Would God not receive more glory by saving through his prerogative, than man deciding to believe by his own initiative?
This text is from a transcript of talk given by David Gooding entitled ‘The Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God’ (1995).
I do not believe that man takes the initiative in his salvation. If God hadn't taken the initiative there would be no salvation to have anyway. It was God's idea to save men and women, his idea to offer them eternal life. God thought it up that we should, if we consented, become children of God and not just creatures of God. That is all God's doing. What is more, as the Saviour put it, 'The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost' (Luke 19:10). We were lost. God took the initiative, sending his Son to seek us.
In the matter of faith, I say again that I believe with you that faith is the gift of God. It is the gift of God, not in the sense that faith is a kind of commodity that God happens to pour into you. We have the faculty of believing: 'If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for the witness of God is this, that he hath borne witness concerning his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him' (1 John 5:9–10). If you accept the testimony of unregenerate men, you ought to accept the testimony of God then, for his testimony is far more trustworthy.
What does it mean that God takes the initiative and gives us the faith? He gives us faith, not as some commodity but by talking to us, showing himself and thus evoking our faith. We are not asked to believe in a vacuum. God comes and offers himself to us, speaks to us, shows us his actions, records endless chunks of big history to show us how he has acted in the past. He has deliberately recorded the conversion of Saul of Tarsus so that it might be an example to us. 'He's the very chief of sinners,' says God. 'If I saved him I certainly could save you.' So God takes the initiative.
During a talk I questioned some of the ladies present. What made you believe that man you married? Where did you get the faith from to trust him enough to accept his proposal? And the answer that I thought came back was not, 'I was getting desperate and I decided any old man would do! In fact I didn't wait for him; I proposed to him!' No, no! The answer was, 'I watched him and I observed him. When he first proposed I had a bit of doubt (he seemed a bit flashy!); but then as I watched him and saw how kind he was to little children and how considerate and patient he was, things began to happen in my heart, and I found I could trust him.' Then you had to make a decision, didn't you? He wasn't literally irresistible. You could have said 'No!' You got the faith by listening, watching, studying his character, and that called out the faith.
'Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ' (Romans 10:17). That is how faith is provoked within us. God takes the initiative; he shows us his life. But the God who gave us eyes with which we could see the light also gave us eyelids; he gave us the ability, though not permission, that when he shows us his life we can, if we insist, close our eyes against the light. We are free to say 'Yes'. God has also given us the awful honour of being able to say 'No'. For God wants love, and love that is forced is not love.
