The writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 3 and 6, is assuming that who he is writing to are brothers and sisters in Christ, just as a preacher today assumes he is preaching to brothers and sisters in Christ. But he knows ~ or should, anyway ~ that some who hear his letter read, even though in the church at present are not truly regenerate of heart ~ just as a preacher today preaching a sermon, even though he may address them as brothers and sisters, knows ~ or should, anyway ~ that not all in his congregation are truly regenerate of heart. It is what it is.
John says, SI, that
because they were not of us,
they went out, proving they are not of us. They did not and do not have the same saving faith we do.
This is falling away. They thought they had faith and even professed it, presumably, but never really had true faith; they thought they were with us, and we all thought they were of us, but they fell away,
proving that they were not of us. I'm not sure why this is so hard for you; it seems willful ignorance to me, but maybe not. Falling away in and of itself is not apostasy. The very definition of apostasy is the total rejection of Christianity by a person who, having at one time professed the Christian faith, publicly rejects it. The
result of that apostasy is their falling away, their going out from among the faithful.
True repentance is of the Holy Spirit, in faith. Paul says in Romans 2:4, "...do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that
God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" God brings it about in us by the conviction of the Spirit.
Saving faith is not a work of man but of God.
"For by grace (a) you have been saved (b) through faith (c). And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." By grace you have been saved through faith. You agree that
(a) the grace is from God,
(b) the saving is from/by God, but then you separate faith
(c) back out of that whole thing and make it out to be a work of man. It's certainly ~ and obviously ~ not a work of man. Yes, it absolutely is
our faith, but... when someone gives you a Christmas gift, SI, that gift is yours, for sure, but you did not give it to yourself; you were not yourself the giver. God is the Creator and Giver, as we see in 1 Corinthians 12:5-11, notably, "
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills."
NOTE: This is
not to say that some Christians have faith and some do not. All Christians have this saving faith, but the faith of some is stronger than that of others. And in that case, it is the responsibility of the one stronger in faith to encourage and help those weaker in faith... all these gifts of the Spirit are
for the common good. Again, God empowers all gifts of His Holy Spirit in Christians as He wills and apportions to each as He wills.
Yet again, no one is denying that we have free will or that we make a choice, not even Paul in Romans 9:16, and not John Calvin or any Calvinist. But our choice is a
result of ~ it
depends on ~ God's having mercy and compassion. It's a matter of God, by His Spirit, changing the heart of stone to a heart of flesh, of His bringing the person from death in sin to life in Christ. This is being born again of the Spirit. As Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3:7-8,
"Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
I most certainly do distinguish between faith and works: our good works are a result ~ and the outward evidence ~ of the faith we've been given by God, that has been worked in us by the Holy Spirit, the natural outpouring of praise to God that He Himself brings about through His gracious work in us. This is what Paul goes on to say in that Ephesians 2 passage, that
"we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Paul also says,
"...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13), and also that the fruit we produce is of the Spirit, "
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control...": (Galatians 5:22-23). John says
"We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). James says,
"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ... (F)aith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:14-17).
Scripture
absolutely does teach that God gives us faith many, many times over. As Paul says in Romans 11,
"if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace." He's speaking specifically there of God's election, but the same applies to faith, because
our having been saved through faith is by God's grace ~ "
by grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not our own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works."
The entire process is included, including faith. Faith does not precede being born again of the Spirit. The unintended effect of the Arminian understanding of this makes God's grace out to be something other than grace.
As for Hebrews 12:2, what you assign to Calvinism, I assign in the reverse to Arminianism. Even your quotes of other translations have key words like ‘pioneer’ and ‘author’ regarding Jesus and our faith. It matters not, really, whether the word ‘our’ is there or not, but in English it is properly included. It is our faith, but Jesus is the author of it. Our free and willing choice to believe inevitably follows. Regarding the “whosoever” of Revelation 22 (and John 3:16, and Romans 10:13), all are in the context of Joel 2:32, which reads, “…it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.” God’s calling is the key factor which brings about our calling on the Lord. The invitation is open, but only a few, those whom the Lord calls, will then call upon the Lord.
I
do not say that certain people resist the Holy Spirit “because they are not capable of doing anything but resisting Him.” I
do say that they will, in their own free will and accord, always resist Him,
with regard to salvation and calling upon the Lord,
because they have not been born again of the Spirit.
Our hearts are naturally hardened at birth, this is the human condition. Even David said,
“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Or, in the ESV, which I prefer, but it says the same thing,
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” In Genesis 3, after the fall of Adam and Eve, the mother of all the living. They became dead in sin, just as God told Adam they would in Genesis 2:17, and all who have come after them are born in the same state.
And finally back to Romans 11:32 yet again. Read this carefully: “God
has consigned all to disobedience, that He
may have mercy on all.” He may have, but Paul’s whole context is that he only has mercy on some, His elect.
What all this really boils down to is that Arminians do not (or will not allow themselves to) understand the real depth of the Fall of Adam and Eve. They do not (or will not allow themselves to) acknowledge just how the post-Fall human being (and creation itself) has fallen from grace. There is a reason why Jacobus Arminius made this his first point. If this is soft-pedalled to any degree, then it reduces God's majesty and grace and glory ~ and really God Himself ~ to something far less than it (He) really is. That... THAT... is the problem. If one is to accept what John Calvin called the
Total depravity of man, then everything else...
- Unconditional election by God
- the Limited nature of Jesus's atonement, (even though unlimited in the sense of sufficiency)
- the Irresistable nature of God's grace and purpose in the giving of new birth of the Spirit
- and the Spirit-empowered Perseverence of the saints
...intensely logically, and inevitably, follows. Thomas Arminius is the one that came up with five points, not John Calvin, whose contributions were far, far greater in scope. Calvin merely (although it's no mere thing) refuted Arminius's five Scripturally faulty points.
That’s quite enough. Grace and peace to you, SI.