Is “faith” sometimes a work by us, and sometimes a work of God?

Question

Here are some examples of faith seemingly called a work:

1 Thessalonians 1:3 (KJV) Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

2 Thessalonians 1:11 (KJV) Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of [this] calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of [his] goodness, and the work of faith with power:

Could this be indicating that any contribution to our own salvation, even faith, is a work. And by works no man is saved ?

And that after salvation faith is then a work of God ? :

John 6:29 (KJV) Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Answer 1

Anybody can say, "I have faith in God." Yet to make such a claim proves nothing. It is a statement of belief that the person makes, to others (for there is no need to make it to oneself!) Even the demons believe in the reality of God but they do not have faith in God. James said their knowledge of the reality of God makes them shudder (for they know what God is going to do to them - James 2:19-20). Belief in the existence of God is a given, from which faith in God may arise. Note that James goes on to say, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (vs. 26). Earlier, he said it profits nothing to say one has faith but does not have the works that prove a living faith. Just saying one has faith does nothing (vs.14).

This is necessary to state in order to understand what the believer does with respect to "works". Works of faith simply demonstrate that the claim to have faith is genuine. And such true works of faith always glorify God, not self. Yet many works of faith that please God are known only unto God. There should never be boasting or advertising of what works of faith one has done, as that indicates pride, and so would not honour God.

But no such genuine works of faith can be done unless God has first gifted faith to the individual, to bring them to spiritual newness of life. This is a work of the Holy Spirit who reveals just who Jesus is ("the Christ, the Son of the living God" as Peter said when the Father revealed that to him from heaven - Matthew 16:15-18). The Holy Spirit reveals the mysteries of Christ, the gospel of Christ, and the mystery of being part of Christ's spiritual body, his Church. Without such revealing (as a gift from heaven) people may think they have faith, but it is not saving faith, because it's only knowledge about God and Christ. The significance of God, Christ and the Church is only gifted with the gift of faith. That has to come first and nobody can muster up such saving faith for themselves, no matter how much head-knowledge they have. As Jesus said:

"To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." Matthew 13:11 A.V.

"All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." Matthew 11:27 A.V.

There has to be a coming to Christ first, and then the Father reveals the hidden mysteries of Christ and the Kingdom by imparting his gift of faith.

Only thereafter can a new-born Christian start to do any works of faith that honour God. Those works do not give him any merit as to salvation, but they testify to an unbelieving world that such people are different, for the Spirit of Christ now indwells all who are part of his Church - Colossians 1:27. Unbelievers should be stopped in their tracks to consider the faith and loving good works such people do. Of course, those who are not Christians often also do loving good works, but because the faith from God is not there, no pointing to Christ, no sharing of the gospel of Christ will follow. Christians should do both those things in tandem with their good works. Then God is glorified and others may see Christ in the midst.

In that latter case, the main answer becomes clear: Christians do do good works because of their faith, but without first having been given saving faith in Christ from God, those good works are not the good works the Bible speaks of.

The secondary answer also should be clear now: Only God can bestow saving faith on anyone, so that none can boast. Good works do not save anyone, but those who have been saved by grace will do good works because they have been saved. Faith cannot be a work that contributes towards our salvation, for good works that honour God only arise from the gift of faith he first bestowed on us, undeservedly.

God gives the faith that saves (which cannot be a work on God's part for it is a gift), thereafter the saved do the good works that result from saving faith.

Answer 2

The answer to this question depends upon the interpretation of the grammatical genitive.

1 Thess 1:3

There we have several such constructions:

• work of faith - this could mean the work to produce faith, the work that results from faith, etc
• labor of love - again, this could mean the labor to produce love, or the labor that results from love
• endurance of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ - this could mean the endurance to produce hope, or the endurance that springs from hope.

Now, whatever one says about one of these must be said about all of them and the answer lies in the last - it is the hope that come from Jesus Christ our Lord.

Therefore, we deduce that:

• the work faith is the works we are inspired to do by the faith from our Lord Jesus Christ
• the labor of love is the labor inspired by the love we have for Jesus and the realization of the love He has for us
• the endurance of hope is the endurance resulting from our unshakable hope in the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thess 1:11

Again, the "work of faith" is the work that results from our faith in Jesus and His faithfulness; in this case, the source of the "power" is obviously, Jesus Himself as the last part of the verse states.

John 6:29

Here we have "the work of God is to believe Him ..." That is, It is God's work to inspire us to believe Him.

This is all summarized in Eph 2:8-10 -

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

Answer 3

Regarding salvation, it is God's work that we place our faith in (Christ crucified for us), not any work of ourselves that we could otherwise boast about. Our faith comes by hearing and believing the gospel that is found in God's Word. The author of God's Word is God the Spirit. God's Word is then the work of God Himself.

Romans 10:17

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Regarding our service, "works" in the faith are the result of our salvation, and not as the means by which to obtain or maintain it. This is the work that we are rewarded for at the Judgement Seat of Christ, but note that how well we perform that work has no bearing on our salvation itself:

1 Corinthians 3:13-15

Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.