Question:
Previous to your radio show I heard a pastor Rogers say that not only is salvation a gift of God but faith is a gift of God. He went on to say that “it is God’s grace that gives us that faith, we do not generate faith, we are totally depraved by nature, there is nothing in us that could generate faith, our faith is a gift of God’s grace”, and that “God must give us faith.” Where does the Bible say that “faith” is a gift of God? Romans 10:17, doesn’t say that it is a gift, in which he used to support his position. To me, Romans 10:17, and other passages in the Word, are saying that after we hear the Word of God, we can either believe or not believe, and that is the only thing that we do to be saved. Is it true that God gives us our faith?
Answer:
It doesn’t say in the Bible that “Faith is the Gift of God”. This is coming from the teaching of John Calvin who taught that God saves us and then faith is a consequence of being saved and not the means of being saved. Often Ephesians 2:8 is used to defend this position. The phrase “and that not of yourselves” is applied to faith. Eph 2:8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” The phrases “and that not of yourselves:” and “it is the gift of God:” are all neuter in the Greek language. This means that they have to refer back to a neuter subject. Guess what? The word ‘faith’ in Greek is feminine so these phrases cannot refer to ‘faith’. What is neuter subject in this verse? SALVATION! So SALVATION is not of ourselves and SALVATION is the gift of God. Everyone is able to exercise choice in accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ. Read John 3:16.