Yesterday we learned about the Calvinistic idea that faith is a work. I briefly mentioned that as a result of this idea, Calvinists believe that people cannot on their own place faith in Jesus Christ for eternal life.
Yet if faith is something good that we do, if faith is a work, why does God call people to place faith in Jesus for eternal life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47)? Why does God seem to hold people responsible for something which they are not able to do? The Calvinistic answer to this is that faith itself is a gift of God.
Since God requires faith in Jesus, and since God knows that it is impossible for the unregenerate person to place faith in Jesus, the Calvinist argues that God Himself gives faith to the person so that they can then believe. So then, faith becomes a gift from God.
Again, let me allow Calvinists to explain this idea that faith is a gift in their own words:
Genuine faith … is granted by God … faith is a supernatural gift of God … faith is not something that is conjured up by the human will but is a sovereignly granted gift (cf. Php 1:29) (MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, 172-173).
Faith is God’s gift. In no degree could a natural man produce faith. It is utterly beyond him. Let us adore the God who gives it (Wells, Faith, 55).
Faith and repentance are divine gifts and are wrought in the soul through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Steele, The Five Points of Calvinism).
Faith is a gift from God … it is permanent … the faith that God gives begets obedience … God gave it to you and He sustains it … May God grant you a true saving faith, a permanent gift that begins in humility and brokenness over sin and ends up in obedience unto righteousness. That’s true faith and it’s a gift that only God can give, and if you desire it, pray and ask that He would grant it to you (MacArthur, Transcribed Tape GC 90-21).
Have you encountered this idea in any other writings? If so, where? What are your thoughts on the idea that faith is a gift from God?
If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.
God supplies what he requires
but/and/or/also/maybe/for sure God requires that we acknowledge our insufficiency and need of him to muddle through. faith and other irreducible minimums.
If faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God then the ultimate source of faith is God.
If someone offers me a gift, I have a choice to make. I’m not obligated to accept it; I can also reject it if I really don’t want it. If I lack the ability to accept or reject, then the offer is NOT A GIFT but, rather, an IMPOSITION. Even if I appreciate it and am thankful for it, it is still an imposition. It is something thrust upon me without regard for my desire. In the MacArthur quote, he trips over his own conviction by saying, “If you desire it, pray and ask” for it. The emphasis is on the word “IF” implying a choice to be made. Jesus said, “Follow me.” to many people. Some did and some did not. Were their responses somehow pre-programmed? Calvinists seem to insist that God has a limited supply of “faith chips” and most of us have no chance of getting one. I don’t wish to be mean-spirited, but isn’t there a certain kind of arrogance in such a stance?
Good comment. If MacArthur believes that faith is a gift and that God has predetermined who gets the gift and who doesn’t then whether we “desire” it or “ask” for it is not relevant. The whole 5-point philosophy makes no sense, for how can one be responsible before his Creator, if he has no choice in the matter and there is no free will?
In reply to Bluetarp and John Lesley one can see a leverate misunderstanding of the fact that God either assigns GRACE to the elect or JUSTICE to the non-elect. Fallen man, a rebel and God-hater, a dispiser of God, who wants nothing to do with God, who is an alien to Godly things, has no ability in his own will to want the gift of salvation. Some miraculous transformation has to happen to his soul so that he’ll want the gift, so that Jesus becomes alluring and beautiful and desirable to him, so that he’ll have the faith to believe and repent and accept the gift of salvation. He doesn’t come ‘kicking and screaming’ because he feels that the gift is an IMPOSTION. Fallen man does not choose God; God does the choosing of fallen man. You will have a hard time explaining that you have the ultimate choice in choosing God; that God needs your help to decide if you want the gift. It is God who has the choice and it is God who now gives a regenerated ‘will’ to his chosen. See Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 9:16.
Elijah you may have hated God when you were a child. You despised God and wanted nothing to do with God. I for some reason was different. Although I didn’t grow up in a Christian home, I rememeber as a young child of loving Jesus. I loved him because I knew he died for me. And what was Jesus saying when he said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:16).
Was Jesus mistaken? And why would the children come to him when they hated and despised him? And when Jesus entered the temple, the children did something that was so characteristic of them, they praised God:
But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
“‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’? (Mathew 21: 15-17)
What was wrong with these children? They were not acting as Calvinists say they should act. Yes, we all have sinned but we are also made in God’s image and we were created to have fellowship with Him. Children are innocent and they don’t hate God! And yes, God loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so. Your Calvinist’s glasses have you distorting the Word of God.
