Daily Archive

We have seen that faith is a gift from God given through the hearing of His Word. Now we will see that faith is a fruit of the Spirit produced as He applies the Word to our lives with power. In the first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul devotes chapters 12-14 to the discussion of spiritual gifts. He corrects misuses and abuses of the gifts, demonstrates the proper motivation for and use of the gifts, and lists for us the gifts given. Of course debate rages around which gifts He still gives, if any, or all. It is not within the scope of this study to cover all of that today.

What we need to see is found in chapter 12 as Paul says that the manifestation of the Spirit has been given to all within the church for the profit of all. These gifts then were given to demonstrate the power of the Spirit for the edification of the whole church. These gifts were not given for personal or individual profit, but to the profit of all. The use of gifts, in order to be true and Biblical spiritual gifts, must be used with this outward view, looking to serve and minister to others within the Body.

All spiritual gifts that are given are given by the Holy Spirit for use within the Body by believers. In other words lost men and women do not have spiritual gifts. The Spirit does not equip them to edify the Body. If then we can show that faith is more than a gift from God, more than just a result of hearing the Word of God, but in fact is a gift given by the Holy Spirit to believers for use in edifying the Body then we can show once again that a lost man has no hope of ever having faith on his own.

1 Corinthians 12:9 is an important verse in this study. It tells us that one of the gifts the Spirit gives for the profit of all in the church is faith. It is given according to the Spirit’s will – in other words, it is His decision about when and where to give the gift of faith (1 Corinthians 12:11).

It is the power of the Holy Spirit applying the Word to our lives and hearts that gives us faith, the ability to take God at His Word, to trust Christ for salvation, and to progress in sanctification and holiness. The Spirit, who is given as the seal for believers, is indeed given as the down payment on our salvation – He is our Comforter and Convictor and the One who assures us that we belong to Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14).

We also see in Galatians 5 that faith is an integral part of the fruit of the Spirit produced in our lives by His power as we live in submission to Him and His will.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23

Here in this list of fruit that the Spirit produces through us we find evidence of faith. First we see that there is love and we know that we cannot love God unless we have trusted Him. We have joy because we have assurance in His providence and sovereignty. We have peace because we trust Him and He never fails. We are able to suffer long because we walk by faith, and whenever in Scripture that people fail to be patient they are often chided with the words, “O ye of little faith.” We are kind and good because we take God at His Word and know that this is what He enables us to do. There is also gentleness and self-control, and we can have neither without faith because they are contrary to what our flesh wants.

Did you notice I skipped one? Yes, the fruit of faithfulness. The word used specifically is pistis, which in Greek is literally translated as “faith, faithfulness, trust.” So the fruit produced by the Spirit is more than being faithful, it is having faith.

We see that faith is a spiritual gift given to the regenerate only as it is produced in their lives as a fruit of the Spirit. How can a lost man have faith? The Spirit has to be at work in His life before anyone has any hope of believing. That is why we started with Ephesians 2:8-9 where we read that grace and faith are gifts from God and not of works. Faith is not something we can work up on our own. Our continued ability to take God at His Word, to trust Christ, is a gift from the Spirit produced as He works in our lives with the Word of God.

We are to call all men to obey the gospel, repent of their sin, and trust Christ. But we must do so with this assurance: It is not up to us to persuade a man to believe and repent. It is not up to us to pick the most effective and emotion stirring words to bring him to faith. We do not bring faith out – God puts the faith in. We preach the gospel and call all to obey it understanding all along that God gives repentance and faith. He gives the increase. All we do is sow the seed. Have you been sowing lately?