THE GIFT OF FAITH?
It has been asserted that the Bible says that God gives to each person that is saved, the gift of faith because in his or her total depravity, they could not believe and place their trust in Christ. However, this is yet another false teaching.
But lets address one stumbling block at the first, otherwise, everything that follows will be rejected. Everything has a cause, except God who is the Uncaused Cause. Therefore, God directly or indirectly causes all things. It is God that gave man the capacity to choose, to accept or reject the gospel, and so it is correct, in this sense, to say God gave us the gift of faith. But, to take this further and to say God compelled us with irresistible grace to accept the gospel because we are otherwise precluded is unnecessary and wrong.
Faith can be facts, as is the body of information Christians believe in. Faith can be the act of accepting the facts as truths - to put faith to Christ. And, after one has accepted and trusted in the facts, placed their faith in God and His Christ, the faith becomes the believer’s assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Finally, Faith can mean fidelity, how faithfully we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit as we walk humbly with our Lord.
Certainly, the facts and information of Christ are a gift from God – His revealing grace. God gave His Son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. When we readily accept this gift of faith (the body of knowledge concerning God and Christ as revealed in His word), the faith becomes our faith or faith in us. So the bone of contention is not that God is the source of our faith, or that our faith in Christ was brought to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, but rather whether we readily accepted the gospel and hence the gift of faith, or if the Holy Spirit enabled our acceptance through magic mind manipulation. What Calvinists claim is that the gift of faith is the Holy Spirit enabling our acceptance of the gospel through magic mind manipulation. The correct view in my opinion is that God gave us through the Holy Spirit the gospel of Christ and the gospel is powerful and convicting, but the conviction is ours.
The gift of revealing grace, is not in dispute. Nor is the gift of salvation. But sandwiched between these is our response to the gift of revealing grace. Here is how Spurgeon described the gift of revealing grace: “Well can I remember the manner in which I learned the doctrines of grace in a single instant. Born, as all of us are by nature, an Arminian, I still believed the old things I had heard continually from the pulpit, and did not see the grace of God. When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour when first I received those truths in my own soul—when they were, as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron, and I can recollect how I felt that I had grown on a sudden from a babe into a man—that I had made progress in Scriptural knowledge, through having found, once for all, the clue to the truth of God. One week-night, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher's sermon, for I did not believe it. The thought struck me, How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment—I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, "I ascribe my change wholly to God."
What does the Bible actually teach concerning the gift of faith? Is it simply the revealing grace of God, which is not in dispute, or the enabling grace of God that allows us to respond to the gospel.
John 6:29 says, “Jesus answered them and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He has sent.” Some contend that this verse is indicating that God works within preselected individuals and gives them the faith to believe in Christ.
However, Jesus is teaching no such thing. Jesus first makes the point that those that were seeking Him were doing so not because of the signs they had seen, but because they had actually partaken of a miracle, for they had been filled with the loaves. But then Jesus moves on to his next point, that they should not “work” for food that perishes, but rather should “work” for food that does not perish, which is the Son of Man which has God’s seal of approval, being demonstrated by the miracle of the loaves. In response the seekers ask, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” At this point we encounter our verse (John 6:29). So in context the verse is teaching that rather than seek perishable stuff, they should seek the imperishable Son of Man, and this “work” is accomplished by believing in the Son of Man sent by the Father. When Jesus says, “this is the work of God” He is referring the work God requires of man, and this work is to believe in the Son of Man. God sent His Son into the world to save that which was lost. He anointed Christ with power to perform signs and wonders to demonstrate that Jesus was from God. This authenticated message of redemption is the revealing grace of God, “that you believe in Him who He has sent.” Thus the passage teaches that God’s revealing grace is the source and basis of our faith, but does not teach the character alteration envisioned by enabling grace.
Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, (it is) the gift of God.” The gift of salvation is given by God accepting our faith, passing over our sins and spiritually baptizing us into Christ. Also the faith, the facts and information concerning His Son are also a gift because God gave His only begotten Son…. God grants salvation to those that believe in His Son.
Some use 2 Timothy 1:9 to support the idea that we were selected as individuals before the world began. But lets look at the text:
(God) “who saved us and called us with a Holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”
The question we must ask is: What was granted us? The answer of course is grace, according to the plan of salvation in Jesus Christ, His anointed. When did God grant grace to all in Jesus Christ? From all eternity, before the world began. Does this passage say God individually selected us? No. And the inference that He did is unnecessary and wrong because it excludes our faith. It does not rob God of honor to say by grace through faith are we saved. Look at Ephesians 2:8-9.
Note also 2 Timothy 1:10, which says, (God’s purpose and grace) “…now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” And the heart of the gospel is this: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Therefore 2 Timothy 1:9 says that God’s purpose and grace was granted to us in Christ, corporately from all eternity. Subsequently, during our lifetime God granted us grace individually bringing His plan to fruition. God chose us individually based on accepting our faith in His Son, and He blessed us with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who gifted us so that we can build up and expand the church according to our Holy calling or area of giftedness. God did not grant us salvation based on our works, nor did He indwell us with the Holy Spirit and call us to a Holy calling because of our works, it was according to His purpose and grace (all those who believe in Jesus shall be saved). This passage does not support the inner call, “the gift of faith.”
Another verse used to support the idea that faith (verb-act of belief) is given to us before we are saved is Romans 12:3 which says, “For through the grace given me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God as allotted to each a measure of faith.” What is asserted is that this measure of faith is allotted before salvation and is the means of salvation. But lets look at the context and see if we can figure out what Paul is actually saying. Each one of us, who is saved and indwelt with the Holy Spirit is gifted to build up the body of Christ. But we are not all given all the same gifts, for some are teachers, and some are leaders and some are servants. Each has been allotted a measure, a sphere of influence, an area of calling so that together we can build up the body of believers until we all attain the unity of faith, which is to be Christ-like.
