Is Faith A Gift

[infinitelord1]

Is Faith a Gift?

[fides quarens intellectum]

Well, it is not one of the 7 [i]Gifts[/i] of the Holy Spirit; it is one of the 12 [i]Fruits[/i] of the Holy Spirit.

However, I would say that everything good that we have is a gift given to us by God.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='infinitelord1' date='19 July 2010 - 08:32 PM' timestamp='1279589535' post='2145204']
Is Faith a Gift?
[/quote]

Yes. Maybe I'll have put up a Christmas tree to put presents under, because Faith is not a gift I've received yet, after years of trying and hoping (and yes, praying).

Edited July 20, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[Resurrexi]

"For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)

[CatherineM]

It's definitely been a gift in my life.

[fides quarens intellectum]

[quote name='CatherineM' date='19 July 2010 - 10:19 PM' timestamp='1279595967' post='2145311']
It's definitely been a gift in my life.
[/quote]

Amen to that - same here!

[Ed Normile]

I would say faith is actually a blessing.

ed

[Sarah147]

Again, it is evident that this "light of faith" is a supernatural gift and is not the necessary outcome of assent to the motives of credibility. No amount of study will win it, no intellectual conviction as to the credibility of revealed religion nor even of the claims of the Church to be our infallible guide in matters of faith, will produce this light in a man's mind. It is the free gift of God.
[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm"]http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm[/url]

[Vincent Vega]

As the popular saying around here goes: "The things of God cannot be learned; they can only be revealed."
So, yes - faith is something we receive, not something that we take.

Edited July 20, 2010 by USAirwaysIHS

[Luigi]

Definitely. My folks tried mightily to pass their faith along to all of us (brothers & sisters) - and they both do have real faith - but not all of us have the gift of faith. And that's heartbreaking.

I think those of us who do have faith forget sometimes that it [i]is[/i] a gift.

[TeresaBenedicta]

Faith is one of the three theological virtues that are infused into the soul at baptism. Yes, faith is a gift.

[JimR-OCDS]

I'm not sure who said it, but as I recall;

"Faith is a gift. It is the revelation of God himself to the person, however he makes that happen."


Jim

[RandomProddy]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='20 July 2010 - 05:10 AM' timestamp='1279595414' post='2145306']
"For by [b]grace [/b]you are [b]saved[/b] through [b]faith[/b], and that not of yourselves, for [i]it[/i][u][/u] is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)
[/quote]

Not to be picky, but is it entirely clear what the "it" is? It (pardon the pun!) could of course be more than one of them theologically...

[kafka]

absolutely. Faith is an infused at Baptism. It is a supernatural virtue based in the soul. It is organic. In a living person giving him a power beyond his own ability. The power of faith enables one to freely accept everything God has revealed, everything God wills, all of God's providence all of God's love, even God as He is in Himself, though through a dark cloud in the midst of the evil and suffering of this first life. And this is why it is a free and gratuitous gift of God. For who has ever seen God? Who can go to him by his own power? Who can live with him forever unless he be taken up.

Faith is never separate from love and hope. The three are one gift of God infused with sanctifying grace at Baptism. One could even say that sanctifying grace is love-faith-hope. One gift of sanctifying grace constituted by three supernatural virtues. And sanctifying grace is in seed the gift of eternal life.

love-faith-hope are one. One gift ordering our being toward God. faith proceeds from love, for how could we accept God and all that He is and all that He does without loving and obeying Him? Hope proceeds from love and faith as from one principle for how could we turn to God in hope of all good things without be united in love and faith? Three wings which dispose one's being to God and he soars to him in spite of all the troubles of life.

Edited July 21, 2010 by kafka

[kafka]

[quote name='kafka' date='21 July 2010 - 06:17 PM' timestamp='1279750669' post='2146150'] Three wings which dispose one's being to God and he soars to him in spite of all the troubles of life.
[/quote]
actually two wings of love and faith and a tail of hope would be a better symbol. Like a bird. The tail steers the direction of the bird. Hope orders all one's desires to be fulfilled in God.

