C (2:26)

At the bottom of a well. And you can throw him a rope all day long. He's never going to grab the rope because he's dead.

B (2:32)

He's dead. So God has to give him life.

C (2:35)

Before he has to be born again, before he believes. And then he gets the gift of faith too. Because if he actually believed himself, the Calvinists say that would be a work.

B (2:46)

Absolutely.

C (2:47)

How that's a work, I don't know, because it's not a work in Scripture.

B (2:50)

But okay, so let's just read Romans 12:3 first. And it says, this is new King James. And this is going to be one.

C (2:58)

Of the issues, not the same translation Hodges gives.

B (3:01)

Exactly. How do we translate this phrase at the end of the verse? That's going to be the issue. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Okay, what is that last phrase God has in the new King James Version? God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

C (3:32)

And by the way, it just hit me, if you take that verse as teaching that faith is a gift, then each one has that gift.

B (3:40)

Right?

C (3:41)

Well, let's assume we're just talking about believers because the Holy Spirit isn't giving gifts to unbelievers. So you'd say every believer is given the gift of faith. So you could see how a Calvinist might use it that way. But now most people who want to say that this is talking about some special spiritual gift, faith as a gift. If they wanted to use this verse as a spiritual gift, there's a bit of a problem there. And Hajus has a good discussion.

B (4:08)

Yeah, it's a great discussion. One of the problem is, part of the problem is this word measure.

C (4:14)

Yes.

B (4:14)

What does Paul mean by that? The Greek word is metron, a measure of faith. And Hodges in his commentary discusses that. He says, clearly this is not talking about a degree or extent of one's faith, because that's completely out of the context. Which goes along with my shirt, by the way. It does, yeah. The context matters because in the next couple verses, Paul's going to talk about what spiritual gifts.

C (4:39)

Various gifts.

B (4:40)

Various gifts.

C (4:41)

So it makes sense that 12:3 is introducing that subject.

B (4:44)

Right.

C (4:44)

And it's talking about the measure of various gifts that are given.

B (4:49)

Right. And Hodges in his commentary makes this statement. It's to be understood as the functional equivalent of the phrase in verse six. And in verse six, just a few verses later, again he's talking about spiritual gifts. Verse 6, he says having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.

C (5:13)

So our gifts are gifts from God's grace.

B (5:18)

Right.

C (5:19)

But how do we get faith in there then? Then faith itself is a Gift.

B (5:23)

And by the way, for those who don't have Hodges commentary on Romans, it's not an easy read. It's deep. It's one of these things that if you're going to study the book of Romans, it is essential.

C (5:34)

I think I do, too. In fact, his discussion of this verse is so clear because basically he's saying, if we're in the faith, we have some gift that's been measured out to us. And then he lists what the gifts are. So he's calling faith there. Essentially what we are in. We're in the faith.

B (5:54)

He's talking about the different translations, and he mentions the new King James Version, a measure of faith. And then he mentions some others. The King James Version says the measure of faith, and the NIV says the measure of faith God has given you. And so we can see, as you mentioned, it seems like in our English translations, and this is the point of the question, it seems like he's saying God has given you faith.

C (6:20)

Right.

B (6:20)

And then a measure of faith.

D (6:22)

We will rejoin in just a moment. But years ago, Zane Hodges wrote the Gospel Under Siege. Sadly, this is still true, and GES president Bob Wilkin has recently written its sequel. Bob's new book, the Gospel is Still Under Siege, is a book about theological clarity on the biblical teaching about eternal salvation. It is available now. Secure yours today at the Grace Evangelical Society's bookstore. Find it@faithalone.org store. That's faithalone.org store. Now back to today's content.

B (6:58)

Again. Hodges, in his commentary on Romans, has a great discussion on this concerning the word metron or measure. And here I'm just going to read it. It's just a sentence or two. He said metron should be taken to indicate what has been measured out to them as a result of their Christian faith, not that faith has been measured out to them.

C (7:21)

In fact, how does he translate it? Doesn't he call it faith's gift?

B (7:25)

Faith's portion.

C (7:26)

Faith's portion, yeah.

B (7:27)

Faith's measure. Or he uses the word portion. And even in his.

C (7:31)

In other words, it's like the Christian faith itself is giving a gift to various and each one has their own portion.

B (7:39)

There you go. That's a great way to say it. And in this context, again, going back to my T shirt, he's talking about spiritual gifts.

