Christian - Where did your faith come from?

You placed your trust in Christ as Savior and Lord. You came to Him in repentance and faith. You were the one taking those actions. God did not exercise faith for you. On this point the monergist (reformed) person and the syngergist (arminian) agrees. However, we then need to ask the deeper question which is "where did this faith come from?" Was it found in the natural ability of the unregenerate heart or was it something God gave as a gift?

Does Scripture address this issue? The answer is a resounding "yes."

Do all people have faith? The answer is no. "Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith." 2 Thess 3:1, 2

So where did the faith come from? Clearly it is God's gift to His elect people.

Phil 1:29 says, "It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake..."

Our minds tend to focus on the suffering part of the verse, but notice that the faith (believe) part is also something GRANTED to God's people.

Peter in writing his second letter to God's elect people ("This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved" whom he had called God's elect in the first letter "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion...") wrote "Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1: 1)

Heb 12: 2 "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith..."

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

We need to ask the question, what exactly is meant by the one word "that" in Ephesians 2:8. We know that whatever it is, it is the gift of God, but can we determine exactly what this gift is? Some say that the gift is "faith" while others say it is "grace" and still others say it is "salvation." What may be a point of dispute from the reading of the English translations becomes settled when looking into the original Greek text.

Putting it in terms we can hopefully all understand, the Greek word for "that" is transliterated into English as touto and is in a neuter form. The way to determine what it refers to is to look for the other neuter in the immediate context. That's how the issue would normally be resolved, except that in this particular case, there isn't one. "Grace" is feminine; "have been saved" is masculine, and "faith" is also in a feminine form. In this case then, what the "that" refers to is all in the preceding clause. The grace, the salvation and the faith - all of these things - is the gift of God.

We are justified by grace alone through faith in Christ alone and even the faith we exercise is God's gift.