Salvation by Grace through Faith

Here are some of the key points of Biblical Salvation.

1) “For by grace you have been saved through faith," (Ephesians 2:8) teaches our salvation is through or by way of faith. Any faith? Nope, only our individuals faith in Christ Jesus, and only if credited as righteousness by God. Thus some individuals, in their unregenerate state seek God some of the time, such as when they put their trust in Christ.

2) The lost cannot do anything to merit or earn salvation, as our faith is a filthy rag to God. When a person puts their trust in Christ, that does not earn or merit or in any way contribute to God's gracious salvation. Salvation depends of God alone. (Romans 9:16)

3) Our faith is based on God's revelatory grace, but God crediting our faith as righteousness is a pure gift of grace. (Romans 4:23-25)

4) The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict humanity of sin, righteousness, and judgement. Christ's birth, sinless life, death, resurrection and coming judgment convicts humanity because of testimony of the New Testament. (John 16:8)

5) Faith alone refers to faithful faith, the faith from which faithfulness flows, or using James illustration, live faith not dead faith. Thus actual faith, of the kind God might choose to credit as righteousness, includes a commitment to stop going our own way and to strive to follow Christ upon the paths of righteousness. (1 Peter 2:21)

6) The call to repent and believe is simultaneous, not sequential. Two sides of the same coin. You don't believe if you don't repent, and you don't repent if you don't believe. (Mark 1:15)

7) Yes, eternal life begins when we are made "alive" together with Christ. And our spiritual eternal life is a prelude to our bodily redemption and physical eternal life. (Ephesians 2:5) (Romans 8:23)

8) Being saved by grace through faith necessitates our faith existing before being chosen individually for salvation. Other wise Ephesians 2:8 would read "saved by grace then given faith..." However, 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says individuals are chosen for salvation by utilizing our existing faith in the truth.

 

8) Being saved by grace through faith necessitates our faith existing before being chosen individually for salvation. Other wise Ephesians 2:8 would read "saved by grace then given faith..." However, 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says individuals are chosen for salvation by utilizing our existing faith in the truth.

a) No one claimed 2 Thessalonians 2:13 said "all have or do not have faith." Thus obfuscation on display.
b) Ephesians 2:8 interpretive translation

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this salvation is not of yourselves, salvation is the gift of God;​

c) God credits the faith of those who believe, thus crediting our faith as righteousness is part of God's gracious gift. Romans 4:23-25

 

God's gift of salvation through faith means God utilizes our faith to bestow His gift of salvation. This truth is inescapable.

 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith," (Ephesians 2:8) teaches our salvation is through or by way of faith. Any faith? Nope, only our individuals faith in Christ Jesus, and only if credited as righteousness by God. Thus some individuals, in their unregenerate state seek God some of the time, such as when they put their trust in Christ.

For example, consider Matthew 23:13, where some individuals were entering the kingdom but were prevented by false teachers. Thus they were seeking God by faith, or were on the path to doing so, and thus were "entering" to some degree. Stong's suggests they had metaphorically "taken the road to entering." Since false teaching intervened, they were coming to trust fully in God's promises when they were sidetracked.

 

When we see "faith" in scripture, as a noun in the dative form, we see where live faith, i.e. walk the talk faith, faithful faith is used to accomplish something beneficial to God's ministry.

See Acts 3:16 where something is accomplished on the basis of faith, Romans 3:28 where a person is justified by faith, 1 Corinthians 16:13 where people stand firm by faith, 2 Corinthians 8:7 people excel in the ministry by faith, and Galatians 2:20 where we live our lives in Christ by faith. And of course, this is the kind of faith in view in 2 Thessalonians 2:13.

 

Mark1:15 NASB
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and put your trust in the gospel.”

Repent refers to doing something dictated by a change in understanding, for example the Prodigal Son came to his senses and returned to his father's love.

The Greek verb (pisteuō) refers to an all in commitment or trust in something or someone, rather than simply an intellectual assent something is true.

Thus both repenting and believing are actually two sides of the same coin, you cannot have one without the other.