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Here is a re-post of my response to you yesterday. I believe scripture is very clear on how we come to faith, through the Holy Spirit, not of our own doing:

The Apostle Paul leaves no room for defining God’s grace as less than a gift from a gracious benefactor to a poor helpless beggar.

Believing brings no boast in self because human qualities, works and achievements play no part in why and how God saves. From start to finish, the boast is “Christ!” Faith is God’s gift

Ephesians 2 explicitly states our faith is a gift from God. As do the other scriptures quoted below.

Ephesians 2 1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

1 Corinthians 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 2:13 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Romans 9:16 16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

Ephesians 2 explicitly states our faith is a gift from God. As do the other scriptures quoted below.

Ephesians 2:8, the prime verse used to assert this, has been translated in such a way as to make it look like “this” is referring to “faith,” but it’s not.

In English, one has no clue which antecedent in the passage “this” is referring to, especially when quoting the single verse in isolation. Because of this, many mistake “this” to be referring to faith. It also doesn’t help that folks who already presume it to refer to faith punctuate the passage in English in a way that reinforces what the Greek doesn’t allow and destroys the parallelism of the parenthetic comments in verses five and eight (“by grace are ye saved”, “by grace are ye saved through faith”).

Greek has gendered nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. This makes it easy to identify which pronouns refer to which nouns; there is also agreement in gender, case, and number between adjectives and the nouns they modify. Faith (pistis), in Greek, is a feminine noun, as is grace (karis). The singular demonstrative pronoun “this” (touto), however, is in the neuter form. It is referring neither to "faith" nor to "grace" but to a singular neuter noun earlier in the passage. That noun is found in verse 7, “the overwhelming wealth” (to huperballon plutos), a singular neuter noun (plutos) with its singular neuter adjective (huperballon). Its apposition is found at the end of verse 8, God’s “gift” (to doron), a singular neuter noun. A translation that pays attention to the actual Greek instead of to subsequently developed theologies would be:

“But God, being rich in mercy, through his great love wherewith he loved us, being dead in sins, has together with Christ made us alive (by grace are ye saved) and has raised [us] up together and made [us] sit together in heavenly places in Christ in order that in the coming ages he might demonstrate the overwhelming wealth (the singular neuter noun and its neuter adjective) of his grace in lovingkindness toward us in Christ Jesus (for by grace ye are saved through faith) and this, (singular neuter pronoun, ie., the “overwhelming wealth”) [does] not [come] from you, [it is] God's gift, (singular neuter noun, ie, the apposition of the “overwhelming wealth”); [it does] not [come] from works, in order that no one should boast. Because we are his ongoing workmanship in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works which God has prepared in order that we should be walking around in them.”

Without the parenthetical comments (other than those in the text) and with the singular neuter “this” accompanied by its singular neuter referent and apposition, the singular neuter noun “gift” (and a more English way of speaking):

“But God, being rich in mercy, through his great love wherewith he loved us, being dead in sins, has together with Christ made us alive (by grace are ye saved) and has raised us up together and has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ in order that in the coming ages he might demonstrate the overwhelming wealth of his grace in lovingkindness toward us in Christ Jesus (for by grace are ye saved through faith) and this overwhelming wealth does not have its source in you. It is a gift of God. It does not come from what you do, in order that no one should boast. Because we are his ongoing worksmanship in Christ Jesus, in order that we should be doing those good works which God has prepared for us to do.”

* To translate this, I used: The Greek New Testament, edited by Aland K, Black M, Martini CM, Metzger BM, and Wikgren A. Institute for New Testament Textual Research. 1968.