For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. – Romans 8:5

As we have been spending time in the Word studying Hebrews 11 we have looked at “faith” by defining what it is (taking God at His Word) and what its object must be (Jesus) and now we are going to answer another question about the nature of saving faith, namely, “Where does faith come from?”

We will examine Romans 10:17, Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 5:22-23, and several other key texts that will help us identify where saving faith comes from. In order to affirm the positive about where faith comes from we must first expose the negative, that is, we must explain where faith does not come from. Not only will this sweep away several myths floating around the evangelical world, it will also give us a clean foundation upon which to build with the Word of God as we answer the question about where faith really does originate.

So what are a few of the incorrect answers out there about where faith comes from and how do we know that they are indeed wrong answers? Let’s look to the Scriptures and allow the Spirit to expose doctrinal error where we find it.

Faith Does Not Come from the Heart

The first error we will examine is the idea that faith is produced in the hearts of men. This would be explained as if every man, fallen or saved, has the ability in his own heart without any input or influence from the outside to chose to believe or not believe the Word of God or the gospel. Faith is there, lying dormant until awakened by the yearning of the heart.

Does every person have the ability to just believe? Is faith really there deep in the heart of every man, woman, and child, as if all they have to do is dig deep enough and be persuaded to search hard enough to find it, bring it up to the surface, and use it? Does faith originate in the hearts of men?

Since we have already identified this as a wrong answer then of course the answer to these questions is “No.” Human beings do not get faith from deep down in their hearts. The Bible is clear about the condition of the hearts of men without Christ. Consider what the Scriptures say:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man.. – Matthew 15:19-20

But, someone might say then that there is another verse that may apply and then they will take us over to Luke 6:45. Does this verse change our answer?

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Ah, yes. The Bible does say that a good man out of the treasure of his heart brings forth good things. Hold one for just one second though. How many men are good? Outside of Jesus Christ, how many good men are there who bring forth good things from their hearts?

They have all turned aside,They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. – Psalm 14:3

They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” – Romans 3:12

No one is good but One, that is, God. – Matthew 19:17

So how many good men are there who can bring forth good or faith from their own heart? None. Left to ourselves all our heart can bring forth is sin and wickedness and evil. Even the things we think are righteous are nothing but fithly rags in God’s sight – that is how holy He is and how sinful we are without Jesus Christ. We see then that faith does not originate in the hearts of men.

Faith Does Not Come from the Mind

Is faith a product of the minds of men? Just as we asked about the heart, what about the mind? Is faith there in the mind waiting to be drawn out? Is it a matter of hearing and deciding to believe what you hear?

God asks, “Who has put wisdom in the mind?” (Job 38:36). Wisdom is defined as having the right perspective. Can we have faith without a perspective that sees what is real and what is not? Can we get wisdom on our own? No. Wisdom is a gift from God, and we must ask for it (James 1:5). So if we cannot even have a proper perspective without God’s intervention then how do we expect to be able to believe God as if faith was already there and just had to be discovered?

The mind, left to itself, only thinks of evil, for it is the Spirit that leads the mind to think on spiritual matters. In fact, the carnal mind (the mind of fallen man) cannot be subject to the Law of God, meaning left on our own our minds cannot be made to obey God’s Word. Lost men’s minds are blinded and unable to see. Their minds are defiled.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. – Romans 8:5

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. – Romans 8:7

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. – 2 Cor 4:3-4

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled. – Col 1:21

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. – Titus 1:15

Further we know that as fallen men our minds need to be renewed:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. – Romans 12:2

..be renewed in the spirit of your mind.. – Eph 4:23

So we cannot trust that faith is there in the recesses of men’s minds. The mind is as lost as the heart. Defiled, an enemy of God, incapable of believing on its own.

Faith Does Not Come from the Spirit of Man

By spirit we mean the spirit of a man, not the Spirit of God. Each of us has a physical (material) part and a spiritual (immaterial) part. We are by design spiritual beings with physical bodies. While our physical bodies will die or be glorified at the Second Coming our spirit lasts forever.

So does each person have faith resting down in their spirit, waiting to be brought out and exercised? Is faith there in all of us? Is it a spiritual matter that we can manipulate or persuade? Does faith come from the spirit of a man?

