Where does faith come from?

Something I learned recently regarding faith, changed my perception, to some degree, of who God is, and who I am. What I learned came from these two verses:

"looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. " (Heb 12:2)

"For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. " (Romans 12:3)

Before I understood these verses, I, in my foolishness, actually thought that I was the one who conjured up the faith to believe in God. Man, I was wrong! And these verses really hit me - they state it pretty clearly. God, in His sovereignty, is the one who gives us faith (he founded it), and not only that, He gives each of us a measure of faith. Furthermore, faith is not just something he tossed out at us like it was no big deal, it's a gift from God:

"8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph 2:8-9)

It's humbling to know that the Lord chose to give me the gift of faith so I could believe in Him and have eternal life (which, by the way, is given by God's grace. Because you can have faith in something like yourself, or in a President, etc. but it's not going to give you eternal life. It is because of God's grace (through the substitutionary atonement of His son's death on the cross) that we are saved and given eternal life, by believing in Him through faith - more on this in a later post). Anyways, this realization really made me realize God's love towards me, and his power, once I understood that it wasn't me who was just lucky enough or strong enough to have faith to believe, but that this faith I have was given to me from Almighty God! If God hadn't given it to me, I wouldn't have any faith, I wouldn't be saved, I would be going to hell.

There are a lot of people out there, some of them my friends, who do not have any faith. And I believe it is common among believers to think "Oh, well they just don't have any faith", or "hey man, you just need to have some faith, then you'll believe" as if it was something that they lacked, but could get if they just tried. Again, the bible tells us that we have been saved through faith, and it hasn't happened by anything we ourselves have done, it is from God. We Christians need to understand God's sovereignty over people's faith, and ultimately, salvation. Got a friend or family member who has no faith? God is sovereign over it. Got a Christian friend who is really weak in the faith? God is sovereign over it!

God never says stuff like "Oh, I wish Brian just had some faith, then he could come live with me forever!" or "All Jessica needs is to have a little faith, she's so close to believing!" or "Darn, Josh isn't doing too well, he's weak in the faith, I just wish he had more faith so he wouldn't sin as much." No, God is NOT limited by man.

In a later post, I will discuss why God is just in giving some people faith, but others none at all. To us, this seems unfair and even cruel of God. In this post, I will focus on Romans 12:3 (above).

At first thought, it seems peculiar how God has given each of us a different measure of faith, but it is pretty obvious. I'm sure you know certain people who are great godly leaders and very strong in the faith, as well as others who are weak. And judging by comparison, you probably have an idea of how much faith God has assigned to you. After understanding this verse, you might think "Sweet, God gave me lots of faith! Look at me, yahoo!" or you might be thinking "Why'd I get stuck with barely any faith? This is unfair!" Well, the truth is, we ought to think the opposite in both cases.

For the person who is strong in the faith, he ought to be humbled that God has given him such a great gift! The weak person ought to be grateful that he even received the gift of faith from God (and hence the gift of eternal life through salvation by grace). Though he may be weak in the faith, he still will receive the gift of eternal life for believing in Jesus! That is something to rejoice in.

God uses the variation in faith strength among believers for His divine purposes. The weak in faith are there to humble the strong, by showing that in God's sovereign designation of faith, they were chosen to be assigned a greater measure of faith, whereas they could've been assigned a small measure of faith - and this was all God's doing. And the strong in faith are there to welcome the weak ones and build them up:

"As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions." (Rom 14:1)

"We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." (Rom 15:1-2)


Also, the strong in faith should not boast (after all, their faith was granted to them from God as a gift, so it's not like they can be proud of the faith they have, because they don't produce it themselves anyways). Instead, they should be humbled, and grateful for it, and they should keep their faith between them and God:

"The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves." (Rom 14:22).

The latter part of this verse is basically saying that, if one who is strong in the faith becomes proud, or quarrels with one who is weak in the faith, he will incur judgement from God (and hence if he doesn't do this, he is blessed.) If I were strong in the faith, I'd reckon this is a tough thing to do. I'd say it's pretty easy for pride to get a hold of us, because it's pretty obvious that it does in other areas of life. For instance, if you're good at a certain sport, or good at a certain subject, etc. you're probably proud of yourself. In terms of faith though, if you're strong you ought not to be proud and boast, but be humbled and thank God for it! Because:

"It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." (1 Cor 1:30-31)


I first learned of these things from a sermon preached by the pastor at my church, Dr. Roy Hargrave, and more recently, reading through the book of Romans, read over the verses in Romans 14. If you're interested in what's been written, read Romans 14 for yourself, as well as the other verses mentioned above.