As far as being an imposition – as Calvinists would say, God changed the hater and despiser of God into a person who is now loving and obeying God. God decided who He would make love Him and who He would destine for hell even before he was born.
NO… faith is not a gift – my thoughts.. or what I believe is – God does his part, … He gives light.. enough light for man to see the truth of the saving message of the Gospel. In 2Corinthians 4:4 says that the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not. So God is in the business is to reveal the truth into mans heart – 2 Cor. 4:6. Mans Role is answered with the example of the Philippian Jailer “Sirs, what must I do to be saved” Acts 16:30-31. Simple He must believe. No conversion occurs until God breaks through the blindness induced by Satan and enlightens the heart with His truth. ONly when he realizes the truth of any matter, only then does he believe it. The ability to believe things is a capacity that man possesses, just like our capacities to think and speak. But once a man realizes the truth of any matter, at the moment of realization he has believed it. So saving faith occurs when it dawns on our hearts that Jesus Christ saves us forever the moment we believe that He does John 11:25-27; John 20:30-31; 1 John 5:1.
I agree, excellent comment
Vaughn,
Excellent, I believe you are pretty right on here. We call this “accountability for revealed light” and when you build a little on it it handles many questions that arise from Calvinism and other religious structures.
Pastor FedEx
Food is a gift too, but we still need to plant it, harvest it, and eat it.
Oh you poor dear! Haven’t you heard, nowadays you just go to McDonalds. And you don’t really eat— the burgers and fries kinda dissolve in your mouth. Christianity’s modernized, now it’s just like that.— all the rage. Really mountain man, where have you been? Obviously not seminary.
If you are Arminian you will believe that our natural ability to believe is from God. This position has the possibility of morphing into a kind of Pelagianism which says ‘If you can believe then you should believe’. If God has given us the natural ability to believe then it is up to us to believe. Calvinism at least avoids this pitfall. It is a minefield of course and if we dodge to avoid one mine we end blowing ourselves on another.
Having visited MacArthur’s church a number of times; I had never really thought of him as a Calvinist, because he does not hold to all of the five points. I think that careful exegesis demonstrates that faith is the gift of God. Even many Arminian commentators have attested to that..
Brad, I would like to see this careful exegesis. I’ve never seen it done yet! 🙂
I’m reminded of a bygone saying, faith is the opposite of sin.
Oh, I suppose I should add a footnote. If you unpack that I think you’ll come to see whichever side of the argument you’re on, you’re right and wrong. Faith is neither a passive that you receive like a child being spoon-fed, nor something you generate Ex nihilo. Faith is a living, dynamic quality which depends on … OMG… an actual thingamajig, what it’s called? Relationship. That’s right, as every naughty school boy knows. “Don’t look at me sir! It takes two to tango.”
Romans 6: 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 3:24″being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”
Faith is a gift through prevenient grace. Romans 12:3, says each is given a measure of faith that is given to the whole world. John 12:32 say God is drawing all men. John 1:9 says that “There was the true light which coming into the world ENLIGHTENS EVERY MAN.” John 16:8 says when He comes, He will convict the “kosmos” concerning sin, and righteousness…Isaiah 51: 5 says, “For a law will go forth from Me and I will set My justice for a light of the peoples. MY RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NEAR, MY SALVATION HAS GONE FORTH, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands will wait for Me, and for My arm THEY will wait expectantly.” Collosians say “Jesus is all and in all” waiting for them to choose through His PREVENIENT GRACE. Grace does regenerate people, but there are different levels of grace, and each is entered through people’s faith (which God preveniently gives to everyone). Love has to be freely chosen.
Prevenient grace means it comes before; it is antecedent and anticipatory. Thus, grace is the gift given by God and He anticipates a response. Faith is not the gift, it is (hopefully) our response TO the gift. Here’s a crude example: When I tell a joke to an audience, I anticipate getting laughter as a response all the while knowing that I may get some boos. I can’t just give them laughter, but I can act in such a way that will (hopefully) elicit the desired response. There are probably better examples, but this helps me to understand the relationship between grace and faith.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through FAITH–and this is not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God–
THE GIFT(GIFT!!!!!!!!!)…. Ephesians 2:8.. the GIFT is referring to FAITH..
Right there! The Bible says that faith is a gift. How could it not be?
Sometimes I just don’t know what you’re thinking Jeremy Myers..
Sunny,
Are you a Calvinist? Your comments are rather rude…
If you want to know what I am thinking, all you have to do is ask. Insults are not necessary.
