Faith…It’s All Grace

Faith is the product of the permanent presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom 8:9, 11; Gal 5:22). When and where the Gospel is preached, by God’s sovereign choice, it manifests faith as its fruit to whom God wills it and grants it (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 9:15–16; Phil 1:29).

Faith comes to a listener by hearing, and hearing comes as a product of the Word of God, which comes from the abiding Spirit in the Gospel preacher with his open Bible (Rom 10:17; 1 Cor 2:4; 2 Tim 4:2).

Put another way, God’s Spirit powerfully presents God’s Word (1 Cor 2:4), to the miraculous opening of the ears of the spiritually deaf. When the listener of a Gospel sermon spiritually hears, she is literally hearing the voice of Christ through the preacher (Jn 10:3–4). The man of God may know this as a fact, but during the sermon, he is less than fully aware of what Christ is saying to people. The Spirit goes where He wants and does what He wills (Jn 3:1–8).

Thus, the fruit of Spirit-filled preaching, of God’s Word, is faith…granted to the chosen hearer (Phil 1:29), according to the measure of the Author’s design for each recipient (Rom 12:3; Heb 12:2). This is why it is important to debunk false notions, of faith being conceived by a person’s mind or heart. There is no blind traversing chasms, leaps, or invisible stairways.

Faith is not self-generated. It is a gift of God, given in due season, by the Holy Spirit, using the conduit of the preached Word (Eph 2:8–9). Hence, it is the Spirit who preaches through the preacher, and it is the Spirit who receives the Word in the hearer, who being made alive by the Spirit/Word (Jn 6:63; Eph 2:5; Col 2:13), now believes, having faith in the truth. It is all a work of God manifested in those known to God from before the foundation of the world.

Faith…it’s all grace.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

February 9, 2022