God's Gift of Faith

Dr. Couch, is faith a gift of God as it seems to say in Ephesians 2:8?

ANSWER: The passage reads: "Saved by faith (Feminine), and that (Neuter) not of yourselves, it is the gift (Neuter) of God." The "gift of God" is Neuter and it points back to "that" which is also Neuter and is pointing and modifying the word "gift." Salvation includes the faith and it all is God's gift. He is the One who is activating the entire process of salvation.

Nicoll says the verse can read "God's gift it is. The salvation is not an achievement but a gift, and a gift from none other than God."

He goes on: "That the glory of that salvation belongs wholly to God and in no degree to man, and that it has been so planned and so effected as to take from us all ground for boasting, is enforced on Paul's hearers again and again, ..."

Hendriksen writes: "Salvation is the gift of God followed by a fourth and fifth repetition, namely, not of works, for we are His handiwork."

Several other great verses tell us that faith is a gift of God. Paul writes: "Peace be to the brothers, and LOVE WITH FAITH FROM GOD THE FATHER and FROM the LORD JESUS CHRIST" (Eph. 6:23).

And "by GOD'S DOING you are IN Christ Jesus, who BECAME TO US … righteousness and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30).

Also, "God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation THROUGH, BY MEANS OF sanctification by the Spirit and (by means of) FAITH IN THE TRUTH" (2 Thess. 2:13).

Thanks for asking.
--Dr. Mal Couch (10/11)

Can Christians Lose Their Salvation?

Dr. Couch, 1 John 3:7, 8, and 9 sounds like a Christian can lose his salvation. I believe in eternal security but what about these verses? How do you answer? ANSWER:  The verses read: "The one who 'practices' righteousness is righteous, just as [Christ] is righteous" (v. 7), and, "The one who 'practices' sin is of the devil" (v. 8), and finally, "No one who is born of God 'practices' sin" (v. 9).    The key is the grammatical construction of the Greek word "practice" which is "poieo." The word means "to do, practice, work." In verses 7, 8 "poieo" is in the Present Participle form, and in verse 9, it is simply a Present Indicative. The idea is that the one who is continually, daily, going about sinning, and even bragging or flaunting his sin, doing it with boldness every day, is not born again. Nor has he ever been! With the Present Participle, the verb is united with the noun, meaning "The one who is going about each day boldly practicing (maybe a specific sin) and continually enjoying doing so, this one is not born again."    For an example, let's take the sin of homosexuality. This person is saying by his actions, attitudes, and proclamation, "I'm going to continue to practice daily my sin, I am not going to repent, nor am I ashamed, and I am not planning to drop that sin or to give it to Christ for forgiveness!" "It is mine and I am proud of it and have no plans to walk away from it."    I think it works this way: A gross sinner comes to Christ and says 'I accept Him as my Savior,' except in reference to the sin that I am continually practicing, that I love, and plan to keep! I give Him all my sins except this one that I relish and I am not repentant of it. So, Christ died for my sins except this one that I plan to keep and to practice daily!"    In my opinion that is what John the apostle has in mind. Most people understand when they come to the Lord as their Savior that they are confessing all their sins. That is the essence of being born again. Being born again implies that Christ died for all of our sins, not just a few of them! We cannot be selective, otherwise, we are playing games with Christ's sacrifice on the cross!    A person who is born again cannot lose his salvation. He is in heaven already in God's mind. On this see Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:3-14. and 2:6. This last verse reads: "[God has] raised us with Him, and seated us with Him in THE HEAVENLIES in Christ Jesus." We are already in heaven and we cannot be jerked out of glory. We are there forever!    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Mar., 10)

Attribute of God - Righteousness

Dr. Couch, is righteousness an attribute of God? I've heard some say it is not. ANSWER:  The word righteousness in Greek is the word dikaiosunee and it means "to be just, faultless, guiltless, perfect." The Bible makes it clear that all three persons of the Trinity are righteousness. God is called "the righteousness Father" (John 17:25). Christ is the Just (the righteousness One) (Acts 7:52).    By faith, we are "made, counted, or receive by imputation, the righteousness of God. We do not become little gods, and we do not in a technical sense, share in the attribute of God's righteousness, though we are "declared" righteous. While this is in some way hard to understand, this makes us guiltless or faultless so that we can then enter the throne room of God with His perfection imputed to us.    We are "justified, made righteous by" Christ's blood (Rom. 5:9). "God imputed to us righteousness not by works" (Rom. 4:6). Righteousness is given to us as a free gift, resulting in justification (righteousness) (5:16) "and the gift of righteousness" which comes through Christ (v. 17). We are "justified (made righteousness) by faith in Christ (Gal. 2:16-17). Christ is referred to in Romans 4:5: "Believe in Him who justifies (makes righteousness) the ungodly." God then justifies and Christ justified; both persons in the Trinity makes imparts, imputes righteousness! Galatians 2:17 says we are made righteousness by Christ. Christ's act of righteousness on the cross results in justification of life to all men who trust Him (Rom. 5:18).    God sees His righteousness and the righteousness of His Son accounted, imputed to us, this is not the same thing in saying that we now have His attribute of righteousness. We are seen legally acquitted by that righteousness but we don't take on His attribute as part of us.    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Feb., 10)