Faith is not a work according to a closer look at
Ephesians 2:8-9.
A closer look; OH! You mean I need my Arminian glasses? Ok, let's try that:
Ok. Now I see it. All joking aside, the following part of the verse says that it is not of works. It is simply further describe the fact that faith is a gift from God
because it is not a work. This says nothing about "Faith is something you do but somehow isn't a work. But God has nothing to do with it, and it all comes from you. And even though it is the literal textbook definition of a work, it is still not a work by some form of a miracle."
That would have been a much longer passage. Again, you are reading into this verse by changing the context.
It is the grace that is the gift of God; not the faith.
If the grace doesn't grant faith, what is the point of the grace in the first place?
Aside from that, let's very quickly spell out the logic you have thus far presented.
1.) Faith is something I do all on my own, that is done to achieve the end result of access to heaven.
2.) The definition of a work is "activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result"
3.) Faith is somehow not a work.
Please explain to me how your definition of faith does not fit the criteria of a work. Though I believe that Scripture alone should be able to provide the necessary foundation for our faith, it is still worth pointing out that you belief is not even
logical, much less
biblical. I looked this definition up on Google. Even Google understands that, if Faith is something I must attain, and something I attain to achieve a expressed goal,
by definition this is a work. I await your response.
I do not state that I save myself in my response to the gospel message. It is dependent on my asking the Lord to save me. He does the saving in response to my asking Him to do so.
Mat 7:7, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Mat 7:8, For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
1.) That still makes you the one that saved yourself; it merely lengthens the self-salvation chain. All this does is add a step into your self-salvation.
"Well, Jesus really saved me"
"But why"
"Because I asked Him to"
"Would you have been saved otherwise?"
"Well, no."
"Then, you really held the power in your salvation. It could never have happened had you not done something. Is that not a work?"
"No, no Jesus saved me."
"Why?"
"Because I asked Him to."
"Would you have been saved otherwise?"
.... and the cycle continues, the metaphorical dog continually chasing his tail forever and ever, because there is not escaping the simple fact that there are only 2 options:
1.) Either God saves sinners, and men have no work to boast over
2.) Men save themselves; be it by asking God to do something, by placing their faith in something, or by producing this faith themselves, they are in the end the catalyst of their own salvation, and therefore saved by something they did, because they never would have been saved apart from their contrabution.
I suppose we will have to agree to disagree. But I will say to you that you are wrong in this.
I don't care what men say; I care what the Scriptures say. Chapter and verse, please.
