Is Faith in Jesus Christ a Gift of God?
Dr. Charlie Bing
A person is eternally saved through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ,
but does God give this faith or is it purely a human response? Those who teach
that faith must be given by God are usually constrained to do so by their
theological perspective, as is true of Reformed theology. Their view of man's
total depravity does not allow for any positive response from man toward God.
They claim that if faith originated in man it would be a meritorious work that
robs God of His glory. In their view, since God gives the faith that saves,
that faith will sustain the believer in a life of obedience. But there are
problems with viewing faith as a gift of God.
Theological problems with faith as a gift
Those who view faith as a gift interpret man's condition, described
in Ephesians 2:1 as "dead in
trespasses and sins," as a total inability to respond to God in a positive
way. But that phrase describes man's total separation from God, not his
inability to respond to God. Sinful man is totally separated from God and
therefore without eternal life. Man retains the image of God to some degree; it
was severely marred in the fall, but not totally destroyed. Acts 10:2 describes Cornelius
before he came to know Jesus Christ as Savior as a devout man who feared God,
gave alms, and prayed to God (and God heard his prayers! Acts 10:31). In Acts 17 the
Athenians did not have the proper object of faith but worshiped idols. Paul
encourages them to seek to know their "unknown God" which of course
is Jesus Christ. Men can seek God in their unsaved state as God draws them (John 6:28-29, 44-45).
Another theological problem with the view of faith as a gift of God is
that it misunderstands the nature of faith. Faith is not (as they claim) a
divine energy, a special power, or an infused dynamic. That confuses faith with
the power of the Holy Spirit. Faith is simply faith. It means that one is
convinced or persuaded that something is true so that there is a personal
appropriation of that truth. There is not a special kind of faith for eternal
salvation. There is only a special object of faith - Jesus Christ. The kind of
faith one might have in Buddha is no different from the kind of faith that one
can have in Jesus. The only difference is the object: Buddha does not save;
Jesus saves. To make faith the power of salvation is to confuse faith with the
Holy Spirit. According to Ephesians 2:8 grace is the
grounds of salvation and faith is the means by which we appropriate that grace.
Properly speaking we are not saved by faith, but through faith.
To show that faith is not a meritorious work, the Bible contrasts faith in
Christ with meritorious works in both Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 4:4-5.
Faith means exactly that we can do nothing for our salvation. We can only
receive salvation as a gift. Faith is like an empty hand that simply accepts a
gift.
Exegetical problems
The main passage used to support faith as a gift of God for salvation
is Ephesians 2:8-9. "For by grace
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift
of God, not of works lest anyone should boast."
It is claimed that the demonstrative pronoun "that" refers to
"faith" as a gift of God (the words "it is" are not in the
original language, but are supplied by the translation as shown by the
brackets). But "that" cannot refer to "faith" (nor to
"grace") because in the original Greek it would have to be in the
feminine gender. But "that" is neuter which shows that the best
antecedent is the concept of salvation by grace. This fits the context which is
governed by salvation by grace in chapter 1 and especially in 2:4-9. There are
other passages used to argue that faith is a gift of God, but they offer no
support. For example, it is clear that some passages speak of faith as a
special spiritual gift (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 12:9)
or simply as the opportunity to believe (Phil. 1:29), but not as a gift for
salvation.
Logical problems
On the surface the view that says God
must give us faith to believe is a tautology. It assumes what it seeks to
prove. In other words, this view claims we believe because God gives us faith.
But if God give us faith, then we do not need to believe. Or if we can believe,
then God does not need to give us faith.
Another problem with that view is its
theology which says unsaved man is "dead" and cannot believe unless
he is first made alive. Therefore God gives us faith as a divine life-giving energy
that regenerates us so that we can believe. But if we have the divine life and
are regenerated, we would not need to believe to have eternal life - we already
have it!
Also, if faith as a gift is a divine
power that sustains the believer in a life of obedience, then that obedience
would be perfect and never interrupted by sin or disobedience. New Testament
admonitions and commands to live righteously would be superfluous. But since
believers do sin, it shows that their human response is a crucial aspect of
their sanctification.
Finally, if we cannot be saved unless and until God gives us faith in the
gospel, then God could not hold us responsible for not believing the gospel.
But he clearly does (John 3:18, 36, 5:40).
Conclusion
It is hard to escape the conclusion that those who claim that God must give
us the faith to believe for salvation do so out of a theological construct that
is not validated by Scripture. Sinful man retains the image of God to the
degree that he can have faith in either an unworthy or a worthy object for
salvation. The only faith that saves is faith in the person and work of Jesus
Christ. Faith is not the gift; Jesus Christ is the gift. God can draw us to
Himself (John 6:28-29, 44-45),
convict us of the gospel's truth (John 16:8), and invite us to
receive eternal life (John 3:16; 4:10; 7:37), but it is our responsibility
to believe the gospel for eternal life.
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