C (7:48)

So it wouldn't make much sense to start with talking about some gift every single person has, like faith. Right, Right. Because the list is each one has different gifts. Not everybody's an eye, not everybody's an Ear, not everybody's a hand or a foot. And so Paul's point is we have different gifts, right? And so it wouldn't make sense that he openings saying we all have this same gift. Instead he's saying this is faith's portion, right?

B (8:16)

And in verse 6 it's grace has been given to you. And then he starts listing some of the spiritual gifts.

C (8:23)

Alright, let's talk quickly about Ephesians 2, 8, 9.

B (8:27)

Well, before we do, in the first part of verse three, right. Paul says, don't think too highly of yourself. And that fits the context. What is he saying? Well, we've all been given gifts, right? So don't think more of. In other words, I want to aspire to what Bob's got his gifts, you know, his. Even if we say abilities, your gift, what you're able to do in the church, I should be content with faith portions that I have.

C (8:51)

That's good.

B (8:52)

Where he has placed me within the body. That's what he's talking about. That's my portion, right?

C (8:57)

Now in Ephesians 2, 8, some people say, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works. Lest anyone should boast, they say that the that is not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works. That refers to faith. But the problem with that is the word that is neuter in Greek. And the word faith is feminine in Greek. When you have a neuter, a demonstrative pronoun like that, it's looking back not to faith, but to the salvation, which is by grace through faith. So salvation is the gift of God, not a result of works. Anyone should both. Which by the way fits with what Jesus said in John 4. 10. If you knew the gift of God which he said in verse 14 is everlasting life, right? And you also have that in Revelation 22:17, if anyone wishes, let him take the water of life freely. Or the Greek word is the word means without cost or free. And so the idea that faith is the gift is not taught by Ephesians 2, 8, 9. That's teaching. Salvation is the gift. And there's also another problem with saying that faith is a gift. Well then what would John 5, 40 mean? Jesus says, but you're not willing to come to me that you may have life. Why would willingness have anything to do with it? If God regenerates people and gives them the gift of faith, then willingness has nothing to do with anything. In fact, in my book is Calvinism biblical That's one of the passages I talk about.

B (10:31)

Well, anything. All the rebukes of the Lord, when he rebukes Israel for not believing, oh.

C (10:36)

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how it would have gathered you as a hen gathers your chicks.

B (10:40)

But you were not willing. There it is again.

C (10:42)

Right, right.

B (10:44)

And by the way, this idea of, you know, as Bob mentioned, that the word faith in Greek is feminine and that is neuter. That sounds weird. Like, man, I don't want to get into grammatical stuff, but anyone who studied a foreign language, like for those who've studied Spanish, faith in Spanish is feminine.

C (11:03)

What is it? Fay?

B (11:04)

Yeah, Fay la fe. And so law is a feminine article there. And so when you, when you use feminine adjectives or if you're referring to, you know, a relative pronoun referring back to it, you use the same gender, if you will.

C (11:21)

And so it's not just even in Spanish, right?

B (11:23)

Even in Spanish.

C (11:24)

We don't do it in English, but that's because we don't use gender very much.

B (11:29)

Well, we don't have, we don't say, well, that word is masculine in English, but a lot of languages do.

C (11:35)

Like, who isn't going to be masculine, feminine, or neuter or, you know, whatever. Now he. We know is masculine and she is feminine and, and it is neuter, but that's about it. We don't have many other gender designations.

B (11:50)

Right. And so we don't. The point is, when we use these Greek things, you go, oh, now you're getting to the Greek stuff. But it's across all languages like this. The bottom line for Romans 12:3, it is not faith that is given, but it is the spiritual gifts that are given. That is our portion. That's the bottom line in Romans 12:3.

C (12:09)

Thank you so much, Bryan, for asking this question. Cause I really didn't have an answer to that. And now that you've gone through it, Ken, and read what Hodges said, it makes a lot of sense. And if you don't have this commentary, I suggest you check it out.

B (12:23)

If you're interested in the Book of Romans, it's a must have.

C (12:26)

I think it is. And even though, like you say, it's not the easiest of reads, it's easy to understand what he's saying if you're just trying to read in one given passage. But don't try to read it like a novel.

B (12:39)

Well, thanks again, Brian, for your question. And remember, keep grace in focus, be.

A (12:48)

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D (13:09)

If so, please send us a message.

A (13:12)

Here's our email address. It's radioaithalone.org that's radioaithalone.org and when you do, please make sure your question is as succinct and clear as possible. That would be a great big help. And on our next episode, does the Bible teach salvation as a two step process? Believing plus trusting? We hope you join us again. And in the meantime, let's keep Grace in focus.

B (13:45)

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A (13:47)

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