Biblical Faith - Is Personal Faith a Gift?
Hal Molloy · Jan 6, 2002
Biblical Faith, No. 10
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262239316343

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Some time ago, in fact this past summer, we talked about faith. And I asked a question of all of you. If someone were to ask you what faith is, what would be your response? And most of you responded that faith is personal faith. And some also responded that faith is a gift. That is our subject this morning. Is personal faith a gift?

Now, as we look at faith, We saw that there were four aspects of biblical faith. The first was faith in terms of the essence. We looked at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1. That faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We saw that faith was the reality of who Christ is, who God is, his ways, his life. That's the essence of faith. then we saw that scripture uses the definite article in front of the word faith. And we saw that usually it's referring to the faith either as the entire Word of God or a portion of the Word of God. So scripture is called the faith.

We also saw a third aspect of faith, personal faith. Personal faith is only a portion of the total picture of faith. Personal faith is rest and trust in what is revealed to us through the Word of God, the essence of faith, or the faith. And then the last aspect of faith, faith as a principle. God desires us to walk by the principle of faith. Personal faith in what he has revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ through his Word. That's the principle of faith. So we looked at those four aspects. Lots of questions came up, but question number two, is personal faith a gift? There are four passages that seem to indicate that faith is a gift.

The first passage is in Ephesians 2.8 and 2.9. Two passages are found in Romans chapter 12, verse 3 and 6, and then the last passage is in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 9. What I'd like to do this morning is to briefly go through the Roman passages and the 1 Corinthians passage, and then spend most of our time in looking at the Ephesians 2 passage This is the primary passage that is used to teach that personal faith is a gift from God. So let's look at Romans chapter 12 first.

I quoted the last portion of the passage. Now, as you look at that passage, you would say, well, there it is. There's no question that every man is given a measure of faith or the gift of faith. However, the passage is in the context. So we have to take a look at the entire context. And part of the context is in verse 6. It talks about gifts.

It says, "...having spiritual gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us prophesy according to the proportion of the faith." Notice I added in spiritual gifts. Because the passage is talking about spiritual gifts. the moment that you believe in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, you were given a spiritual gift. You may not have a clue what that spiritual gift is. You may have been given several spiritual gifts. But independent of whether you know that or not, the Lord says that he's given you spiritual gifts. So he's given spiritual gifts to the body.

And we're to use those spiritual gifts to edify each other, to build each other up. So here's a gift of prophecy. Now if I interpret prophecy as just forth telling the truth as opposed to foretelling the truth, predicting the future, that gift of prophecy, forth telling the truth, notice how it's to be done. According to the proportions of the faith. So the proportions of the faith has to do with the functioning of our spiritual gifts. That spiritual gifts are to be exercised according to the proportions of the faith. And notice that there is the definite article. It's the proportion of THE faith. Remember in our summary just a minute ago? We looked at THE faith. It's what is revealed in the Word of God. Either the whole of Scripture or a portion of Scripture. You cannot foretell the truth unless it's according to a norm or standard. the normal standard is defaith, what is revealed in the Word of God. So, in Romans chapter 12, it's talking to believers. It's not talking about unbelievers being given a gift of faith to believe. It's talking about believers given a measure or proportion of defaith to exercise their spiritual gifts.

How about the next passage, in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, in verse 9, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit. Here we have a gift being given to a person, the gift of faith. One could say, well, there it is. No question that here's the gift of faith being given to someone. There's also the gift of healing. What's interesting about this passage is if you go back to the beginning in verse 1, You'll see that the context, it's just like Romans 12, the context is spiritual gifts given to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's nothing to do with unbelievers. The gift of faith is included in a whole list of gifts, the word of wisdom, healing, miracles, and tongues, et cetera. Faith is included with these gifts. These gifts are no longer exercised these gifts were given prior to the New Testament, before we had the Word of God. So God gave people the gift of faith, of being able to proclaim His Word without New Testament being written. So that gift is included with these of wisdom, healing, and promise. I don't believe those gifts are in effect today in the Church.

Now, there are many that believe that they are. The point is this, these two passages in Romans and 1 Corinthians are talking about believers and not unbelievers. So now let's head into our main passage which is Ephesians 2 and 9. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that this not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, that no man should boast.

I want you to notice I added the word this parenthetically. Because if you take a look at the word, it's talking about something that is contextually or physically near. If you were to use a pronoun that is contextually remote or far away, you would use the pronoun that. But in the Greek text, it uses the word this and not that. So it's talking about something that is contextually near. And it's critical, and we're going to see why.

