A. W. Pink on Faith Imparted

Faith Imparted is a section from chaper 12 of A. W. Pink’s The Satisfaction of Christ: Studies in the Atonement.

That faith is, in some sense, essential unto salvation, it would, with an open Bible before us, be worse than idle to deny. But the important question is, Did Christ purchase the gracious operations of the Spirit and all His fruits for those for whom He died? Or, did He effect by His sacrifice nothing more than the removal of legal impediments out of the way of salvation, leaving them to provide their own faith and repentance? That Christ must have purchased these should be clear from the fact that, in their natural condition, the elect have no power to furnish any spiritual graces. It has been rightly pointed out that, “The Scriptures everywhere ascribe the whole ground and cause of our salvation to Christ. But if the differentiating grace which distinguishes the believer from the unbeliever is to be attributed to any cause external to Christ’s mediation, then that cause, and not His redemption, is the real cause of salvation” (A. A. Hodge).

Saving faith, a gift of God. Part 3

Following the last post, we now look at the support derived from theological arguments (key doctrines) that show saving faith as a gift of God.  To some extent, I will be presuming upon your familiarity with the doctrines of total depravity, election and efficacious grace.  My purpose here is not to prove these doctrines, but, in recalling them, to show how they bear on the question at hand and indicate that faith must indeed be a gift of God.

From the doctrine of Total Depravity

This doctrine addresses the condition of man resulting from the fall.  In Adam, through his first sin, mankind was constituted a fallen and condemned race (Romans 5:18).  Ever since the fall, because of Adam, each person comes into existence with a will totally adverse to God  (Romans 3:11), unable to believe (1 Cor. 2:14).  We are by nature children of wrath, dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3).  Fallen man must be divinely drawn, otherwise he would never come to Christ.  (John 6:44).

Man can neither cause nor contribute anything to his salvation because he is spiritually unable to do so;  in other words, he is totally depraved.  Therefore, we might ask as the disciples did in Mark 10:27, “Then who can be saved?” and Jesus said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God.” 

The doctrine of total depravity says that man is unable to will or to do any spiritual good.  Man in his natural (fallen) state is morally and spiritually unable to believe in Christ.  Therefore, saving faith must in fact be a work of God’s grace, a gift of God.

Saving Faith, a gift of God. Part 2

Following the discussion on Ephesians 2:8-9 on September 12, I decided to present evidence of the rather broad base of biblical support for the truth that individual saving faith is indeed a gift of God.  I’ve selected a number of passages to look at, and included comments along the way, though this is by no means all Scripture has to say on the subject:

John 6:65 – “. . . no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”  Looking back at verse 35 we can see that “coming” equals “believing”.  This equation is reinforced in verses 37, 40 and 44.  You see, we do not come to Him except in faith, believing, and verse 65 shows that we cannot come (i.e. believe) unless it is specifically given by God.  It should be noted that the word translated here as grant is the common word for give. I think the English word ‘grant’ sometimes carries with it a connotation that is not associated with the common word for ‘give’. 

Saving Faith, a gift of God. Part 1

This is the first of what turned out to be three posts on saving faith, generally addressing the following questions:  Is faith really to be seen as a gift of God?  Is faith our contribution and free will response to God, or is it something God sovereignly brings about in us according to his will?  This initial post looks specifically at the text of Ephesisns 2:8-9.

“For by grace you have been saved by faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one should boast.”  Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

Ephesians 2:8 is likely the first passage that comes to mind in the question of whether or not faith is a gift of God.  There are two main interpretations of this text, both interpretations hinging on what is meant by the phrase and this, more specifically the pronoun this.  This demonstrative pronoun has an antecedent to which it refers.  So the question is, What is the this which is the gift of God?

1. The first interpretation takes it as referring to faith.  This has been the view of many Bible scholars over the years, e.g. Augustine, Beza, Hodge, Kuyper, and Hendriksen.  This is also the natural meaning one would take from the plain reading of the English text.  If this interpretation is correct, then the question is immediately settled, faith is the gift.  Those holding this view would paraphrase it like this, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and even your faith is not of yourselves; faith is a gift from God, so you cannot boast in the least.”  Thus Paul is stressing here that even your faith is a gift in order to exclude the possibility of any boasting.