of the purpose of God's commands and the redemptive-historical timeline of the Gospels. You are suffering from the ancient Pelagian delusion that just because God commands a sinner to do something, the sinner must automatically possess the natural free-will power to perform it.
Let's look at the raw data of the text and apply sound biblical theology to completely flatten your conditional timeline:

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You rely on sycophantic AI for theological replies, which are hostile in nature, as though you view discussions as combat.

God did not create robots, zombies, or puppets.

When a command is given, people have the ability to decide to obey or not obey.

Acts 16:30-33

30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

Ascetic X said:

You rely on sycophantic AI for theological replies, which are hostile in nature, as though you view discussions as combat.

God did not create robots, zombies, or puppets.

When a command is given, people have the ability to decide to obey or not obey.

Acts 16:30-33

30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

Click to expand...

Ascetic X, crying about "AI" and whining about my formatting is a weak attempt to avoid the scriptures that have completely flattened your theology. You are recycling the worn-out, unscriptural cliché that "God didn't create robots or puppets" because you cannot defend your position using sound biblical law.

Let's look at the raw data of Acts 16:30-33 and see how your conditional free-will timeline utterly collapses under the weight of the text.

1. The Spiritual State of the Philippian Jailer

• The Text: The jailer falls down trembling, brings Paul and Silas out, and asks, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
• The Reality: According to your free-will theology, this man is an unregenerate, spiritually dead sinner under the wrath of God at the exact microsecond he asks this question.
• The Scriptural Collapse: 1 Corinthians 2:14 explicitly states: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Romans 3:11 explicitly states: "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." [1]
• The Question for Ascetic X: If a natural, unregenerate sinner cannot understand the things of God, views them as foolishness, and never seeks after God, why is this jailer trembling, bowing before God's servants, and seeking salvation?
• The Legal Math: The jailer’s trembling and seeking is the immediate fruit and evidence of a heart that had already been quickened and regenerated by the sovereign power of the Holy Spirit. A dead corpse does not cry out for a doctor. The jailer cried out because the Holy Spirit had already given him a heart of flesh.

2. The True Nature of the Command to "Believe"

• The Text: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..."
• The Logic: You claim that because Paul gave a command, the jailer must have had the autonomous free-will power to obey it as a condition to get justified.
• The Scriptural Collapse: John 6:44 explicitly states: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Faith is not an inherent human faculty that we activate; it is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
• The Reality: Paul is not offering a conditional business contract to a dead sinner. Paul is preaching the gospel of deliverance to a man who is already under deep conviction by the Holy Spirit. The word "saved" here, in the immediate context of the gospel ministry, refers to the experiential deliverance and peace in the believer's conscience. By believing, the jailer entered into the conscious enjoyment of the salvation that Christ had already secured for him at Calvary.

3. Exposing the "Robot" Delusion

You claim that if man doesn't have autonomous free will, he is just a "robot, zombie, or puppet." This reveals your deep ignorance of how sovereign grace works.

When God regenerates an elect soul, He does not force a robot against its will. He changes the sinner's heart, replaces their spiritual blindness with sight, and makes them willing in the day of His power (Psalm 110:3). The jailer didn't believe because he was a puppet; he believed because he was a newly born child of God who now possessed spiritual life and loved the truth.

The Bottom Line

You are reading Acts 16 through the lens of human ability because you refuse to accept that salvation is 100% of the Lord. The command to believe does not prove human power; it directs a living soul to its only source of rest. Stop turning the evidence of life into a conditional token to buy a legal verdict from God. Answer the text: If there is none that seeketh after God in their natural state (Rom 3:11), who made this jailer seek? Was it his own corrupt flesh, or was it the sovereign grace of God?

So Faith is the Gift of God Eph 2:8; Acts 18:27;2 Pet 1:1; Its the result of the power /operation of God Eph 1:19;Col 2:12;1 Cor 2:5

Who really believes in Christ ?

That would be Christ's Sheep, Jesus says of them who never do believe, Jn 10:26

But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

Of course that statement tacitly assumes that if they were of Christ's Sheep they would believe on Him !

And here's why this would be true. All for whom Christ died were His Sheep, we have Christ particularly stating who He died for here Jn 10:11,15, He being the Good Shepherd that did what Jn 10:11

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep And not only that but scripture affirms that He was brought from the dead after having given His Life for the Sheep, as who Heb 13:20

20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

You see that ? He was brought again from the dead as our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep!

That's confirmation also that He died therefore as the Great Shepherd of the Sheep ! Back in Heb 2:9 He therefore tasted death for every Sheep, and was brought from the dead for them.

Now as a result of His having died as the Shepherd of the Sheep and being raised again for them, God will do this for them Heb 13:21

21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Now what does this entail, make you perfect in every good work to do His Will ? 29

Who really believes in Christ ? continued:

"make you perfect in every good work to do His Will " Now the words make you perfect are in the greek are the word katartizō which means:

to render, i.e. to fit, sound, complete

1. to mend (what has been broken or rent), to repair
   1. to complete
2. to fit out, equip, put in order, arrange, adjust
   1. to fit or frame for one's self, prepare
3. ethically: to strengthen, perfect, complete, make one what he ought to be

The meaning is that God will spiritually equip, fit , prepare, frame the Sheep to do His Will. This is done by furnishing them with His Spirit Ezk 36:26-27

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

God equips the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant to do His Will, which Will for them first and foremost is to Believe on Christ ! Jn 6:40

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The word will here is the same word will in Heb 13:21

21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The Blood of Christ the Great Shepherd of the Sheep ensures that everyone He died for [His Sheep] sees the Son Spiritually and believe on Him ! That's Gods Will for them !

Who really believes in Christ ? continued:

So because of the Blood of the everlasting covenant shed by the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, God will equip the Sheep, furnish the Sheep with what is needed to do His Will, which will of His is for the Sheep to believe on Christ. He will undertake to work IN them that which is well pleasing in His sight. Which one of such things is to keep His commandment to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ 1 Jn 3:21-23

21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

So that's something God works in His Sheep that is well pleasing in His sight ! 29