Saving Faith Is a Gift of God's Grace

What Happened To My Heart?

As a growing child of God, it seems only natural to wonder: What changed in me that made me suddenly understand the gospel? What happened in my heart that made me see my need for Jesus and believe? How did the sins I used to love turn bitter to my taste?

These questions have beautiful, profound, soul-humbling and God-glorifying answers that run deep throughout the Bible. Many great works have been written to explain the multifaceted work of God the Holy Spirit in bringing a person from death to life, from unbelief and rejection to saving faith and love for God. For the purposes of this short article, however, I simply want to consider the origins of saving faith. In particular, I want to look at one specific verse where the true origins of saving faith are revealed to us with surprising simplicity and unmistakable clarity. But first, let’s set the stage by defining some terms.

Saving Faith

The major point that I hope you will take away from this post is that saving faith is a gift of God, (Eph. 2:8). Such faith is not something man produces within himself, (Jn. 1:11-13). As sobering as it is to recognize, it is important to understand that if God does not grant this undeserved gift to a sinner, their heart remains unchanged, unbelieving, and unredeemed, (Heb. 11:6). If God does not mercifully, powerfully, and irresistibly intervene in our suicidal rebellion against him, we freely and willfully continue plodding our path to perdition, (I Cor. 1:18).

So what is saving faith? According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, saving faith is first and foremost faith that is “in Jesus Christ.” “Faith” as a thing in itself, no matter how sincerely exercised, is no grounds of salvation or favor with God. The only faith which unites a soul to salvation is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, (Acts 4:12). Such faith is properly further understood as “a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon [Christ] alone for salvation,” not according to our own preferences, ideas, or inventions, but rather “as he is offered to us in the gospel,” (WSC #86).

To put it into my own words, saving faith is a free and unmerited gift, granted only to undeserving sinners, according to God’s sovereign grace, through which we personally receive an irrevocable share in the full salvation accomplished for us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salvation is not the result of man’s works, man’s efforts, man’s desires, or man’s designs, (Jn. 6:63). If man is left to himself, he remains dead in his sins, hostile to God, and unwilling to repent and concede the throne of his heart and be saved, (Jn. 6:65). Sin is sometimes misunderstood as a little bit of bad mixed into a person who is otherwise mostly good. But this is not what the Bible teaches, (Rm. 3:12). Sin has so corrupted our hearts that no part of our being is left untainted (Eph. 4:17-19), and our whole will is governed by our rebellious nature (Eph. 2:1-3), leading us to continually reject the only hope of life (II Thess. 2:10).

To Whom Does Paul Give Thanks?

This is why when Paul sees faith at work in the hearts and lives of those to whom he has been ministering the gospel, he does not congratulate them, he gives thanks to God, (I Thess. 2:13)! He does not tell the people “Good job for working up faith in yourselves!” No, much to the contrary, he gives praise to God for granting the gift of saving faith to sinful hearts that did nothing to deserve to receive such a priceless treasure, (Ezek. 37:3-5)! If this were not so, then what sense could be made of Paul’s words in Romans 1:8? Why would Paul be thanking God for the faith of the Christians in Rome unless God was the benevolent benefactor of such faith?

“I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world,” (Rom. 1:8).

We can see in this simple verse that Paul indeed recognizes that it is the personal trust of the people and truly their own faith at work by his words "your faith." Nevertheless, he also traces this faith back to its true source by saying, "I thank my God" for its existence and for its work throughout this world. Paul knows that saving faith is a gift and he knows the one who has graciously granted it. This is why Christians everywhere can and should heartily declare that it is “because of him,”—God almighty—that “you are in Christ Jesus…” (I Cor. 1:30).

To Whom Should We Give Thanks?

So what is it that happened to your heart, dear Christian, (Ez. 36:25-27)? What made you suddenly understand your sin, behold the Lord Jesus Christ as the most precious treasure of all, and cling to him with saving faith that has united your soul to everlasting life? What change has taken place within you?

I hope that you can now see that it was the merciful gift of God that changed your heart; an undeserved gift of his sovereign grace, (I Thess. 1:4). He saved you, (Tit. 3:5). He has set his love upon you, (Eph. 1:4-5). He gave you the saving faith by which you have come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and so be saved, (Jn. 20:31).

May our hearts learn more and more to offer back to God the thanksgiving and praise which he is due! He has looked upon us, his enemies, with sympathy and compassion. He has saved us from the wrath we deserved. He has granted us forgiveness, redemption, and life through the priceless blood of his Son, (Eph. 1:7). He is ever-worthy of our worship!

“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.”
(I Tim. 1:17).