We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.… And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. (1 Thess 1:2-3; 2:13)
Could there be a fuller or more evident proof that the faith of the believers is a gift of God, than these thanks given to God precisely because they who heard the word of God in man’s preaching did not disbelieve in it as coming from man’s mouth, but believed in God speaking through men and producing in their hearts this very faith?
Could there be a fuller or more evident proof that the faith of the believers is a gift of God, than these thanks given to God precisely because they who heard the word of God in man’s preaching did not disbelieve in it as coming from man’s mouth, but believed in God speaking through men and producing in their hearts this very faith?
Prosper of Aquitaine, The Call of All Nations I.23
1 comment:
Faith is a gift God gives to everyone - how they exercise it is their choice. And Eph. 2:8-9, by the way, is not saying faith is a gift - the gift in that passage is grace/salvation.
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