Faith Doesn’t Come from the Spirit or Soul of Men

By this we mean the spirit of a man, not the Spirit of God. Each of us has a physical (material) part and a spiritual (immaterial) part. We are by design spiritual beings with physical bodies. And while our physical bodies will die (or be glorified at the Second Coming) our spirit lasts forever.

So does each person have faith resting down in their spirit, waiting to be brought out and exercised? Is faith there in all of us? Is it a spiritual matter that we can manipulate or persuade? Does faith come from the spirit of a man?

Again, the answer is “No.” The spirit of a man is dead. He is conceived in sin and born a sinner and dead spiritually. The spirit is not sick, or weak, or malnourished. The spirit of a fallen man is dead. He is dead in sin. So can a dead spirit produce living faith? Can something that is alive come from something that has no life? Just as Adam died spiritually when he sinned in the garden, now we inherit that original sin and are born spiritually dead. That is why we need to be “born again.” We were dead in trespasses and sin and were by our very nature children of wrath.

Consider these verses:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. – Rom. 5:12

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. – Eph 2:1-3

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. – 2 Cor 3:5

Before being born again we are spiritually dead. That which is dead spiritually surely cannot do anything good and cannot bear spiritual fruit. In our sinful fallen state we can only bear bad fruit, the works of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21).

Faith Does Not Come from the Soul (the Emotions)

Is faith just a feeling that we have to work up? It is that we need to use soft lights and soft music and whisper to people with “every head bowed and every eye closed” so that “no one is looking around”? Can it be manipulated? I mean, if faith is a matter of feeling then we could logically manipulate people into trusting in Jesus, right?

Sadly this is the result of Charles Finney’s man centered evangelistic methods, where he stated that if we plug in the right sequence of events then we can arrive at the desired spiritual result, guaranteed. So we had lengthy invitations and begging and pleading, and manipulation brought into the church. It has devolved even to the point that in some circles ministers and evangelists will give children money and candy if they will come forward, pray a prayer, and be baptized.

But can faith be worked up as a feeling? “No.” Faith is not a feeling, simply put. We defined what faith is, it is trust, and trust is not an emotion. Besides that, when it comes to sin and faith, the lost man is “beyond feeling.”

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. – Eph. 4:17-19

There are no heart strings to tug – when it comes to faith, those who walk in the futility of their minds (without Christ) are past feeling. They only seek to feel good in their flesh, to please themselves, and pleasing God does not please our flesh. In fact, we know that a lost man cannot generate faith in his own in any way shape or form. How do we know this, beyond the evidence already presented?

Remember Hebrews 11:6? “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Add to that the fact that a lost man, those in the flesh, with carnal minds, cannot please God. That means they do not have and cannot have faith on their own.

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. – Rom 8:8

Without Christ, lost, dead in sin, with darkened futile minds, fallen man cannot please God – that is as plain as stating, “Fallen man cannot produce his own faith.” It is impossible.

(tomorrow: Faith Doesn’t Come from Others)