Perhaps one of the trickier matters of the Protestant Reformation, and our own day, was/is how to speak of the role of
faith in salvation. During the Reformation this was highlighted due to the debate over the
nature of justification. In simplest terms, the Reformers taught that a person is
not justified
because of his or her faith. In other words, God does not reward one's faith with then what is their due, namely justification, leading to a complete salvation. Instead, God
gives faith to a person as the
instrument through with he or she
receives the
gift of justification, leading to a full salvation.
Faith adds nothing to God's saving work. It receives it. There is nothing in me, or about me, that commends me to God; not even my faith. It is
my faith, in that it has been given to me to possess. Since it has been given to me, then of course it wasn't produced by me, or found in me, apart from being given to me.
On the last day I will not appear before God having anything natural to me in which I can boast. God saves a person without regard to his or her works, or worth. The gift is a true gift, meaning a free one. Their is no payment in it. There are no wages dispensed. There is no reward about it.
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