How do we accept the free gift of salvation? Or is our acceptance required? If not why are we concerned with evangelism of the world. Why would missionaries risk their lives in Some cases if acceptamce of the gospel is not required? Seems as thoigh Jesus’ Great Commission may have been an over reach possibly? Why get man involved?
Is believing/faith a work ?
- Thread starter brightfame52
- Start date
Anyway you slice it, Eph 2:8-9 is no proof that faith the subject gift of God. In this verse it speaks of the gift being salvation and faith being the means, grammarically and sentence structure-wise. And those things matter greatly in reading the Bible as with ANY document. There should be at least grammatical agreement among people of good will and pure motives.
I truly wish there was universal understanding of Eph 2:8-9.
I truly wish there was universal understanding of Eph 2:8-9.
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FreeInChrist
Active Member
why is it needed. If grace is already a given then why add another part to it because IMO if faith is given to someone... that person really has no idea what they believe or have faith in... or more precisely have no need to know because it is all automatic.
atpollard
Active Member
What does God say?
- “for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for [His] good pleasure.” - Philippians 2:13 [NASB]
- By the power of God at work in us to desire the gift.
- "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” - Ezekiel 36:26 [NASB]
- By the power of God to replace a dead heart with a living heart.
- “The king's heart is [like] channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He pleases.” - Proverbs 21:1 [NASB]
- Is our heart greater than that of the king?
“for with the heart [a person] believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” - Romans 10:10 [NASB]
It begins with the HEART, and our heart is in the hands of God.
FreeInChrist
Active Member
Good questions.
IMO that depends on if your are predestined in mind or free will. I once was predestined... now I am free will.
IMO God foreknowledge is part of things not predestination....
My signature says it better .....
‘Those whom He foreknew He also predestined’ (Romans 8:29) does not mean God arbitrarily picked some and rejected others with no regard to anything about us.
It means~ In eternity past, God looked down the corridor of time with perfect foreknowledge and saw who would freely say ‘Yes’ to Jesus when the gospel was offered — and every single one of those people He joyfully marked out in advance (‘predestined’) to be adopted, justified, sanctified, and glorified.
So predestination is God’s loving response to the free ‘Yes’ He already knew you would give — not a divine decree that forces or overrides your choice.
He foreknew your willing faith, and because He saw it, He predestined you to become exactly like His Son.
brightfame52
Active Member
If and when someone teaches that salvation/justification is based upon a condition performed by man, like faith or repentance, water baptism, its synonymous to teaching that they are justified/saved by a law, a work of theirs, so by their merit, which is contrary to grace, Rom 4:4
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 6
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 6
brightfame52
Active Member
Faith is the Gift of God, its by Grace given in salvation. In the original Faith has the definite article for "the faith" its not a faith sourced out of the natural man, the flesh. Are you willing to say the faith in Eph 2:8 is of oneself? Yes or no
brightfame52
Active Member
No scripture says Faith is man's responsibility. Faith is a Gift of Grace. If you believe faith/believing is the sinner's responsibility, a condition they meet in order for God to save them, then that's works based salvation and not grace based salvation.
brightfame52
Active Member
To believe on Christ who has saved us by grace, to know it, its good news
I say faith is man’s response to the free gift of salvation as Eph 2:8-9 actually says grammatically. Faith comes from hearing or reading the word of God. The Spirit of God IS involved HOW it affects our heart, man has a response to make to the free give of salvation. It is known that people allow themselves to stifle that and then reject the gospel. I know people who have renected the Spirit’s call in scriptures. I bet you do to. It isn’t a robotic irresistable thing. WE must have a faith response to the Gospel either Yah or Nay. Jesus knocks at the door. We answer or slam it shut. He will OT kick the door to our beart down. Do we then save ourselves? Not in any way! It is God doing the saving. Our response adds nothing but acceptance of the 100% free gift. The Great Commission was Jesus’s command to spread the gospel message, otherwise why wouldn’t God just appropriate that salvation to those he has foreknown or predestined? The best sermon I ever heard was about the question is salvation by the sovereignty of God or as a result of free will. He concluded it was BOTH. He adequtely supported that with scriptures in my mind at the time. My acceptance of the gospel does not cheapen the priceless gift of salvation for me. God gets ALL the glory because he did it all, no question, no doubts in my mind.
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Tothalordbeallglory
Active Member
sirs what must I DO to be SAVED
BELEIVE on JESUS THE CHRIST . yes indeed my friend . No faith , no salvation .
To the trenches one and to the trenches all
a koran kissing and budda statue kissing sin accepting false gospel is literally
doing all to replace the one true gospel of YE must absolutely BELEIVE IN JESUS to be saved .
And this sheep dont feast from no gospel of anti christ at all .
For any other gospel , IS NO GOSPEL and it will not save one single soul but will damn them all .
We truly need to get far f rom anything ecumenincal and right now . The ol
record keeps playing and by grace shall continue to play , GET them people OUT of anything ecumenical and now .
As I said this offer by God can be turned down by a stiff necked person. I personally KNOW such people. It is BOTH the sovereignty of God and man’s free will. (Offerthen Acceptance or a Turn Down) Jesus knocks at the door, he doesn’t bully man into accepting the free gift. If someone accepts the free gift, the gift remains free, no cost is added by acceptance. The recipient counts the cost of dying to self and humbly reaches out to receive or walks away. Otherwise who would fail to be saved?
2 Tim 3-4
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FreeInChrist
Active Member
Perfect.
brightfame52
Active Member
Mans response in the flesh, and not Gods Gracious Gift, then that's works
brightfame52
Active Member
I would say, no Salvation Grace, no Faith. You must believe Salvation Faith is of oneself ? That contradicts Eph 2:8
brightfame52
Active Member
If salvation is the gracious gift as it grammatically says, then fine. You can’t ignore the grammar. THROUGH Faith is grammatically the means of acceptance in that sentence. If there is no grammar rules, we can’t know anything for sure and defend it.
brightfame52
Active Member
Faith is either a Gift of Grace given by God, or its a product of the flesh which then makes it a work of man. Take your pick
No it’s what the verse says the gift is grammatically. The gift is salvation. I didn’t write it, sorry. Rules of grammar must apply, or we all went to school in vain.
brightfame52
Active Member
The person believes because of the grace that has saved him Eph 2:8
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