In our discipleship hour this past Sunday, we dove into a thrilling discussion on God’s gracious work in the salvation of sinners. I’ve been in the midst of doing some reading for school and I came across this helpful excerpt on the subject from J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, Christianity & Liberalism.

“The beginning of the Christian life is an act of God. It is an act of God and not an act of man. That does not mean, however, that in the beginning of the Christian life God deals with us as with sticks or stones, unable to understand what is being done. On the contrary He deals with us as with persons; salvation has a place in the conscious life of man; God uses in our salvation a conscious act of the human soul – an act which though it is itself the work of God's Spirit, is at the same time an act of man. That act of man which God produces and employs in salvation is faith” [J. Gresham Machen, Christianity & Liberalism, (Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1923), p.141].

Praise God for the work of his Spirit, for faith, which is as Paul says in Ephesians 2:8, is a gift of God!