“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not
only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” (Philippians
1:29)
Note that faith is granted
in this verse. Some believe saving faith
is given by God to certain
individuals. The NKJ translators
interpret the Greek verb as has been
granted not given as in forced or compelled upon a person. If faith were given in a compelled or forced
way, then a problem develops. God would
also be the giver of suffering and persecution per the latter half of this
verse.
Charidzomai is
best interpreted as granted as in freely offered. Christ offers salvation through His finished
work for those who rely, trust, or believe on Him. Of course, along with salvation comes
persecution. This privilege of
suffering is also something which comes along with our identification with
Christ (see the phrase fellowship of His
sufferings in 3.10).
Charidzomai is also used in the following passages:
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but
the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been
freely given to us by God.” (1 Corinthians 2:12)
“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)
It would be difficult to conclude from these examples a compelled idea of the Greek verb. That is, we are freely given things not compelled to have them. Forgiving another is something we certainly decide to do. It is not compelled. I must choose to forgive. If I will not forgive, then my Father in Heaven will not forgive me.
Therefore, Philippians 1.29 does not have to support the
idea of saving faith being a gift of
God. Some will import this upon the
verse to defend a theological filter (We all have presuppositions we defend.). I conclude that salvation by grace is the
gift and faith is our response not our work (cf. Ephesians 2.8-9). Of course, I do have a theological bias :)