I am quite aware of Ephesians 2:8, and will write more about it later. For now, note that the word “faith” in Greek is feminine and the pronoun “it” in “it is a gift” is neuter. In Greek, the pronoun must agree with it’s antecedent in gender, number, and case. Since the pronoun “it” is neuter and the noun “faith” is feminine, it is grammatically impossible for Paul to be saying that “faith is a gift.”
“in no way alarmed by your opponents-which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,”
Philippians 1:28-29 NASB
“When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.””
Acts 11:18 NASB
“with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,”
2 Timothy 2:25 NASB
“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.”
Acts 13:48 NASB
Many good texts … but you are practicing shotgun hermeneutics here.
There is no way to summarize a long life of learning about these issues in a few lines, but, after decades of discussing this issue, I have to say that the Bible does indeed teach that faith and repentance are gifts from God. But I would warn that then following all the then seemingly obvious conclusions about God and salvation is presumptuous. For example, I do think that God elects people and those elect are surely saved. But I also think the Bible teaches a sincere, real and intense desire of God for every person (not just types of people) to be saved. I also believe that not only do we make choices that are as free as they can be for a human (and that truly is significant), God predetermines history down to atoms. Does this all makes sense? Sure it does. Are there verses that support all this? Sure there are. Is it believable? Yes. But only if you can accept that God gives us the important items for life and godliness and does not connect all the dots given our very limited minds. Personally, that is what I expect -given who God is and who we are. Have you looked at a night sky lately? We are but nothing… And I bet, if you think about it, you expect about the same thing given the circumstances. You just may disagree on where to draw that “His thoughts are not our thoughts” line.
Years ago, I insisted that it all fit together in my head. I soon became a Calvinist given the Bible’s very direct statements about predestination, election etc-and even biblical statements addressing Calvinistic conclusions (and anti-Calvinistic objections) from those statements. (Example: Romans 3:4-8 regarding God’s plan in David’s acts of adultery and murder).
Continued…
But as the years passed, I had to admit that the objections of other Christians at times truly had merit. As much as I accused them of bending passages to suit their conclusions, I too was guilty at times of the same thing.
The trick is to not throw out the baby with the bath water. -Hold to the clear passages but don’t defend your system to the detriment of the Bible. If we all did that, we might find a lot more common ground.
Thanks for the comments, Mm. Very gracious.
A lifetime of study has (so far) led me away from Calvinism. I used to be a Calvinist and through study, research, and prayer, came to move away from that system of theology. I have tried to share my story in some of the other posts about Calvinism. Maybe I will finish this series eventually… Some of my posts on election and depravity might show you a different way of looking at things.
Faith is “a” gift of God as pointed out in 1 Cor. 12:9 for service after salvation, but “the” gift of God, is salvation itself by grace through faith. Paul references “the gift of God” in Romans 6:23 as eternal life through Christ and discusses it in Romans 5:15-16 referring to savation through Christ.
No one is born in this world having any possessions of himself. We were born all naked without cell phones, jewelries, etc. Even the life that we have is not our own… so what is the point of claiming for for something when we have nothing at all. God provides faith to those who He decides to regenerate so that they [the elect] will be able to see the truth and acknowledge Christ as the only Savior.
What’s funny is the calvinists have absolutely no scripture to back up what they believe about faith. They twist ephesians 2:8 to fit their view.
I think the confusion about faith is the definition of a work versus a gift from God. Just like the Holy Spirit is a gift from God, the same applies to faith.
There are the genders of the word “faith” and the anticedant which is necessary for complete understanding and interpretation but cross references to Pauls use of the phrase “the” gift of God, are also consistent with salvation itself by grace through faith. Paul references “the gift of God” in Romans 6:23 as eternal life through Christ and discusses it in Romans 5:15-16 referring to savation through Christ.
Why quote men?
Jesus said “the given ones” – John 6:39
Jesus prayed for the given ones not the world – John 17.
Jesus always said “hear if you have ears to hear” – He never said repeat the sinners prayer.
Jesus said that no one could come to Him unless dragged (draw, woe, etc.) by the Father.
You might hate God if He would draw (Calvinist) you but love him if He would woe (Arminian) you!
My faith is that 100% credit for salvation is God’s doing.
If the only difference between one being saved or eternal destruction is one’s personal belief and witness then 100% of the credit belongs to a saved person and an unsaved person owns eternal death even if God desired him to come. The Arminian (Deist) has removed God from getting the real rebirth glory with prevenient grace.