Faith: The Gift of the Spirit

The Bible is clear that faith is a gift of God (Eph 2:8; Phil 1:29). Jesus Himself is credited with being the Author of a person’s faith (Heb 12:2). Why then do Arminians reject this in favor of the view that faith is a self-generated act of man?

First, the Bible teaches that Adam and Eve were made in the image of God (Gen 1:27). God is good. God is holy. God is righteous. Adam was in a position of equipoise. In his innocence, He could choose God, but he could also use his free will to choose evil. He chose the latter, under the influence of the adversarial serpent (Gen 3).

Adam lost the virtues accessible to him. His innocence was forfeited. He enslaved himself to sin by using his free will. In doing so, he deprived himself of free will. Adam’s posterity would be conceived in sin (Ps 51:5), born in sin, and they would be children of wrath because of their sin nature (Eph 2:3). Sin nature means that every inclination of the human heart is only evil all the time (Gen 6:5; 8:21).

The will of man is enslaved to sin (Jn 8:34). Death reigns in his sinful flesh (Rom 6:16). Satan tempts man to do the devil’s will (sin), and then the adversary deceives man into believing he has free will!

In sin, man loves to sin because he thinks he is a god (Gen 3:5). He boasts in wise decisions and good choices. He is the captain of his own soul, and the master of his own destiny. With human wisdom (philosophy), most people have no sense of their need for salvation from sin (Rom 3:10–12). Others are convicted of sin, but they conclude that their decision determines whether salvation will be a reality for themselves. Even these are still playing god.

This deluding influence is God’s judgment (2 Thess 2:11). God has given man over to a reprobate mind (Rom 1:28), in order to do the will of his wicked heart (Jer 17:9). The love of sin constrains man to will and to do evil (Jn 3:19). He conceives it in his mind. He loves it with his heart, and he acts on it with his will.

Second, as man now operates in the image of the devil, he deceives himself and others. He denies that he is dead to God, being spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). He denies that he is an enemy of God (Rom 5:10; 8:7). He denies that in his ungodliness and unrighteousness, he is helpless (Rom 5:6). He denies he is dead because of Adam (Rom 5:12, 19). He denies that he is unwilling and unable to be right with God (Rom 8:7; 1 Cor 2:14). The Gospel of grace is foolishness to him (1 Cor 1:18), as are all things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14).

The Arminian claims man is not spiritually dead (denial of total depravity). Man is sick. He is hindered, but given the help of faith from god, man can make his decision for Christ. He speaks of prevenient grace, which is his conception of man’s empowerment to meet the condition God has placed on him to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

The Arminian believes man is seeking for salvation. He is hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Man is not useless, nor worthless. Rather, in his soul, man wants to do good. In this view, God demands faith. He makes faith a condition of the covenant. God then sends a preacher to offer the Gospel of salvation, as a take it or leave it proposition. The one work of man is the obedience of faith. Each man must choose who he wills to serve. This is man-centered salvation, being part of a larger system of man-centered theology.

In truth, the virtues of godliness, holiness, and righteousness — along with all the other desirable, communicable attributes of God — are conferred upon the regenerate elect as the Holy Spirit causes him to be born again of God (1 Pet 1:3). This is the new self (Eph 4:24), created anew in the new man (Eph 2:15), made alive by the Spirit of Christ (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). Just as God breathed life into Adam (Gen 2:7), so God breathes new life into His new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Just as God endowed Adam with mind, heart, and will, so He infuses Christ-like characteristics into His newly adopted child (Rom 8:15, 23).

The gift, who is the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 10:45; Rom 5:5), gives gifts to those He chooses to baptize (Mt 3:11), according to the will of God and by His decree (Acts 13:48). Justification is the gift of God (Rom 3:24), which is the gift of righteousness (Rom 5:17). The Scripture says, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Rom 4:3).”

If righteousness is imputed to the elect regenerate, then faith apprehends this gift of God. When the Lord declares, “I will put My Law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jer 31:33),” He is assuring us that His will must be done.

If God wills for His elect to have faith (Jn 1:13), He will do it (Ps 37:5). He will accomplish what concerns His chosen ones (Ps 138:8). He will give them faith (Phil 1:29), and they will have faith because they are vessels of His mercy (Rom 9:23), along with all the saints from every age and place (Jude 3). If God gives them the Spirit of His Son (1 Jn 5:12), then faith will be resident in them (Rom 8:9, 11). The Spirit is His gift (Lk 11:13; Acts 2:38; 10:45), and faith is His gift (Phil 1:29), received by them (2 Pet 1:1). The one having this gift infused along with the indwelling Spirit will most certainly believe. The Spirit wills and the Spirit works all of salvation into the elect, redeemed, regenerate people of God (Phil 2:12–13).

God does not condition man to self-generate faith in Christ. He does not demand that any man actuate faith in Christ, because He knows all men are born dead in Adam. God must give His elect people life (Jn 6:63), and when He does this act of grace, He also gives them faith (Eph 2:8–9). The Lord says, “I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants (Is 44:3).”

With the Spirit granted at regeneration, so comes the blessing of God, including faith (Eph 1:3). It is all of God. It is all of grace, including faith. The Spirit makes the Christian faithful (Gal 5:22).

Faith is not offered to men; it is infused into them, like sap into a tree branch (Jn 15). Faith is not a work of dead men; it is the gift of the living Spirit (1 Cor 15:45). Faith is not obedience to the Law; it is grace from God, so that no man may boast about his free will and excellent choice before Almighty God (1 Cor 1:29). If you believe that faith is God empowering you to make a decision for Christ, then you have placed your trust in you and your decision. True faith is hearing God say, “I will do it,” and resting in that true Word of promise…because He will (Prv 3:5–6; Is 26:12; Ps 57:2; 138:8; Phil 2:13).

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

April 29, 2022