Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

side. The Constative Aorist tense points to God’s decision to graciously give us saving faith and
suffering for blessing in eternity past. We were not there to provide our opinion on the matter; if we
had been there, we would have unanimously said “No!” to both.
The gift of saving faith at regeneration comes only to the elect, His sheep. The result, believing in
Christ, determines the extent of the gift. The Perfective Present tense points to the absolute,
sovereignly designed result (salvation) of all those who receive the gift. The only people who
believe are those who were given saving faith. God provided this gift to us on behalf of Christ. That
takes care of positional truth, but the next passage includes experiential truth. God also provided us
with an endless variety of suffering. This suffering can either be to our benefit or our detriment. If
we apply doctrinal rationales and remain in fellowship through suffering (Iterative Present tense), we
receive temporal and eternal blessings from the suffering. If we pass momentum and disaster tests,
our spiritual growth is spurred forward. This also is on behalf of Christ.
God the Father provides the two grace gifts: saving faith and suffering for blessing. Both categories
of gifts are given to us on behalf of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is not absent in either scenario. The
Holy Spirit applies saving faith to us at the point of regeneration, placing us in union with Christ
forever. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer, and then allows each of us to be filled with His
presence experientially when we have confessed all known sins. When we are in fellowship and the
Father provides a measure of suffering in our lives, the purpose is for us to apply divine problemsolving
devices to survive and overcome the suffering for an eventual blessing. The extent of
suffering brought to us depends on the doctrine in our soul. The more doctrine we have, the greater
the suffering; the greater the suffering, the more opportunity to utilize the doctrine in our souls to
pass the test and advance in the spiritual life. The trinity is constantly at work in us, from beginning
to end.
REVELANT OPINIONS
This creation of capacity is called regeneration. The Biblical evidence that faith itself is a gift is
impressive. It comes not of one's own strength or virtue, but only to those who are chosen of God for
its reception, hence a gift. Faith is not an act of will but is a response to testimony. (J. Dillow) Faith
is a gift of divine grace to man before it becomes an act of man. (R.B. Kuiper) It is not even our
faith, but a faith given to us from the Father, channeled through the Son, and made effective through
the power of the Holy Spirit. Man is truly in spiritual bondage in this matter and has no power to
assist in the process of his own salvation. (A. Custance) He graciously softens the heart of the elect,
however obstinate, and inclines them to believe. (Canons of Dort) It is important to remember that
even if it could be shown that election is conditional, perhaps based on God’s foresight of human
faith and repentance, Arminians are a long way from proving their thesis. After all, God foresees and
foreknows everything. Consequently, we would need to determine how a person comes to the faith
that God foresees in him or her. (T. Schreiner)
According to Scripture faith is a gift of divine grace to man before it becomes an act of man. The
conclusion is inescapable that, if God did no more than make salvation possible by the death of His
Son and left it to man to realize his salvation by believing in Christ of his own volition, then God by