Quote:
Originally Posted by 1689dave
This is backward. Faith is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. That is, God must save you by grace alone before you can recognize and experience the true Christ. Receiving Christ is passive, like receiving a pat on the back, or a letter in the mail. It has nothing to do with the depraved human will.
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It is said by the Calvinist that faith is a fruit of the Spirit and therefore one must be regenerated before he can have faith.
But I would ask how he can have the fruit of faith without first being a recipient of the grace of God. For, do we not receive the Holy Spirit as the result of God's grace?
Since we have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand (Romans 5:2), it should be clear that faith comes before we can become recipients of grace;
And therefore he cannot be a recipient of grace apart from faith. So, again, how can one have the fruit of faith without first being a recipient of grace? Since he cannot be a recipient of grace apart from faith.
And therefore, since grace does not come before faith, but faith comes first, how can one have faith (as a fruit of the Spirit) without first having faith for grace?
The answer, of course, is, that there is an initial faith that does not come as the fruit of the Spirit in a believer's life; and this initial faith obtains the grace of God so that the believer can later bear faith as a fruit of the Spirit.
One cannot have the Spirit (and thus its fruit) apart from grace; and one cannot have grace apart from initial faith (again, Romans 5:2).
Therefore, initial faith is something that rises up in the individual as the result of being drawn by the Holy Spirit;
Which is not regeneration;
For in being drawn, a person is given the opportunity to receive or reject Christ;
But regeneration only happens after a person has received Christ (as both Saviour and Lord).
Rom 5:1, Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2, By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.