Why Do You Believe?

Why do some people respond to the gospel with faith in Christ while others continue in unbelief? Today, R.C. Sproul contrasts the Reformed and Arminian answers to this question.

I talk to my Arminian friends all the time about this and say, "Look, let me ask you a question. Why is it that you're a believer? Many members of your own family or friends that you have are not believers when you've both heard the gospel." And they say, "Well, because I responded to the gospel and the other person didn't." And I said, "Okay. You said, 'Yes,' to the aid of God's grace. God gave the same offer to your neighbor. And your neighbor said, 'No.' I want to know this. Why did you say, 'Yes,' and your neighbor said 'No'?" "Oh, because I'm free." I said, "I understand that. But why in your freedom were you inclined to say, 'Yes,' to grace and your neighbor said, 'No'? Is it because you're more righteous than that person is?" Now, what would any Armenian say? "Of course not. I don't believe that I'm in there because I'm righteous."

I said, "Why not? What your friend did was the wrong thing. It's a sinful thing to say, 'No,' to an offer of divine grace for salvation. Wouldn't you agree?" And they said, "Well, yeah." And I said, "And the right thing is to say, 'Yes.'" The final analysis, the reason why you're saved and that person isn't, is because you did the right thing and they did the wrong thing. And if you really think that that's the reason you're saved, the danger you're in is in actually trusting in what you have done rather than somebody else. How far away is that from wrong if you really believe that it's what you did that made the difference?

Sola Gratia says, "Salvation is monergistic at the beginning. Regeneration is solely the work of God's grace in your soul. Now, after he makes that change in your heart, after he changes the disposition of your soul, you come, you believe, you work for your entire Christian life in cooperation with sanctifying grace, and the rest of the Christian life is synergistic. But the beginning is by the divine initiative, and you are being rescued from the kingdom of darkness and from the state of the flesh is by God's grace and by God's grace alone." That's the doctrine of Sola Gratia according to the Reformation.