Is Saving Faith a Gift From God?
Introduction
The key to answering this question is to understand where faith comes from. Is it something that can be worked up from the human spirit or is God the source of this faith? Most evangelicals these days believe that every human being has an innate capacity to produce saving faith in response to the gospel. But other evangelicals believe that unbelievers are incapable of generating the necessary faith and that God has to give them this faith. Which is the correct understanding?
The only way to resolve this is to turn to the scriptures and that’s what I’m going to do. I have put together a selection of the main scriptures used on both sides of the argument to see what they tell us about saving faith (the faith necessary to be saved / born again). So, let’s go through them:
Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Paul starts verse 8 with the statement, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith’. This statement has to be treated as a whole because grace and faith are the two key elements required to be saved and you can’t have one without the other. He immediately follows this statement with the words, ‘and that not of yourselves’. In other words, he is saying that everything he said in the initial statement has not come from ourselves. In other words, grace and faith are from God. He further emphasises this by saying that it is the gift of God. In other words, salvation as a whole is a gift from God. If that was not enough, Paul then ‘nails it’ by saying that salvation is not a result of works.
If, as some would say, it is only grace that is a gift and that faith is of ourselves, then we are saved by works. This is because the faith that we have generated by ourselves is in fact a work. But Paul makes it clear that we cannot be saved by works. If we say that saving faith is of ourselves, then this whole passage does not make sense. Therefore, we must conclude from this passage that saving faith is a gift from God.
2 Peter 1:1
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ:
In his second letter, the Apostle Peter describes those that he is writing to as ‘those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours’. In its context, Peter is talking about saving faith. The faith these Christians have is the same faith that Peter has.
With regards to this faith, Peter says that the Christians he is writing to have ‘received’ it. In other words, it has been given to them and not something that they have worked up from themselves. Therefore, this verse supports the view that saving faith is a gift from God.
Philippians 1:29
For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
In this verse Paul is telling the Philippians that it has been ‘granted’ that they should believe. And who is it that has granted this? God. So, Paul is saying that God has allowed the Philippians to believe in Christ. Now some will argue that, although God has given us permission to believe in Christ, it’s still up to us decide whether we want to believe or not. However, Paul is only speaking to the Philippian Christians; he isn’t saying this about the whole of mankind. Furthermore, granting is an act of the will, and not something that happens automatically. This means that God could also decided not to allow some people to believe in Christ. It could also be said that, someone is only able to believe in Christ if God grants it. So, if God should decide not to grant permission to someone, they will not be able to believe in Christ because God is omnipotent.
Overall, this verse does not support either argument about saving faith because the case could be argued either way.
Romans 8:6-8
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
In this part of Romans, Paul is comparing Christians with non-Christians. Christians are in the Spirit and non-Christians are in the flesh. Paul tells us that non-Christians are hostile toward God and are not capable of obeying God.
Since His will for us is that we trust in His promises, unbelievers are incapable in themselves of believing in Christ Jesus for salvation. We all start out as unbelievers before we are saved. However, as an unbeliever we are hostile to God and incapable of obeying His call to faith. So, we can’t work up faith in Christ from our human spirit; we need to be given the faith to believe from God.
John 3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus tells us that we can’t even see the kingdom of God until we are born again. So, if we can’t see it how can we enter into it through faith. Until we are born again the kingdom of God, which only believers can inhabit, is a mystery to us. We cannot perceive it, understand it or recognise it. In order to enter the kingdom or be saved we need help and this help has to be the gift of faith from God.
Hebrews 12:2
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the ‘author’ and perfecter of faith. In its context, the faith he is talking about is saving faith. What the writer is saying is that saving faith comes from Jesus; it originates from Him. This tells us that saving faith does not come from us. It’s not something that we work up from our human spirit.
Acts 13:48
When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
In this verse, Luke tells us how the Gentiles got saved when the apostle Paul preached the Gospel. He tells us that those who had been appointed to eternal life believed. When we believe we receive the gift of eternal life. So, Luke is talking about saving faith. And Luke tells us that these Gentiles only believed and received the gift of eternal life because they were appointed to do so. And it was God who did the appointing. He made the decision that they should believe.
Now there are those who would say that God may have appointed them but it was up to each individual to decide if the they would respond to the appointment by believing in Jesus for their salvation. This would be true if God ‘offered’ them eternal life but that’s not what He did. He appointed them. In other words, He said that they would receive eternal life which can only come through saving faith. If God wills or appoints something it will happen because He is omnipotent. So, this text supports the position that saving faith is a gift.
