The Source of Obedient Faith

In a recent article, I made the case that faith is an act of obedience to the command of God to believe in the Son (Obedient Faith: Redefining Success for Christians). We see this in 1st John 3:23-24 (NASB1995), "23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." But what gives us the power to follow this command in obedient faith to believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ?

I believe that power comes from God alone, and that is why we give Him glory for our redemption, because even our belief in His Son is granted to us.

Paul, while in prison, shortly after explaining how his sufferings have aided the cause of Christ, wrote to the saints at Philippi in Philippians 1:29 (NASB1995), “29 For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake”. Paul is showing us here that our sufferings for the cause of the Gospel are granted by God, and also our belief in Christ to begin with is granted by God. Thus, we can rest assured that the source of our belief comes ultimately from God as a gracious gift, a gracious granting. While this is a mysterious thing that is hard to comprehend; we must make no mistake about where the ultimate source of our belief propagates: from God Himself.

But why does God need to grant us belief? I would say a better question is why does God grant us belief at all? For He owes us nothing. He grants us belief for two reasons: (1) He really loves us, and (2) it glorifies Him. But to address the former question, without that granting from God, couldn’t we just form belief in the Messiah on our own volition, as Christ obeyed the Father on His own volition?

Here lies two great differences between us and the Christ: (1) Christ is sinless, and (2) we are sinful. We must have belief given to us due to our fallen state. By our very nature we are opposed to God and the Law of God (as we see in Romans 8:5-9). It’s not that we don’t have a choice to believe in Christ before God grants us belief, it’s just that due to our will being in bondage to sin and our mind being set on the flesh, we will always choose sin over God until God graces us with the ability to place our faith in Him.

Paul outlines the state of the fallen man in Romans 3:9-12 (NASB1995), “9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” Further exemplifying man’s bondage to sin in their flesh, we read in Romans 8:5-8 (NASB1995), “5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

It is clear in Scripture that no one in their fallen state (outside of God’s grace), will be able to do any of the following: (1) understand God, (2) seek God, (3) do good actions, (4) subject themselves to the law of God (they cannot truly obey God’s law because they do not have faith), and (5) please God in any way whatsoever.

When Paul so clearly lays out the picture of the fallen state of man (in Ephesians he even says we are dead in our sins and trespasses!), how can we then say that man (a spiritually dead creature who cannot please God) will choose God? Choosing God is pleasing to God, placing faith in Christ is pleasing to the Father, thus, completely within their own self, outside of God’s powerful grace working in them to begin with, the fallen creature wants nothing to do with God. It is a contradiction in biblical terms to say that man alone chooses God, and that of his own volition, without the influence of God. Man needs God’s grace to even be able to choose God in the first place.

Now, to this point, the Armenians and Calvinists agree; it is whether that grace of God is prevenient (genuinely offered and provided, but yet still may be resisted by the human will) or irresistible (effective and will be embraced by those who experience it) is something that’s been debated for ages. I find both to be compelling arguments; although, I think if we read John 6 carefully, there is strong evidence that irresistible grace is the mechanism by which the Father acts.

In John 6:37-40 (NASB1995), Christ speaks to the mechanism by which men are drawn and given to the Son, “37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” And in John 6:44 (NASB1995) we read, “44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” While there is much debate as to the meaning of this passage. I think if you read it in order and take it at face value, it is clear what mechanism of grace it is by which the Father acts. We see clearly that people can only come to Christ if they are drawn by the Father, and that these people who are drawn are given to the Son, and none of these people gifted to the Son will be lost; therefore, all of them will be raised up on the last day.

To me, since the words of Christ demonstrate that none of these who are drawn will be lost, and that all of them will be raised up on the last day, that the grace they experienced was irresistible. For if it was resistible, then some of those who were drawn by the Father would have been lost.

Therefore, all who are given to the Son by the Father will come to the Son and will be raised up (we are a gift from the Father to the Son); thus, the viewpoint that these individuals are the elect, those who will place their trust in the Son as a result of the Father’s drawing (6:44), is textually substantiated. God’s beautiful mechanism of grace laid out for us in crystal clear language by our Messiah.

And how do we know that those who are drawn by the Father will ultimately place their trust in the Son for salvation? Because Christ promises to raise these individuals up on the last day. Every single one of them. Thus, all who are drawn by the Father, are a gift from the Father to the Son, and will inherit eternal life because they will place their trust in Christ as their Messiah. I feel like I’m talking in circles at this point.

But the point is this, when we obey the command of God to believe in the Son, it is all to God’s glory because even our desire and choice to obey this command is a result of His grace initially acting in us and drawing us to the Son. Thus, our obedient faith comes as a result of grace! So how can we boast? We cannot. And that is why Paul’s point that we are not saved by works is even more drastic.

Now, does this mean we are simply robots who are forced to believe in Christ? Absolutely not! The difference is that when the Father draws us and gifts us to the Son, we genuinely want a relationship with the Son of God, we genuinely want to place our faith in Him and follow Him, because we finally see Him for who He is. We aren’t being forced to do anything. We just now actually want what we need most.
 
Cite: Faucett, D. (2024). The Source of Obedient Faith. Science Faith & Reasoning. Retrieved from: ​https://www.scifr.com/articles/the-source-of-obedient-faith

Daniel T. Faucett

M.S. Biology
​Director of Science Faith & Reasoning
Host of Science Faith & Reasoning podcast and Coffee With John Calvin ​podcast