Thanks everyone.
BTW I was looking at the story of the rich young man in Matthew, Mark and Luke - the man is asking about how to get eternal life. As well as obeying the commandments Jesus said he needs to sell everything and give it to the poor. The man goes away sad and Jesus doesn't seem to tell him that he can still be saved. Also in Mark 12 and Luke 21 a poor widow is praised for giving everything she has to live on.
Ephesians 2
1And you
hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)
6And hath raised
us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus:
7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in
his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
The phrase “the gift of God is eternal life” appears in the Bible in Romans 6:23, which states,
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord”.
1 Corinthians 3
4For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I
am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5Who then is Paul, and who
is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
Faith comes from God as a gift. Missionaries may spread the word, but only God can give someone faith.
