Our believing is a gift given to us by God. This means that faith is something initiated by God, formed by Him, and given to us by Him. Therefore, it is of God that we could believe through hearing the word of the gospel.
Ephesians 2:8 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Faith is the substantiating of invisible things. It is by faith that we substantiate all the things Christ has accomplished for us. Through such a substantiating ability, we have been saved by grace. The free action of God’s grace saved us through our substantiating faith.
Ephesians 2:8 indicates that faith is not of our works, nor of our endeavor or strife; rather, faith is God’s gift, that no one should boast (v. 9). Faith is not of ourselves. Although we believe, the faith with which we believe does not originate with us. In ourselves, we do not have any faith. However, at the time we repented and made confession to God in the name of the Lord Jesus, the believing ability was put into us. Before we were saved, we were utterly unable to believe. But on the day we were saved faith was imparted to us, and we believed. Although we have never seen the Lord Jesus, we cannot help believing in Him. This faith is not of ourselves but is part of the grace transmitted into us.
Faith is actually an aspect of Christ. This is the reason the New Testament speaks of the faith of Christ (Rom. 3:22). In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God.” Faith is Christ Himself. The faith which is given to us is the faith common to all believers (Titus 1:4). Faith is given, faith is received, and faith is common. When we put all these facts together, we see that this faith is Christ Himself.
Our faith in Christ comes not out of us but out of Him. We have faith in Christ because He is absolutely believable. When we appreciate Christ, faith is imparted to us. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to say that faith is Christ. This is like saying that holiness, love, righteousness, patience, and endurance are Christ.
Because the unique faith is Christ Himself, we who believe in Him have a common faith. You do not have one kind of faith and I, another kind. When Christ came to you, you believed; and when He came to me, I believed. Whenever Christ comes to a person, that person believes in Him. This is a further indication that faith comes not out of us but out of Christ. Because faith is a gift of God and is not of our works, none of us has the right to boast. On the contrary, we all should humbly thank the Lord and praise Him that we have received Him as our faith.
The faith which is the gift of God is through the divine revelation of the word of the truth in the New Testament economy, conveying as its contents the all-inclusive Christ in His all-inclusive person and His all-inclusive work as “scenery” to our view. God forms the gift of faith and gives it to us through the divine revelation of the word of truth in the New Testament. The whole Bible reveals Christ. Especially the book of Revelation, as the conclusion, completion, and consummation of the whole Bible, is “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1). Through the preaching of the gospel, the all-inclusive Christ in His all-inclusive person and work was presented as scenery to our view. When we heard the gospel, we heard the speaking of the word of the truth of the New Testament. As this speaking was taking place, a revelation came to us conveying the all-inclusive Christ as the scenery for us to view. We may say that we were a camera, that our spirit was the film, and that the divine revelation as the scenery was the object to be photographed.