Faith and Other Issues

I've turned my attention to Romans now, however, the first chapter has immediately tied me back to Ephesians for an issue requiring thorough study and leading of the Spirit. The issue is that of faith. Let's first hit the highlights of this chapter. In the first chapter of Romans, Paul sets out to explain our depravity and need for salvation with a quick discussion about the gospel. In Rom. 1:16 he says " For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Indeed he is not ashamed as in his introduction to the book he states,

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,² (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
³ Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
⁴ And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
⁵ By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

But first, we must understand our absolute depravity or sin nature so that we may understand our need for salvation. He points out that no one is without excuse in v. 19-20 and the Life Application Study Bible states:

What kind of God does nature reveal? Nature shows us a God of might, intelligence, and intricate detail: a God of order and beauty: a God who controls powerful forces. That is general revelation.  

He then goes on to explain our depravity and how the Lord does not force Himself upon us, but allows us to suffer the consequences of our sin. Among the list of sins that He mentions, He gives great emphasis to the sin of homosexuality- somewhere no one wants to go to discuss. There's no arguing here- homosexuality is a sin. We can't take that out even if we do want to please society so that our churches grow in numbers. You can not deny this fact. The Scripture states, "and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."  Simply put, homosexuality is not the natural way man is to be and the consequences suffered from this sin are a result of the sin and what that sin produces. He then states, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind..."  Life Application Study Bible puts it this way with which I agree:

God is willing to receive anyone who comes to him in faith, and Christians should always love and accept others. Yet, homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Scripture. . . Society does not set the standard for God's law. Many homosexuals believe that their desires are normal and that they have a right to express them. God does not encourage us to fulfill all of our desires. Desires that violate his laws must be controlled.

Let's point out here that God does not just bring to light homosexuality. You can look at the list for yourself. Also, let's not assume that homosexuality is some awful sin compared to others. Your lying problem or pride problem is an equal amount of sin. Some people have a problem with homosexuality, some have a problem with pride. We all have our own areas of downfall. Don't ever consider yourself above others because you don't struggle with the same form of sin. God never said to hate homosexuals or slander or treat them less than human. Remember: "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Matt. 7:3  The last verse of the chapter states, "who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. " All sin, regardless of the kind results in spiritual death and so slavery to sin. We serve our sin and have pleasure in it because that's the best we can get without God.

Now, onto the issue of faith. Since Paul is going to discuss in detail about salvation, it is imperative that we understand what faith is. I came to an interesting discussion with different schools of thought. Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." The discussion here is about the phrase "the gift of God." Is the gift referring to our salvation or is faith purely a gift from God? My original thinking was that faith was something I had to do on my own, but this is incorrect. The reason for this is that faith can mean different things depending on the context. In this context, we are referring to saving faith. Faith simply put can mean "an intellectual agreement to a truth [as] is illustrated in James 2:19, where even demons are said to believe that there is one God. Obviously, however, they are not saved by this type of belief." (Taken from Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary) What does this mean?

Faith does not always mean saving faith. Saving faith is very specific.

So, I read about 5 different articles on the internet which came from both schools of learning. The idea that faith is a pure gift from God alone came from the Calvinist camp, while the idea that faith is something that we must do to become saved came from the opposing side, referred to as the Armenian school of thought. They both had good reasons for their assumptions. According to John
Piper (Calvinist thought) in his article "God Has Allotted to Each a Measure of Faith," he believes:

That's how important humility is in God's eyes. This is exactly the same aim of God mentioned in Ephesians 2:8-9 where Paul stresses that saving faith is a gift: "By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one may boast" (emphasis added). Faith is a gift from God, so that no one may boast. Or, as Romans 12:3 says, so that we will not think too highly of ourselves. The last bastion of pride is the belief that we are the originators of our faith . . . .He said to the Philippians, "To you it has been given for Christ's sake, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." (Philippians 1:29, emphasis added). This is why he thanked God and not human resourcefulness for the faith he saw in his churches: "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, bretheren, as is fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged" (2 Thessalonians 1:3, emphasis added). We thanks God for the enlargement of faith because "God has allotted to each [his own] measure of faith" (Romans 12:3, emphasis added).

