To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” 2 Peter 1:1-3.
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“Don’t worry God. I will get us started by my free will.”
“Don’t worry God. I will faithfully maintain my own faith until I die.”
It sounds ludicrous. It is ludicrous. But, that is what many think.
However, today’s Scripture teaches us: “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness” including faith which we have “received”.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. …” Ephesians 1:3-4.
“so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;” Ephesians 2:7-8.
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32.
Article 8. For this was the sovereign counsel, and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of his Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation: that is, it was the will of God, that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby he confirmed the new covenant, should effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation, and language, all those, and those only, who were from eternity chosen to salvation, and given to him by the Father; that he should confer upon them faith, which together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, he purchased for them by his death; should purge them from all sin, both original and actual, whether committed before or after believing; and having faithfully preserved them even to the end, should at last bring them free from every spot and blemish to the enjoyment of glory in his own presence forever. The Canons of Dordt SECOND HEAD OF DOCTRINE Of the Death of Christ, and the Redemption of Men Thereby.
“His divine power has granted to us everything” should also make sense to us. We were dead in sin. Ephesians 2:1. We could not spark anything, not even just a little bit of faith to get us started.
And, sin continues to plague us. Romans 7:14-25. We would certainly lose whatever little faith we could generate if we were dependent on ourselves.
“By reason of these remains of indwelling sin, and the temptations of sin and of the world, those who are converted could not persevere in a state of grace, if left to their own strength. But God is faithful, who having conferred grace, mercifully confirms, and powerfully preserves them herein, even to the end.” Article 3 The Canons of Dordt FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE Of the Perseverance of the Saints.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 