Matthew 9:2
And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”
This verse is used by those who believe that saving faith comes from ourselves. This is because it talks about faith and the forgiveness of sins. But we must examine it carefully in its context. As you will see in the verses that follow it, this verse is part of a healing narrative. This man was paralysed and was brought to Jesus for healing. As the man is brought to Him, Jesus responds to the collective faith of those who brought him and the sick man himself. See the words, ‘their faith’. In response to this collective faith, Jesus only forgives the paralysed man, not the others. If they have all got faith, why doesn’t Jesus forgive all of them?
The answer is that this text is not about saving faith. Instead, it is about faith for healing which is a completely different kind of faith. All of those involved believed that Jesus could heal the paralysed man. They did not come to Jesus for salvation, they came for healing. That is the context of the verse. Jesus forgave the man his sins in order to make a point about His divinity. The rest of the story confirms this.
Matthew 9:22
But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage, your faith has made you well.” At once the woman was made well.
A common mistake made by some who read the Bible is to confuse the different kinds of faith that the scriptures talk about. This is compounded when they fail to take into account the context.
The context of this verse is a healing story. The woman had been bleeding for a long time and was desperate to be physically healed. The faith she exercised was the faith needed for a miracle. She did not touch Jesus in order to be saved. The text is clear that she did it in order to be made ‘well’ (physically healed) and that’s all that happened. She was not exercising saving faith.
Mark 10:52
And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.
This is another example of confusing saving faith with the faith for miracles. This verse is set in the context of a healing story. Bartimaeus was a blind man who simply wanted Jesus to heal his eyes so that he could see. We see this in verse 51 where his request is solely for a physical healing and that’s what Jesus gave him. Bartimaeus was not exercising saving faith.
Luke 7:50
And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Taken out of context and quoted alone as I have above, this verse appears to support the idea that saving faith is generated from within ourselves, leading to our salvation. However, we must first look at the context and examine the words used to determine what these words actually mean.
The context for this verse is one in which Jesus is comparing the conduct of the woman with the conduct of a Pharisee named Simon. Simon, a self-righteous man, invited Jesus into his home and showed him no honour. As Jesus says in verses 44 to 46, he did not give Jesus water to wash his feet, he did not greet Jesus with a kiss and he did not anoint Jesus with oil. However, the woman, who was a sinner, did do all these things for Jesus. The actions of the sinful woman showed her respect for Jesus and her sorrow over her many sins. Jesus responded by forgiving her sins. Remember how Jesus forgave the paralysed man in Matthew 9:2. On that occasion there was no suggestion that the man was saved. So, forgiveness of sins is not always associated with salvation. Remember also what Jesus said to the woman who was bleeding in Matthew 9:22. After she was healed, He said’ “your faith has made you well”. The original Greek language uses the same words for these two stories, but the Bible translators have chosen to provide a slightly different translation for each story.
In both instances the key Greek word is ‘sozo’ which can be translated in a number of ways. These are, save, rescue, heal or be made whole. That’s why the bible translators use different English words for different passages of scripture using ‘sozo’. In this story, the sinful woman was in great peril as a result of her ongoing sinful behaviour and Jesus could simply have been helping to rescue her from her way of life in the hope that she would be saved from eternal damnation.
Therefore, the words of Jesus in Luke 7:50 cannot be used to support the idea that saving faith is something that we can generate by ourselves. This is because it is not part of a salvation narrative and it is not clear how the word saved is being used in this narrative.
Conclusion
We have seen from the scriptures above that an unbeliever is incapable of understanding and responding to the gospel by themselves. They are incapable of turning away from their sin and resting on Christ alone until the Holy Spirit changes their hearts and enables them to heed the preaching of the gospel of God (See Acts 13:13–52).
If we believe that we are capable of working up faith in ourselves then we cannot boast in Christ alone. But if we understand that we have faith only because of the work of the Holy Spirit, then we can truly give God all the glory for our salvation.
I have searched the scriptures and I can find no evidence to support the idea that man can work up saving faith from his human spirit. On the other hand, I have found lots of evidence that saving faith comes from God; that it is a gift from Him. Therefore, I am certain that saving faith is a gift from God; that He gives us the ability to believe in Jesus for our salvation. I understand why most Christians believe that saving faith has come from themselves; that they heard the Gospel and made a decision to believe. But in the end, this is not something we should fall out over. What matters is that we believe.