Again, the answer is “No.” The spirit of a man is dead. Each of us is conceived in sin and born a sinner and dead spiritually. The spirit is not sick, or weak, or malnourished. The spirit of a fallen man is dead. He is dead in sin. So can a dead spirit produce living faith? Can something that is alive come from something that has no life? Just as Adam died spiritually when he sinned in the garden, now we inherit that original sin and are born spiritually dead. That is why we need to be “born again” or regenerated by the Holy Spirit. We were dead in trespasses and sin and were by our very nature children of wrath. Consider these verses:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. – Romans 5:12

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. – Ephesians 2:1-3

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God – 2 Corinthians 3:5

Before being born again we are spiritually dead. That which is dead spiritually surely cannot do anything good and cannot bear spiritual fruit. In our sinful fallen state we can only bear bad fruit, the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21).

Faith Does Not Come from the Emotions

Is faith just a feeling that we have to work up? It is that we need to use soft lights and soft music and whisper to people with “every head bowed and every eye closed” so that “no one is looking around?” Can it be manipulated? I mean, if faith is a matter of feeling then we could logically manipulate people into trusting in Jesus, right?

Sadly this is the result of Charles Finney’s man centered evangelistic methods, where he stated that if we plug in the right sequence of events then we can arrive at the desired spiritual result, guaranteed. So we have lengthy invitations full of begging, pleading, and manipulation brought into the church. It has devolved even to the point that in some circles ministers and evangelists will give children money and candy if they will come forward, pray a prayer, and be baptized.

Can faith be worked up as a feeling? “No.” Faith is not a feeling. We defined what faith is, it is trust, and trust is not an emotion. Beside that, when it comes to sin and faith, the lost man is “beyond feeling.”

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Ephesians 4:17-19

There are no heart strings to tug. When it comes to faith, those who walk in the futility of their minds without Christ are past feeling. They only seek to feel good in their flesh, to please themselves, and pleasing God does not please our flesh. In fact, we know that a lost man cannot generate faith in his own in any way shape or form. How do we know this, beyond the evidence already presented?

Remember Hebrews 11:6? “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Add to that the fact that a lost man, those in the flesh with carnal minds, cannot please God. That means they do not have and cannot have faith on their own. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8).Without Christ, lost, dead in sin, with darkened futile minds, fallen man cannot please God – that is as plain as stating, “Fallen man cannot produce his own faith.” It is impossible.

Faith Does Not Come from Others

There is one more popular answer. Even after looking at these wrong answers already given some persist. When asked where faith originates or comes from they answer that faith is inherited. We get it from our parents and their faith, or from our upbringing. Is the faith of a parent automatically handed down to their children? Can we inherit faith? What do we inherit from our parents in this regard?

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. – John 1:12-13

For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. – Romans 9:6-8

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. – 1 Corinthians 15:50

Faith is not handed down automatically from parent to child, sibling to sibling, husband to wife, or friend to friend. Seeing these answers then, where does faith come from? How do we “get faith?”

FAITH IS A GIFT

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

We have asked the question, “Where does faith come from?” and we examined a few answers that run contrary to the Word of God so that we could see where faith does not come from. As we learned, faith does not come from men. We cannot say it more simply that this – faith is not produced by, inherent in, or available to any person without outside (Divine) intervention.

So where does faith come from? If it is not something we already have and can pull out and use at will, then where do we get faith? We know that the gospel must be believed for people to be saved, so where does the ability to trust God come from? Where does saving faith originate?

The answer is that faith is a gift from God given through the hearing of the Word of God applied by the power of the Holy Spirit as He produces spiritual fruit in our lives.

Faith is a Gift

The first proof of this statement is found in the well known and oft quoted verses of Ephesians chapter 2. Specifically verses 8 and 9, which say:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

These verses are used to show that salvation is a gift from God. That is very true. Romans 6:23 tells us that “the gift of God is eternal life.” Here we have it in black and white, grace and faith, the necessary elements for turning from our sin to Christ is not “of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” This verifies every answer provided to the question about faith’s origin we have studied. Grace and faith neither one originate with us.

Now some argue that salvation is a gift of God’s free grace, but that we already have the faith and just must be motivated to use it and trust Christ. However, as a friend of mine preached, “What is the gift here? The grace or the faith? Well, it is both. It is not one or the other, but both. Everything related to our salvation is a gift from God’s hand. He gives us everything we need to be saved.” Amen and well stated.

We are not saved by works. We are not saved by what we can do, but by what Christ has done. God gives us grace and faith so that we might trust Him. Praise God for His marvelous gifts.

While these verses are quite clear, some might need more convincing that faith is a gift and not something that originates with us. So let’s see what else the Bible has to say about the matter. These following verses show us that everything related to our salvation is a gift, including repentance and faith.

Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5:31

Jesus gives repentance to those who then turn from their sin. This is a simple and yet profound truth. It explains why in Scripture some seek repentance but do not find it. Hebrews 12:17 tells us that after Esau sold his birthright for a meal and then lost the blessing, he sought repentance diligently with tears, but did not find it. He could not repent even though he was sorrowful. Why? Because repentance is a gift from God. Left on our own none of us would even desire to be repentant about our sin (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Often we confuse repentance for sorrow. We are sorry, but usually only sorry that we got caught, not that we sinned. Repentance is a change of mind, it is a recognition of how awful sin is and a turning away from it. If we are sorry we got caught, or even sorry that we sinned, we still need to repent – to forsake that sin and change our minds about it. Face it, we sin because we want to (James 1:14). Repentance is a rejection of that lust, that desire to sin. We cannot make up our minds about sin, so God helps. Have you ever asked Him for repentance when you have sinned? Ask God to make you truly repentant, to give you this gift.

When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” Acts 11:18

When the Jews first heard about Gentile conversions they were skeptical, but based on the testimony of Peter and others that saw for themselves that God had saved these Gentiles, their reply was that God had granted them repentance to life. They knew salvation was a gift from start to finish, given by God in His grace. They glorified Him for giving this gift to Cornelius and those in his house.

Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48

Who believed? Those to whom it was appointed. This shows that God gives faith for the specific purpose that people will believe and be saved. He does not just give faith and hope the person will use it. No. He gives them active, living faith along with the power and desire to use it. This is how God saves sinners – by giving them everything they need to be reconciled with Him.

Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. Acts 16:14

Lydia had her heart opened by God. She could see the truth because God made it possible. This is reminiscent of Ezekiel 36:26 which says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” God takes out the hard dead heart and gives us a soft living heart. This is describing regeneration (Ephesians 2:1-5). He gives us a new heart. He calls us to life. He gives us repentance. And as we see, He also gives us faith. This is why we preach that salvation is by grace alone. It is all God’s work and doing, from start (regeneration) to finish (glorification).

For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake… Philippians 1:29

It has been granted to you to believe. It is a gift given. And this is not all He gives, but is certainly part of the package of salvation that we receive by His grace. He grants us faith.

..in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:25-26

Want to escape the snare of the devil? God must grant repentance and faith so that you can know the truth and be set free by Him. God must bring us to our senses. He must intervene otherwise we are doomed.

John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” John 3:27

Simple and to the point, John states that a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. Ever hear a preacher preach that a person must receive Christ? Yes, we are invited to repent and believe on Him. How do we do that? God must give us what we need because we do not have it on our own. Humbling isn’t it?

..as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:2-3

Eternal life is knowing Christ. He has the authority from the Father to give that life to as many as God gives to Him. God determines who is saved. He gives Christ the authority then to save them. While we refer to salvation as a gift we also see that those who are saved are a gift, given by the Father to the Son.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 1 Cor 3:6-7

This is where it gets practical as we preach the gospel and call men to repent and believe. We sow the seed. We preach the Word. We share our testimony and tell people what Christ has done. God gives the increase. He is the one who causes the seed to bear fruit. His Word “shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please.” We cannot contain His Word or prevent it from accomplishing the purpose for which He sends it forth. That is why we follow Peter’s example from his sermon on the Day of Pentecost. We preach Jesus. God does the work of saving people.

Hear this. It says that it is not a contest between churches. It is not up to us to make people believe. It is not up to us to persuade them and convince them and argue them into saving faith. Our responsibility is to love them enough to tell them the truth – and then leave the results up to God. He gives repentance. He gives faith. He gives the increase.

For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1 Corinthians 4:7

Here is where all boasting is excluded. Some will say that they are saved because of what they did and others are lost because of what they did not do, but the truth is that we do not have anything that was not given to us by God. When God saves us He gives us everything we need to be saved. We are not better or different from others as if we could boast that we chose Christ while others did not. No, Christ chose us (Ephesians 1:4) and loved us first (1 John 4:19).

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:20

He gives us understanding. Without Him we cannot see the truth or believe the truth or obey the truth. Follow that? Faith, as part of our salvation, if a free gift from God. We do not have it on our own. We do not have the ability to repent, believe, or obey Jesus Christ. He gives us all of that by His grace.

These few verses then make a solid case, revealing to us that when we ask where faith comes from we must answer first and foremost that faith is a gift from God. Has He given you repentance and faith? Have you turned from your sin to Christ in faith? If not, ask Him to give you grace. If you come to Him (John 6:37), He will not cast you out or refuse you.