Paul teaches in Romans 12 that everyone has "a/the measure of faith".
And this is easily proven, as everyone believes in something........and that means they are putting their faith in it.
This is a letter not to everyone but to the Christians in Rome… and to us Christians by extension. With this “everyone,” Behold, Paul is just talking about Christians, not “every human being.” In Romans 12 ~ like 1 Corinthians 12 ~ he is talking about gifts of the Spirit, of which saving faith is one (1 Corinthians 12:9), and yes, it is “
empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11).
Consider the very
definition of salvific faith, which is given to us in Hebrews 11:1… “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We cannot give ourselves this assurance and conviction, it has to come from God Himself. Otherwise it is a blind hope… essentially wishful thinking, and not effectual unto salvation.
In addition to that, if this faith is something we make for or in ourselves, it is then a work of man, which is absolutely antithetical to anything regarding saving faith in the Bible.
No. See above. The writer of Hebrews tells us ~ really God Himself tells us ~ what faith is, in Hebrews 11:1. The faith we have is not… cannot be… a work of man in or of himself.
God told us that if we will put our faith in CHRIST, then our ""faith is counted by God, as (Christ's) righteousness"" imputed to us.
"Abraham BELIEVED GOD (Faith)
Our belief is the product of the faith ~ again, God’s assurance, conviction by the Spirit (Hebrews 11:1) ~ which comes to us in our being born again of the Spirit. Just like Abraham.
…and it (his faith) was counted by God as righteousness".
His belief, not his faith. His belief was counted to him as righteousness, and it is the same for all Christians, regardless of the measure, great or small ~ even the size of a mustard seed ~ because yes, we Christians all have it.
Paul teaches this as : "Justification BY faith".........and He teaches it as "(God's)GRACE....through Faith”
Right, but if we are to say we make or produce our own faith, it is no longer by God’s grace ~ which is unmerited favor ~ but by something other than grace and somehow merited, so then God’s grace would not be grace at all (Romans 11:5-6), which… perish the thought.
…terribly deceived people "willfully sin" by willfully refusing to believe…
Right, they willingly do the will of their father, the devil, because they are not born again of the Spirit and are thus still dead in their sin. We Christians, however willingly do the will of our Father, God, because we have been given to Jesus by the Father and are thus His sheep (John 10:26-30).
Faith alone is all God accepts from a SINNER to save them and keep them saved.
Absolutely agree. We are saved by grace (God’s grace, of course) through faith, and this not of your own doing, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). We cannot extract faith from that… it is all the gift of God… His assurance, given to us. So yes, then, having been given this faith, we then of our own volition walk by it, and do good works ~ which are then the outward evidence both to ourselves and others that we do have it ~ because of it.
Yes, others can have faith in something, or even a blind faith of some kind, but Paul is not talking about that. James does, yes, saying that if anyone says they have faith but it is not evidenced by good works, it is a dead faith, which is to say it is something other than God-given, living faith.
Grace and peace to you.