[infinitelord1]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='19 July 2010 - 11:10 PM' timestamp='1279595414' post='2145306']
"For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)
[/quote]

Yeah I know. Ive read this passage a couple times in the last few months. I think the gift that this verse is referring to is Salvation.

[infinitelord1]

[quote name='infinitelord1' date='22 July 2010 - 06:11 PM' timestamp='1279836662' post='2146430']
Yeah I know. Ive read this passage a couple times in the last few months. I think the gift that this verse is referring to is Salvation.
[/quote]

I like the idea that Faith is something that God reveals to us and is not something that we can achieve by works. Many of you seem to be pointing in this direction. However, it seems to me that if Faith is something that God reveals to us...then he must choose people in which to reveal it to...and furthermore, we are chosen by God (Predestined) and that we do not choose Salvation. Does this make any sense? What do you think?

[kafka]

[quote name='infinitelord1' date='22 July 2010 - 06:16 PM' timestamp='1279837011' post='2146432']
I like the idea that Faith is something that God reveals to us and is not something that we can achieve by works. Many of you seem to be pointing in this direction. However, it seems to me that if Faith is something that God reveals to us...then he must choose people in which to reveal it to...and furthermore, we are chosen by God (Predestined) and that we do not choose Salvation. Does this make any sense? What do you think?
[/quote]
Faith is sometimes used to describe the gift of Divine Revelation, e.g. Sacred Deposit of Faith. But this is distinct from the supernatural virtue of faith infused at Baptism with sanctifying grace. Sometimes Faith is also used to describe the one gift of sanctifying grace.

the initial gift of sanctifying grace is prevenient, prior to, any cooperation. It is undeserved and involves no merit, nor any act at all, on anyone's part. I think prevenient grace is given to every person, even persons in a state of mortal sin, without any cooperation or consent on the part of that person many times throughout life, but then the persons who lack the state of grace refuse subsequent grace given and so they remain in the state of mortal sin. So sanctifying grace is divided into two sub-types prevenient and subsequent:

Dei Verbum (n. 5)

5. "The obedience of faith" (Rom. 13:26; see 1:5; 2 Cor 10:5-6) "is to be given to God who reveals, an obedience [obedience is basically love] by which man commits his whole self freely to God, offering the full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals," (4) and freely assenting [or accepting] to the truth revealed by Him. To make this act of faith, the grace of God and the interior help of the Holy Spirit [sanctifying grace] must precede [prevenient grace] and assist [subsequent grace], moving the heart and turning it to God, opening the eyes of the mind and giving "joy and ease to everyone in assenting to the truth and believing it." (5) To bring about an ever deeper understanding of revelation the same Holy Spirit constantly brings faith to completion by His gifts [known as the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit described in the prophecy of Isaiah].

Predestination in my opinion is not related to the supernatural virtue of faith, or the state of sanctifying grace for God reveals Himself either explicitly or implicitly to everyone and He gives prevenient grace to everyone. I think predestination refers more to those who have been assumed into Heaven have always been there from the beginning of its Creation since Heaven is beyond all Time and Place since it is with God who is Eternity.

Those who die in the state of sanctifying grace will have eternal life.

edit: added Dei Verbum quote and clarified grace. Original post was crude and not unified.

Edited July 22, 2010 by kafka

[Apotheoun]

Predestination, among the Greek Fathers, concerns human nature, and not human persons. To put it another way, all of human nature has been predestined in Christ for ever-being (i.e., for eternal existence) through the incarnation, while whether a man is personally saved or damned remains in the power of his own free will in synergy with the uncreated divine energy.

[add]

[quote name='infinitelord1' date='19 July 2010 - 10:32 PM' timestamp='1279589535' post='2145204']
Is Faith a Gift?
[/quote]

Faith is not a gift, it cannot be

Faith is elusive and evasive; it can only be found, realized or discovered by looking for it.

Edited July 23, 2010 by apparently