IS FAITH A GIFT FROM GOD?

Paul's letter to the people who lived in the capital city of the Roman Empire answers many questions.  It also raises many others.

One frequent question I'm hearing has to do with both our capability and responsibility to exercise faith in response to the truths of the Gospel.

Paul's message is clear - there is a righteousness from God available to us, but it comes through faith; that is, through personal trusting that God's promise of what He accomplished for us in Christ is true.

But some ask, "Are human beings capable of understanding the truth of the Gospel, and able then to respond in faith?  Or is faith a gift from God?"*

POSSIBLE ANSWERS

If the answers to those questions are "no" and "yes" (respectively), then the implication is clear.  Only those to whom God gives "faith" will ever believe, be saved from sin's condemnation, and be given the gift of God's righteousness.

If the answers to those questions are "yes" and "no" (respectively), then other implications arise.  Answers like this seem to counter Biblical passages which suggest that human beings who are "totally depraved" in their sinfulness cannot recognize truth, and verses which suggest that God does in fact give us the ability to believe (for example, one interpretation of Ephesians 2:8-9 would argue this).

But what if the answers are "yes" and "yes."  Yes, we are capable of understanding truth, even though sin effects (but does not eclipse) our understanding of it; and Yes, everything we have, ultimately, is a gift from God, even though our capability to make choices of trust is not coerced or forced by God.

THE PERSPECTIVE OF CALVINISM (or Reformed Theology)

Years ago, while in college (Grace College, Winona Lake, IN), a "reformed theology" movement happened among a section of the student body.  Many of us who were heading for ministry as a career were caught up in the discussions and debates.  It was there I first understood and initially embraced many of its tenets of theological understanding.  Even though John Calvin himself never formulated his system using this acronym, this 5 letter handle has historically been used to summarize the interpretational approach of Reformed Theology

   T    total depravity of man (he is totally dead in sin)
   U   unconditional election of man (God choses, apart from any condition, some to be saved)
   L    limited atonement (Christ's atoning was intended for those God has chosen)
   I     irresistible grace (God's saving grace, when applied to a person, cannot be resisted)
   P    perseverance of the saints (those elected and regenerate cannot fall away from faith, but will persevere in godliness until the end)

There are many Scriptures which are used to support these 5 tenets.  Suffice to say that the interpretation of many of these Scriptures will consistently flow in a way that supports this system of theological thought.

The questions* (see above) we are asking can be answered from this approach.  The answers would be "no" and "yes."  No, no one dead in sin can understand or respond in faith to spiritual truth.  God must give the faith, that is the capability to understand and then to trust, through an "irresistible" application of His grace.   Not worrying about those for whom God does not do this, we should be simply glad He does this for some (and us!...if we are believing).

IS TULIP WHAT SCRIPTURALLY ACTUALLY PRESENTS and TEACHES?

In the years since, I have stepped away from embracing a Reformed Theological viewpoint on these matters.  While I respect historical theologians, as well as current teachers, brothers and sisters in Christ, who see the Scriptures' teaching through this lens, I do not personally find this approach to be what Scripture presents.  The RT approach is systematic; its pieces fit together.  My concern is that they really don't fit Scripture.  The system or approach is more imposed on Scripture rather than arising from it.

A MORE BALANCED, BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING

Knowing that my credentials don't match some whose system of thought I'm dismissing, nonetheless I would humbly offer a differing view.  Let me capsulize it without writing an epic blog.

First, all things that everyone has are a gift from God.  John the Baptist said it, "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven"  (John 3:27).  So our ability to understand truth and to respond in acceptance, belief, faith, trust, is given from God.

Second, while sin effects our understanding and ability to believe, it does not eclipse it.  Just as sin effects our ability to make good, moral choices, but does not eclipse it.  The image of God in us has been marred, but not destroyed.   Those who use Ephesians 2 ("we are dead in sin and our trespasses") or Romans 3 ("there is none righteous, no not one") to argue "total incapability" of understanding or responding to truth are over reaching in the application of those statements.  They speak to our ability to think righteously and act righteously so as to please God with our own righteousness.  As far as that is concerned, we are dead, and we are thoroughly unrighteous.

But they are not descriptions of whether or not we can discover truth, recognize it, and respond to it...however flawed that may be.  Responsibility to respond to the truth requires a capability to respond to the truth.  If all men/women are totally incapable of believing, and God simply provides the ability to believe to a chosen few, how can those who are not so fortunate be held responsible for not believing.

Third, everywhere in Scripture, the "coming to salvation" process is always presented as a cooperative process, where God's Spirit speaks of truth and Christ, convicts of sin, draws men toward God, and is ready to give anyone birth who will believe.  But there is also the full responsibility (and thus capability) of individuals to hear the truth, consider Christ, and respond positively (or negatively) to the Spirit's work of communicating and persuading. 

Fourth, language about God's choosing (or electing) to salvation should be more carefully thought through.  There are, in fact, a number of different ways that "election" can be understood. 

Some, like those in Reformed Theology, insist on an "individual election;" that is, that God selected some individuals out of the billions who would live on the earth, and the unchosen simply remain condemned.  This is an "unconditional choice," based purely on "grace."  Why some are not chosen, we don't know and will never know.  If we are saved, and persevere, we can know we are "elect."

How very fortunate.  But even as you read that through, some sense of profound unfairness lingers around this understanding of God's election.  This approach simply does not square with Scripture that insists that God loves the entire world and that Jesus died for the entirety of humanity.  Why then, if it depends only on God's choice, would He not in grace-and-love choose everyone?

Yet,  in my understanding of the body of Scripture, and especially in Ephesians 1, Paul makes it very clear that we are chosen as we are "in Christ," that is, Christ is God's "chosen one," and when we believe, and are placed "in Christ," we are considered "the chosen" for blessing and holiness and a future with God, because we are "in Him."  We have also then been "chosen" to become like Him, in keeping with a process God had in mind all along (cf. Romans 8:28-30).

ON BALANCE...

Scripture makes it much more simple.  We are born "in Adam."  We can be reborn "in Christ."  The Spirit of God is busy in the world making that good news clear to men and women, whose sin keeps them from being righteous, but who can know that God exists and need to know that Christ has become their propitiation.  Just as Abraham was to look up in the sky and believe what God promised, so we are to look up to the cross and believe that Jesus died their in my place.  The Spirit presents that message powerfully, and draws us toward the Savior.  Our hearts are urged to reject self-effort and religiosity, and throw our trust completely on Christ.

Simple faith opens the door to being in Christ, and a whole new future begins to unfold to the believing heart.  The answers to the initial questions* are "yes" and "yes."