Is faith from us or from God

[gslou]

Pastor Mike, I was talking to a co-worker of mine about our belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It was a very nice conversation, until he threw something at me that has baffled me and I have been searching scriptures to see if he has a point. I will point out that he is a presbiterian, because this might be a clue to you??

He said that faith is someting given by God to man. Ephesians 2:8 says " For it is by grace you have have been saved, through faith", and I always assumed that this was "my faith", my trust and my belief that this was referring to. However, he made the point that it is not by works, which I fully understand and believe in and is the continuation of this same verse (verse 9); so if the faith that Paul mentions in Ephesians 2:8 is indeed my faith, is that something that I had to do first to earn salvation. Is me having faith works? Of course, I did not have faith first, God's grace covered me even before I believed.

Was the faith that Abram had in God's promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and that God credited to him as righteousness "works" that Abram did to earn his salvation? Genesis 15:6

During service today, you highighted Habakkuk 2:4 "but the righteous will live by his faith"; is this faith "God's given faith", or our inate faith in God? Is there such a thing as our inate faith in God if He did not give it to us first?

When Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 that if our faith was as small as a mustard seed, that we could move a mountain, was he refering to our trust and belief in God.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter,

George

[Mike Miller]

Thanks, George, for a really great question. It's great because there is a sense in which both you and your coworker are correct. In order to be saved, you must believe in Christ. You must have faith, and you are accountable for that faith. However, at the same time, faith is a gift from God.

That really should not be a difficulty when you consider that we really can't do anything of Kingdom value apart from the equipping and empowering of God. For example, while I am held accountable to God for my preaching, I am at the same time completely dependent on God in order to understand Scripture and in order to communicate that understanding correctly. That I am dependent on Him does not alleviate my responsibility, but I know you would agree that a preacher who preaches apart from dependence on God and the power of the Holy Spirit isn't going to be much of a preacher. In a somewhat similar way, we must have and exercise faith, but we are dependent on God to give us that faith.

You brought up Ephesians 2:8-9, which speaks as clearly to this as any passage of Scripture. In context, beginning in verse 1, Paul explains that we were all dead in sin. Dead. Yet, because of God's mercy, He made us alive--by grace. We were dead, but God (all by Himself) made us alive. Our salvation is by grace alone (verse 5). Then, when we get to verse 8, he again states that we are saved by grace through faith, and explains that "this" is not our own doing, but a gift. Now, interestingly, in the Greek, the word "this" is neuter in gender. However, both "grace" and "faith" are feminine. Had "this" been referring to either or both of those specifically, it would have occurred in the feminine. Instead, as is common in the Greek, the neuter was used to indicate that "this" refers to the totality of salvation. So, what is the gift of God? Salvation, which is by grace through faith. Life (new birth), grace, faith--the whole process--everything is a gift from God.

Moreover, Romans 12:3 says that God has "assigned" each person a certain "measure of faith." Philippians 1:29 also sheds some light. The literal translation would read, "For to you it has been given for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer." To believe and to suffer are both gifts from God.

As always, feel free to ask follow-up questions. I'll try to be quicker on the reply this time. The delay was due to my being out all last week.

For more on this subject, see also a post from a while back at askmike.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=81

[gslou]

OK, I think that I understand, but please see if my thought matches my understanding. For someone to have faith, or come to the realization that they need Jesus' savings grace, God has to first have opened their heart to receive the gift. So, before God opens our hearts to receive Him, we are not going to receive what God is freely offering. Did I get this right?

[Mike Miller]

You got it right.