Notice that the writers of the King James added, it is, because it's understood in the Greek. And in fact, when you sentence diagram this passage of scripture, you'll find that there is more than one verb that is understood that is not in the text. And there's more than one pronoun that is understood and not in the text. When the Greeks wrote, They didn't repeat pronouns and verbs all the time, especially when it's an ethnic verb like the verb is. They just didn't repeat them.

They just understood. So, let's put in to this text all the pronouns and all the verbs that are understood, and it looks like this. For by grace are you saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is not of works that no man should boast. This is what it looks like if you put in those pronouns, the two it, and the three verbs is, that are understood in the text.

Now, this is critical if I'm building up to something here, and you'll see why. What's the it? Because if faith is a gift of God, then you would translate that faith is a gift of God. What's the it? We have to define what this word this is. because this is the pronoun, babysits for noun, and it is also a pronoun, babysits for the same noun. The two it and this refer to the very same thing. Question, what is it? That's the question that we have to ask.

What's contextually near in this passage is faith and salvation. Those are the two things that are contextually near in the passage. Remember, the word this refers to something that is contextually near. So we're going to substitute for this and it the word faith. And this is what we get. For by grace are you saved through faith, and this faith is not of yourselves, this faith is the gift of God, this faith is not of work that no man should boast. Now, for all those who believe that faith is a gift of God, they want to say, let's stop right here. There it is. It just all fits. But let's press on.

And let's substitute the other thing it could be standing for, and that is salvation. So when we substitute salvation, here's what we get. For by grace are you saved through faith, and this salvation is not of yourselves, this salvation is the gift of God, this salvation is not of works, that no man should vote. Now, does that make sense? Sure does. So, there's the big question. Is faith the gift of God? Or is salvation the gift of God? So, which is it?

Well, we have a rule in grammar. A pronoun stands for some noun. And every pronoun must agree with the noun in both gender and number. If I were to say to you, Lindy is a marvelous cook because he cooks delicious meals. Does that make sense? Why? Because I used the pronoun he for Lindy. It didn't agree in gender. It agreed in number, but it didn't agree in gender. So if I said, Lindy is a marvelous cook because she cooks delicious meals, that goes together.

So the question is, what's the gender of faith? What's the gender of the pronouns this and it? If the genders agree, then the answer is that faith is a gift of God. If they don't agree, then it's salvation. If we take a look at the pronouns this and it, the gender is neuter. If we take a look at the noun faith, it's feminine. The pronouns this and it cannot stand for faith. The genders don't agree.

Therefore, we can come to the conclusion that faith is not the gift of God. Therefore, salvation is the gift of God in this passage. How does that correlate with the rest of Scripture? We come to the conclusion that personal faith is not a gift of God.

Correlation exists. that as you go through Scripture and you look up the gifts of God, if the gifts of God ever used in conjunction with faith, then you find in Scripture personal faith is never used in conjunction with the gifts of God. Gifts of God is used for other things, things like everlasting life in John chapter 4 verse 10 through 14, the gifts of God talking about the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2 verse 38 and all those other passages are listed there. The gift of God is used for justification for righteousness in Romans 5, 15, 17, and 18. The gift of God is used for Jesus Christ in 2 Corinthians 9, 15. In fact, it says that He is the unspeakable gift. So, when you look at other passages of Scripture, you don't find faith as being one of those gifts of God. The other thing is this.

Remember when Paul and Silas were in Philippi and were thrown in prison. There was that great earthquake, and they were loosened from their chains. The Philippian jailer looks down into the prison and sees these empty shackles, and Paul and Silas are not there. The Philippian jailer, knowing that it's his responsibility to keep those prisoners, and he thought they had escaped, So he took his sword, and he was just ready to plunge it into his heart, because he knew that his punishment from the Romans would be much worse. And so he thought he was just going to end it right there. Then all of a sudden, Paul and Silas see him going to plunge that sword in his heart, and they said, do thyself no harm. We're still here. He looked at Jairus, dropped that sword.

He came down and asked the question, what must I do to be saved? Now, Paul and Silas answered, well, you must receive the gift of God, you must receive the gift of faith, and then you can believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? No. They did not say that. When the Philippian jailer asked, what must I do to be saved? Paul and Silas answered, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

They didn't say that they had received the gift of faith. Just believe. There was an unbeliever. Did this unbeliever have the capacity to believe? If he didn't have the capacity to believe, Paul and Silas would never have said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Philippian jailer, who was an unbeliever, had the capacity to believe.

The point is that personal faith is how we receive the gift of salvation. When we say that personal faith is not a gift of God, there are a lot of hands that go up, and it says, I object, and the reason I object is this, that man is so depraved, so lost, man is totally unable to respond to God's wooing or drawing of man to Christ. He's totally unable because he's so lost and so depraved.