 Here is a corresponding article of the Armenian thought by Eric Lyons, M. Min entitled "Is Faith A Gift from God?"

Those who believe that faith is a gift (i.e., miraculous imposition) from God, often point out that in this verse “faith” is the nearest antecedent of “that” (“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”). However, when one examines Ephesians 2:8 in the language in which it was written originally (Greek), he finds that the pronoun that (touto) is neuter in gender, while the word faith (pistis) is feminine. Since the general rule in Greek grammar is for the gender and number of a relative pronoun to be the same as its antecedent (Mounce, 1993, p. 111), then some extenuating linguistic circumstance, special idiomatic use, or other mitigating factor would need to be demonstrated to justify linking “that” to “faith.” If such reasonable justification cannot be made, then one is compelled to continue studying the passage in order to know assuredly what “that” gift of God is . . . . The overall context of the first three chapters of Ephesians is man’s salvation found in Christ.

• “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (1:7).
• The heavenly “inheritance” is found in Christ (1:11).
• After believing in the good news of salvation through Christ, the Ephesians were “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (1:13).
• Sinners are made “alive with Christ” and saved “by grace” (2:5).
• Sinners are brought near to God “by the blood of Christ” (2:13).
• Paul became a servant of Christ “according to the gift of the grace of God…by the effective working of His power” (3:7).

Not only is the theme of salvation the overall context of the first three chapters of Ephesians, but the immediate context of Ephesians 2:8-9 is of salvation, not of faith. These two verses thoroughly document how a person is saved, not how a person believes.

• Salvation is by grace.
• Salvation is through faith.
• Salvation is not of yourselves.
• Salvation is the gift of God.
• Salvation is not of works.

Paul was not giving an exposition on faith in his letter to the Ephesians. Salvation was his focus. Faith is mentioned as the mode by which salvation is accepted. Salvation is through faith. Just as water is received into a house in twenty-first-century America through a pipeline, a sinner receives salvation through obedient faith. The main focus of Paul’s message in Ephesians 2:8-9 was salvation (the living “water that springs up into everlasting life”—cf. John 4:14), not the mode of salvation.

Faith is not a direct gift from God given to some but not others. Rather, as Paul wrote to the church at Rome, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Faith in Christ as the Son of God is only found in those who have first heard the Word of God, and then believed (cf. John 20:31).

 What is my answer? They're both right. I take my answer from 2 different sources. First, the Life Application Study Bible states:

Faith is a word with many meanings. We must be very careful to understand faith as Paul uses the word because he ties faith so closely to salvation. It is not something we must do in order to earn salvation-if that were true, then faith would be just one more deed . . . . Instead faith is a gift God gives us because he is saving us. It is God's grace, not our faith that saves us. In his mercy, however, when he saves us, he gives us faith-a relationship with his Son that helps us become like him . . . . we must accept his gracious offer with thanksgiving and allow him to plant the seed of faith within us.

What about our part in salvation? What is the gospel? Acts 16:31" And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," What is this "believe on? There is something for us as humans to note here in relation to salvation. I found the answer in the Expositor's Bible Commentary:

Faith, however is not a quality, a virtue, or a faculty. It is not something man can produce. It is simply a trustful response that is itself evoked by the Holy Spirit. Lest faith should be in any way misinterpreted as man's contribution to his own salvation. Paul immediately adds a rider to explain that nothing is of our own doing but everything is in the gift of God . . . . The whole process comes from nothing that we have done or could do. The element of "givenness" applies to faith as well as to grace, for faith is a direct outcome of hearing the saving message (Rom. 10:17).

So it seems clear to me that there will always be a sort of mystery around how faith is used in different instances or the timing of it. However, through this study I've found some things that the Spirit has revealed to me.

1. Faith can mean to believe on which is something that is a result of the Holy Spirit's conviction for the unsaved person. So, faith does come before salvation because we are responding to the Holy Spirit by saying we believe on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as needed and acknowledge God as our Lord.

2. Faith is something that is planted and enlarged by God in our lives when we become Christians, and only God can help us to develop this further.

So the conclusion is that the answer to faith is a both/and answer, not an either/or. Also, let's remember that God has chosen not to reveal everything to us. Let's just know that faith is an essential part of our salvation and should be something cultivated daily in our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit.