How does a person get saving faith?

[zoidar]

I know how I got saved. But how would you say a person gets saving faith? Feel free to share how you got faith.

 

[Tolworth John]

Eph 2:8+9. Faith is the gift of God.

 

[d taylor]

I believed the evidence presented in the Bible narrowing that down to the Gospel of John.
That Jesus is who He said He is, The promised Messiah (son of God) from the Old Testament prophecies. And i trusted in The Messiah for the Gift of His Eternal Life.

So simply stated, i believe the promise of God for Eternal life.

 

[GenemZ]

I know how I got saved. But how would you say a person gets saving faith? Feel free to share how you got faith.

This is how we get it...


Romans 10:17 Faith comes by hearing the Gospel message!

Faith is the Word of God that has been received and BELIEVED by someone..

Its that simple. I can not understand why some try to make it seem so nebulous and complex.

Faith is not a feeling. Though faith may cause feelings to arise.

Faith is given by someone.... giving the Word of God, and leaving the results in the hands of the Holy Spirit. An atheist without knowing it may even give someone the Word, which God uses to bring another faith. To someone who believes what what was said.

Merry Christmas

 

[Ahermit]

By unconditionally loving the Truth.

 

[Acts2:38]

I know how I got saved. But how would you say a person gets saving faith? Feel free to share how you got faith.

All combined, the only way to the Father in heaven is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6-7) and we must do the following to be in a relationship with the Father:

1. Hear the word - Romans 10:17, Matthew 7:24-27
2. Believe the word is true and believe in Jesus - Hebrews 11:6, Mark 16-15-16 (not faith only), James 2:24, John 12:42.
3. Repent of your sins and transgressions - Act 2:38, Acts 17:30-31, Luke 13:3.
4. Confess Jesus is the Son of God - Matthew 10:32-33, Acts 8:36-37.
5. Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and to place you in Christ so Jesus can add you to His church and translate you into the Kingdom of God: Acts 2:38, Acts 2:47, Colossians 1:12-14.
   • Purpose: Acts 2:38, Mark 16:15-16, Acts 22:16, 1 Peter 3:20-21, Acts 10:48, John 3:5; Luke 7:30. Read 2 Corinthians 5:17 with Galatians 3:27.
   • Action: Romans 6:3-5, Acts 8:36-38, Mark 1:9-10, John 3:23.
6. Remain faithful until death - Revelation 2:10

All of these in total, are what is told to have salvation.

 

[bling]

Eph 2:8+9. Faith is the gift of God.

I’m not sure what you are trying to get across with Eph. 2:8



I can look up genders and dust off my Greek New Testament, but here is what Barnes and Robertson have to say and they do an honest job as far as I can tell:



And that not of yourselves - That is, salvation does not proceed from yourselves. The word rendered "that" - ͂ touto - is in the neuter gender, and the word "faith" - ́ pistis - is in the feminine. The word "that," therefore, does not refer particularly to faith, as being the gift of God, but to "the salvation by grace" of which he had been speaking. This is the interpretation of the passage which is the most obvious, and which is now generally conceded to be the true one; see Bloomfield. Many critics, however, as Doddridge, Beza, Piscator, and Chrysostom, maintain that the word "that" ( ͂ touto ) refers to "faith" ( ́ pistis ); and Doddridge maintains that such a use is common in the New Testament. As a matter of grammar this opinion is certainly doubtful, if not untenable; but as a matter of theology it is a question of very little importance.





Robertson, on the topic of pronouns, wrote:

9. Gender and Number of outos. ... In general, like other adjectives, outos agrees with its substantive in gender and number, whether predicate or attributive. ... In Eph. 2:8 , ..., there is no reference to pisteos in touto, but rather to the idea of salvation in the clause before. (A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the New Testament, p.704)



Robertson, on the topic of particles, wrote:

(ii) Kai. ... The Mere Connective ('And') ... kai tauta (frequent in ancient Greek). See in particular Eph. 2:8 , kai touto ouk ex umon, where touto refers to the whole conception, not to chariti. (A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the New Testament, pp. 1181-1182)



Robertson, on the topic of prepositions, wrote:

(d) dia ... 3. 'Passing Between' or 'Through.' The idea of interval between leads naturally to that of passing between two objects or parts of objects. 'Through' is thus not the original meaning of dia, but is a very common one. ... The agent may also be expressed by dia. This function was also performed in the ancient Greek, through, when means or instrument was meant, the instrumental case was commonly employed. dia is thus used with inanimate and animate objects. Here, of course, the agent is conceived as coming in between the non-attainmnet and the attainment of the object in view. ... Abstract ideas are frequently so expressed, as sesosmenoi dia pisteos (Eph. 2:8 ), ... (A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the New Testament, pp. 580-582)





"Gift" and "faith," are both nouns and would not need to agree. However, agreement in gender is necessary between a pronoun and its antecedent. The demonstrative pronoun will change its gender to match the previous noun (or other substantive) to which it refers.

This verse tells us that the antecedent for "This" is also the "gift of God." But the "gift" cannot be "faith" because there is no agreement in gender between "faith" and the demonstrative pronoun, "touto" (This).



You can look up lots of Greek scholars work and let me know if you find any one disagreeing with this, because I have not among scholars.

 

[bling]

I know how I got saved. But how would you say a person gets saving faith? Feel free to share how you got faith.

All mature adults have been gifted with a faith and can use it to extend faith to things and others, but saving faith comes when you direct your God given faith toward the Creator.

 

[GenemZ]

All combined, the only way to the Father in heaven is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6-7) and we must do the following to be in a relationship with the Father:

1. Hear the word - Romans 10:17, Matthew 7:24-27
2. Believe the word is true and believe in Jesus - Hebrews 11:6, Mark 16-15-16 (not faith only), James 2:24, John 12:42.
3. Repent of your sins and transgressions - Act 2:38, Acts 17:30-31, Luke 13:3.
4. Confess Jesus is the Son of God - Matthew 10:32-33, Acts 8:36-37.
5. Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and to place you in Christ so Jesus can add you to His church and translate you into the Kingdom of God: Acts 2:38, Acts 2:47, Colossians 1:12-14.
   • Purpose: Acts 2:38, Mark 16:15-16, Acts 22:16, 1 Peter 3:20-21, Acts 10:48, John 3:5; Luke 7:30. Read 2 Corinthians 5:17 with Galatians 3:27.
   • Action: Romans 6:3-5, Acts 8:36-38, Mark 1:9-10, John 3:23.
6. Remain faithful until death - Revelation 2:10

All of these in total, are what is told to have salvation.

You added a whole bunch of works to salvation in there.

We are not saved by works.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one
can boast." Eph 2:8-9​

Your repent clipping of Acts 2:38 is ripping it out of its context.

Peter was preaching to unbelieving JEWS who were resisting Jesus. It was not about their sins and transgressions. They already knew about that from the Law!

When he told them to "repent." He was telling them that they needed to change their minds about Jesus Christ. NOT about their sins! Legalism does that tact. Its wrong and anti-grace.


Context!

This is who Peter was addressing in Acts 2:38.

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David
died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.Act 2:29​

Please... Learn. Don't grab verses out of their context and slap subjective meaning to it. Learn to study the context to discover what it was talking about. Please. Lot of legalistic preachers out there today. We need to learn the Bible accurately and find grace for our souls.

Merry Christmas

 

[IntriKate]

It is simple just believe and love will follow

 

[Acts2:38]

You added a whole bunch of works to salvation in there.

No I didnt. Its right there in scripture. You see those verses?

John 6:29

You do realize believe is a verb? You have to do something.

Repenting is doing something.
Confessing is doing something.

What? You are not suppose to do that for salvation? Please.

We are not saved by works.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one
can boast." Eph 2:8-9

He's talking about work based merit grace. Yeah, grace is a free gift. I agree. But the condition for that free gift is that you have to Mark 16:16.

John 3:16 implies condition. "whosoever believeth" (verb- you have to do something).

Story time:
A friend has a free gift and asks if you could come over and pick it up.

Q: Did you earn that free gift?

Q: Is there a condition?

Q: Any action involved in this process?

Now apply it to grace:

1 It is a free gift no one has earned

2 The conditions are the verses I have applied previously up until now.

3 The actions involved are Hearing, Believing, Repenting, Confessing, being Baptized, and Remaining Faithful. It equals salvation.

Your repent clipping of Acts 2:38 is ripping it out of its context.

Peter was preaching to unbelieving JEWS who were resisting Jesus. It was not about their sins and transgressions. They already knew about that from the Law!

When he told them to "repent." He was telling them that they needed to change their minds about Jesus Christ. NOT about their sins! Legalism does that tact. Its wrong and anti-grace.

I dont believe I am ripping it out of context. I may throw out a clip of a verse, but that is to drive the point home. Before I grab a verse, the rule of thumb is to read 10 before and 10 after at the very least.

Yes, he is preaching to Jews (Acts 2:5, see also Acts 1).

Yes, it is indeed about their sins and transgressions (Acts 2:36-38 see also previous verses in Peters speech).

I mean, it literally states this. Also, they are repenting for the remission of sins. The Greek word for (eis) never even implies anything like "because" as some like to think.

Thayers states that Acts 2:38 "repent" means -
to change one's mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins

So tell me again, how did I take this out of context again?

Please... Learn. Don't grab verses out of their context and slap subjective meaning to it. Learn to study the context to discover what it was talking about. Please.

How arrogant this statement is. In your attempts to belittle me and my "study" you've actually shown your ignorance in scripture.

You got problems with my study? Take it up with WVBS in Texas. Thats where I studied.

Got a problem with the scripture I placed? Take it up with God.

My reading comprehension is just fine as well. Tested and tried. The bible is at a 6th grade reading level pending on the version you got. I think I can manage it.

The bible is not hard to understand, it is made hard by those who have itching ears and compromise truth.

Lot of legalistic preachers out there today.

If you mean "legalistic" as in following the bible word to the letter/ not compromising scripture, sure. I gladly accept that label. We dont have enough of those types of ministers and evangelists.

 

[zoidar]

Merry Christmas to all of you! I'm trying to explain to a friend what I believe, only to notice I'm not fully sure.

This is what I got to.

1. You turn away from your old life giving your life to Christ. Then you get the Holy Spirit and are born again.

2. You keep living in service to your master Jesus.

The strange part is, what if you stop living in service to Christ, do you lose salvation only to regain it when living for Christ again. Then it feels like you can easily move back and forward from being saved to not being saved. That sounds wrong, so I don't know.

 

[GenemZ]

No I didnt. Its right there in scripture. You see those verses?

John 6:29

You do realize believe is a verb? You have to do something.

Repenting is doing something.
Confessing is doing something.

What? You are not suppose to do that for salvation? Please.

Like I said. It was Jews that the "repent" passage you referred to was dealing with. Repent meant "to change ones thinking." What was these Jews Peter was addressing problem? They were resisting the one they needed to believe in. Nothing about sins was mentioned. "Repent you Jews! Stop resisting Jesus! Believe in Him and be saved!" (that was Peter's message)

OK... now defend the error you want to believe if you wish. I will stick with "understanding."

Here is salvation!

He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must
I do to be saved?”
.
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will
be saved—you and your household.” Acts 16:30-31
​

That salvation invite was given to gentiles. Not Jews! The gentiles were not taught by the Pharisees to reject Jesus like Jews were being told. They had no bias or prejudice to change their thinking about!

Therefore, the gentiles had no need to "repent." Its not mentioned to repent! Is it? LOOK! For those gentiles had no pre-conditioning that would make them want to resist and refuse to believe in Jesus. That is what the Jews needed to repent of. Repent by them stop rejecting Jesus because of the lies the Pharisees told them!

The gentile jailer's and his family in Acts were told simply - believe to be saved. No mention of repentance!

Whatever happened after those gentiles were to be saved? Was not what was needed to first become saved. You are now making it a requirement! It is an error.

Not rightly dividing the Word of God.

Please... Learn.

 

[GenemZ]

Merry Christmas to all of you! I'm trying to explain to a friend what I believe, only to notice I'm not fully sure.

This is what I got to.

1. You turn away from your old life giving your life to Christ. Then you get the Holy Spirit and are born again.

First we believed, and then received the Holy Spirit as the result of our belief. For its is God who must change you by grace! For,it will take His power of grace to make us able to change!

To demand changing to be saved? That is getting the cart before the horse.

Its also saying we naturally have the power to change if we wish to. You can not break addiction by simple choosing to. It takes power to stop.

Addiction does not have to mean drugs, or sex. We can be addicted to acting a certain way as to try to gain the approval of others. The Holy Spirit will strip away us being a phony if we are acting a certain way to conform to the world's way of thinking.

God will break the addiction of needing the approval from the world, if the Spirit in us has His way with us.

Come as you are. Believe in your weaknesses. God saves us in spite of ourselves. Then, the working out of our salvation in fear and trembling will begin.. By God's initiative.

..If I am drowning how do I get saved?

Learn to swim first.. and then call a lifeguard!


grace and peace

 

[Acts2:38]

It was Jews that the "repent" passage you referred to was dealing with. Repent meant "to change ones thinking." What was these Jews Peter was addressing problem? They were resisting the one they needed to believe in. Nothing about sins was mentioned. "Repent you Jews! Stop resisting Jesus! Believe in Him and be saved!" (that was Peter's message)

Again....
Yes, he is preaching to Jews (Acts 2:5, see also Acts 1).

Yes, it is indeed about their sins and transgressions (Acts 2:36-38 see also previous verses in Peters speech).

I mean, it literally states this. Also, they are repenting for the remission of sins. The Greek word for (eis) never even implies anything like "because" as some like to think.

Thayers states that Acts 2:38 "repent" means -
to change one's mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Can you not understand that? And if not, please explain.

OK... now defend the error you want to believe if you wish. I will stick with "understanding."

Here is salvation!

He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must
I do to be saved?”
.
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will
be saved—you and your household.” Acts 16:30-31

Umm, you do realize that they got baptized into Christ right? It does not say they were saved before being baptized. Paul merely states to believe (a verb sir, you have to do something) and then spoke the word of the Lord, then washed their stripes and were baptized - Believing.

30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

The error is on your end for trying to twist words and context. I am not that naive to be tricked into changing the meaning of words to believe false doctrines.

Those gentiles were told simply to believe to be saved.

Yeah they were told, then did as would dictate. Verse 33. Same as the Ethiopian you know. Acts 8.

Whatever happened after those gentiles were saved? Was not what was needed to first become saved. You are making it a requirement! It is error.

No, I am not making the requirement. It is in scripture.

You believe that confessing is needed right?

What about repenting?

But then you stop there and say baptism is not needed in the face of all of Acts? Thats just silly.

The Ethiopian came to a conclusion in Acts 8 after hearing the word. And that conclusion was...

"See, here is water, what hinders me?"

"If you believe, you may..."

"They both went down into the water"

The Ethiopian THEN rejoiced.

Did the Ethiopian rejoice before or after being baptized?

Theres your answer.

 

[GenemZ]

Yeah they were told, then did as would dictate. Verse 33. Same as the Ethiopian you know. Acts 8.



No, I am not making the requirement. It is in scripture.

You believe that confessing is needed right?

What about repenting?

But then you stop there and say baptism is not needed in the face of all of Acts? Thats just silly.

The Ethiopian came to a conclusion in Acts 8 after hearing the word. And that conclusion was...

"See, here is water, what hinders me?"

"If you believe, you may..."

"They both went down into the water"

The Ethiopian THEN rejoiced.

Did the Ethiopian rejoice before or after being baptized?

Theres your answer.

Please consider the following:

How much NT doctrine did anyone know when the Church age first began? Practically zero? Yes! They only knew the Law and OT customs.

When the Ethiopian eunuch saw water? He was still thinking about "John the Baptist"s old way. Yet, Jesus taught some of his disciples about the new baptism that was to replace the old water baptism.

Since they were slow to catch on? After all..They were being distracted by one amazing thing after another. The ability to concentrate was going to take some time for the new realities to settle in..

We now read of examples of water baptisms when the church age began. Why? Because, no one yet knew anything different.


After his resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples various times before returning to Heaven.

One day he appeared to his disciples and said the following. Keep in mind. Not until Jesus ascended and was glorified could the Spirit be given. All they knew? "Water baptism."

So, Jesus tells them of what was to take place soon after... Look at what Jesus said was to CHANGE!

For John baptized with water, but in a few days
you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:5​

John's baptism was to be REPLACED. Jesus said so. But some today tell us it was never said when they continue to make the baptism by water.

The disciples were understandably going to be slow to catch on in the very beginning. Its understandable because no church age doctrine had been openly taught yet. They only knew their OT old ways and of water baptism. So, they thought they were doing the right thing after they were saved at the beginning of the church age.

That is why we will see in the Bible about water baptisms still taking place in the beginning of the church age. Their intentions were very good. Yet, they were in need to learn the new church-age realities they never saw before the Church age began. Realities that no one had ever heard of before. So, they were allowed by God to make such mistakes in the beginning. God understood, and was merciful.

But, God also wants us to grow. To become knowledgeable in truth and eventually wise in our thinking with God's Word. In the early days they had been with excuse. And, likewise, as a baby Christian today, we are allowed to make certain mistakes as well. Then...

But, there comes a point God when wants us to begin to grow up. To mature in wisdom in Christ. He is the Word. (John 1:1) We need to mature in the Word.

John the Baptist!

I baptize you with water, but he will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:8

​

John the Baptist was telling his hearers that his water baptism was to be REPLACED with something different and new. It was something unheard of before Jesus was glorified. For the Spirit could not be given until after Jesus ascended back to Heaven!

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living
water will flow from within them." By this he meant the Spirit,
whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to
that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had
not yet been glorified."John 7:38-39​

grace and peace...

 

[Acts2:38]

When the Ethiopian eunuch saw water? He was still thinking like "John the Baptist"s old way.

False. The passages the Ethiopian was looking at was about Jesus. Acts 8 nowhere near mentions anything about John. Philip taught him about Jesus the Christ. Teaching Christ inherently involves baptism as part of repenting and confessing and all the rest.

Your grasping.

John's baptism was to be REPLACED!

I agree, it was replaced.

Johns baptism was a transitional period. It was done before Christs death on the cross. After Christs death, Johns baptism was replaced for baptism into Christ by using water.

You figure verses like 1 Peter 3
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Combine Romans 6
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection

No one is "buried" by the Holy Spirit baptism, rather, it "falls" on people.

Also, Holy Spirit baptism happened only 2 times in scripture and never again. One might even possibly argue 3 with Saul/Paul but thats it.

Acts 2 with the disciples ONLY no one else had it this way.

Acts 10 with Cornelius, friends and household ONLY no one else. And Cornelius and group was STILL commanded to be baptized.

Ignorance is no excuse anymore bud.

Oh, and FYI
Acts 19
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

You know they were baptized right? This is water here, not Holy Spirit baptism. They got the Holy Spirit later to get miracles/gifts.

Toodles!

 

[charsan]

I know how I got saved. But how would you say a person gets saving faith? Feel free to share how you got faith.

By their choice to believe

 

[charsan]

The strange part is, what if you stop living in service to Christ, do you lose salvation only to regain it when living for Christ again.

Yes, we must run the race. God will help us and give us strength but He will never force us to follow Him, it is voluntary

 

[GenemZ]

Toodles!

That was the most accurate thing you said. Thank you.