Do you deny that some here hold that ALL that is needed is Gospel ALONE to be able to have a person respond by faith in Jesus and get saved?
That our faith in inherit in all of us, NOT from God at all?
Actually, though I don't hold to that view myself, they hold that the Gospel IS the grace of God (manifest so-to-speak).
However I can find no where in scripture where it states that God must give to man - faith,
as if it is something he never had.
What I mean here is that God must give it to man, in the sense that man never had it. You wont find that in scripture no will you find it ever described in like manner.
For me I find it difficult to agree with the Reformed position on their Ordo Salutis.. and in this - regeneration preceding faith. Here is 'one' dilemma for me. When a person is regenerate he is given a new heart, new desires, literally a new man.. yet God must give him faith cause even with a new heart, and new desires, he still will not choose Christ. Everything in them has been made alive/renewed EXCEPT faith.
While faith is common to all men, it is not faith itself that saves and THAT must be understood. It is the object of faith which saves. No man, of or more accurately 'by himself' will seek after God or come to know Him. IOW - Man is not going to go looking for the God of the scriptures via his own understanding since he (of himself) doesn't even know he 'need's God.
It is for this reason God come to man, the very reason the Spirit of God is sent into 'the world' to convict 'the world' of sin, righteousness, and The Judgment to come. (IOW - if He doesn't reveal these thing no man will come to know them through his normal means of obtaining information).
Thus without God coming To man, intervening on man's behalf, and providing the object OF faith through which salvation is obtained.. no man would HAVE a faith in God through Christ Jesus. It is in 'this' manner that God is said to give us faith, for He has given us Christ Jesus. These emphasize the various aspects of God's grace toward man. Biblically, the definition of faith is simple and does not take into account that men don't have it.
Saving faith is not some special 'type' of faith (as if there are different kinds like there are animals) and thus distinct and different from other
types of faith. In fact the very phrase 'saving faith' specifically establishes not 'what' faith is doing, but 'where' faith is being set. Again here is what must be understood - Faith in and of itself is neither good or bad, righteous or unrighteous, it has no value by itself, thus in a sense is neutral. What gives faith value is NOT faith itself but the OBJECT to which faith has united itself to. Thus you have godly faith or ungodly faith, vain faith or faith, ect... Think about it, how can a believer have 'vain faith' (as Paul describes it) if God gave it to them? He places value of faith not on the fact God gave it to them and thus it must be real, but instead places the value or trueness of it in the work of Christ being true, and thus our faith having value (saving) due to His work.
All men have certain things that are common to all men such as faith, mercy, love ect... How many Reformed people get upset when they hear Jesus comparing the love of God with that love of the natural unsaved father of a child as being similar (yet with God much more)? What makes love Godly or ungodly.. is it the love itself? No. And thus we note that God does not give us a new kind of love at salvation so our new love is holy and good as opposed to our old love. In the same way nor is mercy or other such things. What gives any one of these eternal value is object to which it is united with or to, just as faith. Not that God gave us something we didn't have (faith) but that God gave us Christ that we might believe - have faith. The fact we as believers DO believe is by the grace and mercy of God.