The teaching goes on, that God regenerates man first, then he can believe. The teaching is that a person must be born again before he or she can believe. This is what Reformed theology or Covenant theology teaches. And this is totally inconsistent with the clear teaching of the Word of God.

Listen, every single person ever born in this world, every person knows that there is a God. God has manifested it within every single person. Every person knows there is a God. And every single person not only knows that there's a God, but every single person knows God's eternal power.

And so God can say, in Romans chapter 1, that man is without excuse. He has no excuse not to respond to God and not to glorify Him. Because it goes on to say, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, but became vain, empty in their imagination.

In the same manner, God has also given every person the capacity and responsibility to respond to God's drawings by faith. God is ruling and drawing every man to Christ. And they have the capacity, not only the capacity, but the responsibility to respond by faith.

Faith in the gospel of Christ for salvation. So man is without excuse. There's no excuse. As you look at the total picture, salvation is totally the work of God. Faith is wholly the responsibility of man. Man does not contribute to his own salvation. God does not contribute to man's unbelief. God alone must do the saving. Man must do the believing. Those who are saved have only God to thank. Those who are lost have only themselves to blame.

Listen, no one will ever stand before God and say, I'm condemned because I wasn't given gifts of faith. No one will ever say that. All men have the responsibility to believe. God has promised to save all those who come to him through Christ. That's his absolute promise.

So, if personal faith is not a gift, What is personal faith? I've tried to summarize what personal faith is. Notice that I've added the word biblical there. Personal biblical faith is a subjective trust. That's where we come in. It's subjective from within. It's a subjective trust and rest. We do the resting in the objective truth, something that's outside of ourselves, from the Word of God. And we respond to it by faith, by resting in that objective truth. object of faith is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That personal biblical faith. Why the word biblical?

Because every single person, whether an unbeliever or believer, lives by the principle of faith. Either it's unbiblical faith or biblical faith. Every single unbeliever can only live by unbiblical faith. Every believer can either live by biblical faith or can live by unbiblical faith. You as a believer in Christ are going to be living one way or the other. The thing is that you always, always, moment by moment, every moment of your life, you're going to be walking by faith. It's going to be either biblical faith or unbiblical faith. What is unbiblical faith? Well, unbiblical faith has as its object self. Self is the object of unbiblical faith. If, as believers, we're walking in unbiblical faith, we're walking in self.

Self-sufficiency, self-worth, self-wisdom, self-esteem, you name it. All of this self. That's the way we're walking. Biblical faith rests in the object of its faith, and the object of this faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. So, it's not self-sufficiency, but Christ-sufficiency. It's not self-worth, but Christ's worth. It's not self-wisdom, but Christ's wisdom. And it's not self-esteem, but Christ's esteem.

Hebrews 12.2, I think, really describes this whole process. It says this, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. Now, I must say this, if you're looking at the King James, it has a personal pronoun in front of faith. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

That personal pronoun does not appear in the text. It was added. Now, I did add something in here. It's the word away. Looking away unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. The looking unto Jesus is a compound word. It has those parts, looking away unto Jesus. And I think that that's very significant, because we're to be looking away from self and self-interest, looking away from our problems, looking away from our trials and from our sufferings, and looking away from all of those things that self gets wrapped up with, and looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, the essence of faith, not personal faith.

He's the essence of faith. When we're wrapped up in self and self-interest and all of this self-stuff and self-pity and this trouble and the circumstances in life and all of those things, in the context of Hebrews chapter 12, it says that these are weights that weigh us down. It just weighs us down. And we can't run the race. And the Christian life is a race, and it has a goal. And the goal is a wonderful goal. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. God's eternal purpose is to share His very glory with you, the very glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's His purpose.

And self and self-interest, all of those weights can weigh us down. As we look unto Jesus and behold Him by faith, the Holy Spirit reproduces the life of Christ in us. And we're transformed. That which is being formed within us, the Holy Spirit manifests outwardly. So what's being formed in us is the very glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the very life of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit manifests that outwardly so others can see the Lord Jesus Christ through us.

This is God's eternal purpose. To share his glory with us by reproducing the life of Christ in us. How wondrous is this in your life and in my life? God is taking these earthen vessels, which are weak and fragile, and there's a big sign on them, handle with care. But God takes these vessels and manifests in us the person of Christ for the world to see.

Personal faith never thinks about that which is in ourselves as ground of rest. Personal faith receives, it loves, it apprehends what the Father has revealed in His Word. And His thought about the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom He has His rest. Is the Lord Jesus Christ your rest? Is He my rest? And my prayer today, and I'm sure your prayer, is that Jesus Christ would be our rest. Amen?