Must one Believe to be saved ?

[Wings]

Hello there Savedbygrace,

'Faith comes by hearing' and 'hearing by the Word of God'.

The gospel is 'the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth'.(Rom.1:16)

So all we have to do is 'hear'. Believing comes from Him.

We are His workmanship. The Work is His.

Nothing is of us - All is of Him.

In Christ
Wings

 

[savedbygrace57]

wings:

'Faith comes by hearing' and 'hearing by the Word of God'.

You still have evaded my point from the previous post, now you are starting another point, of which , after this you will start another point without investigating this one I will explain..

Notice Paul writes that Faith comes by Hearing the Word of God, and I agree, but one must be born of God first to hear God's words, Jesus expresses that here Jn 8:

43Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Cannot means without ability to hear, and so those without ability will not hear, they will not because they cannot !

So Jesus gives the reason why they cannot vs 47

47He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Because they are not of God, meaning born of God, they were not regenerated..so regeneration,being born of God is necessary for Hearing God's word to have Faith..

 

[Wings]

wings:



You still have evaded my point from the previous post, now you are starting another point, of which , after this you will start another point without investigating this one I will explain..

Notice Paul writes that Faith comes by Hearing the Word of God, and I agree, but one must be born of God first to hear God's words, Jesus expresses that here Jn 8:

43Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Cannot means without ability to hear, and so those without ability will not hear, they will not because they cannot !

So Jesus gives the reason why they cannot vs 47

47He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Because they are not of God, meaning born of God, they were not regenerated..so regeneration,being born of God is necessary for Hearing God's word to have Faith..

Hello Savedbygrace,

I do not understand your indignation, or your claim that I have not addressed your previous point yet. To my knowledge I have answered you on every point raised.

As to this further point I have no intention of evading it, why should I, SbG? I have nothing either to fear or to hide. I want the TRUTH no matter what it is, as I am sure you also do. I am not taking up battle-lines in opposition to you, and have no axe to grind.

* I confess that I need to study this further in order to answer you. I hope you will be patient and wait for me to do that, but please stop this accusing stance, which is not appropriate between believers.

In Christ Jesus
our risen and glorified
Saviour, Lord and Head.

Wings

 

[D4Christ]

Notice Paul writes that Faith comes by Hearing the Word of God, and I agree, but one must be born of God first to hear God's words, Jesus expresses that here Jn 8:

43Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Cannot means without ability to hear, and so those without ability will not hear, they will not because they cannot !

So Jesus gives the reason why they cannot vs 47

47He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Because they are not of God, meaning born of God, they were not regenerated..so regeneration,being born of God is necessary for Hearing God's word to have Faith..

Interesting arguement. But it seems like you have left an important verse in the scripture you quoted above. I prefer the NLT but I will use the KJV that you quote. Here's the entire quote.

John 8:43-47

43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
**45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.**
46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

According to Strong's "cannot" is about saying no, in direct questions expecting an affirmative answer. And "hear" means to comprehend and understand or preceive the sense of what is said. Let's look at it step by step.

1. Why can't you understand me? Because you can't hear.
2. You don't believe.
3. (Christ says) If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me?
4. Those that belong to God listen, and you don't listen because you don't belong to God.

You say you must be born of God first in order to hear God's word. But if that were the case, why did Christ ask them why they didn't believe?

As Wings and I have been confirming thru scritpures, the only way to "belong to God" is to hear and believe His Word. If you hear the message but don't believe then all the God says doesn't make sense to you. You can't understand, hear or comprehend the message because you "chose" to not believe.

Christ explains if further in the parable of the seeds.

Luke 8:11-12

11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. 12 The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved.

Christ tells them in verse 44 they they are the children of the devil because, they did not believe Christ, preventing them from being saved. As a result they don't belong to Christ (which means they can't hear His message) and they belong to the devil.

The passage in question is telling us that the people Christ spoke to couldn't hear because they did not believe...and because they did not believe they did not belong to God...and because they did belong to God, they could not hear, comprehend or understand anything Christ said to them.

Blessings,
Deirdre

 

[ivdavid]

The passage in question is telling us that the people Christ spoke to couldn't hear because they did not believe..

Doesn't Romans 10:14 clearly indicate that belief comes after hearing?

Besides, John 6:63-65 states that it must be granted of God for us to believe. Same with Romans 9:16.

I do believe each side would be having its own interpretation framework - but the way to come to a conclusion is by exploring the intent of the "why" we hold on to a particular interpretation. What is at stake - what are we trying to defend/uphold by sticking on to this interpretation and not that.

For me, I'd hold that man in the flesh needs to be regenerated to obey the Gospel because I believe that the flesh is against God and profits Nothing and hence man in the flesh needs regeneration even to come to terms with his own sinfulness. This way, all glory is to God alone and is not shared by the flesh. Besides, this is also supported in different parts of Scripture.

What is at stake for you to deny this? Let's continue to reject any worldly reasoning and stick to Biblical evidence alone.

 

[D4Christ]

More hearing and believing passages for you to consider (in NLT)....

John 5: 24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen [hear] to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

John 5:37 And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face, 38 and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you.

John 8:30 Then many who heard him say these things believed in him.

John 12:44 Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. 45 For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. 47 I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. 48 But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken.

Acts 15:7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe.

Romans 10: 9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.


Ephesians : 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.

As the last verse verifies, we are identified as belonging to Christ

 

[D4Christ]

Doesn't Romans 10:14 clearly indicate that belief comes after hearing?

Yes it does. But my point was, once you hear the message and then reject it, whenever you do hear the message again, you will not believe it. These people did not believe Christ, thereby rejecting Him and His message and becoming children of Satan. At this point you can't hear (comprehend or understand) anything God says to you.

Besides, John 6:63-65 states that it must be granted of God for us to believe. Same with Romans 9:16.

For me, I'd hold that man in the flesh needs to be regenerated to obey the Gospel because I believe that the flesh is against God and profits Nothing and hence man in the flesh needs regeneration even to come to terms with his own sinfulness. This way, all glory is to God alone and is not shared by the flesh. Besides, this is also supported in different parts of Scripture.

What is at stake for you to deny this? Let's continue to reject any worldly reasoning and stick to Biblical evidence alone.

If I have quoted a scripture outside of the approved bible, please let me know. To my knowledge what I have presented is in the bible.

I am fully aware that Christ calls those whom His Father gave to Him. So what does this mean? God is unfair? I'm not going there. But what I see is that the Father is all knowing. He knew before the world was created that He would send Christ to save us. And God knows how the end will all turn out. It seems to me that since God knows the end from the beginnning, He also knows those whom will accept Him and those whom will reject Him. He already knows those who are headed for salvation and those headed to damnation.

We say God is fair and just. Is it just to say to someone, you will never have the option to choose Christ and be saved? Are some born doomed to die because, unlike some others they will never have the ability or desire to proclaim their belief in God? Or does God, being all-knowing, declare some condemned because in His infinite wisdom He knows those who will never accept His message when they hear it. If God knows those who belong to Him before they are born, wouldn't he know the same for those headed for destruction?

I think it is hard for mortals to understand the concept of choice, to believe or reject God, knowing that He already knows what choices we will make. I don't claim to understand it all. But I do know that God is not a liar. So if He says we have a choice, then that's what I have to believe. The fact that God knows what choices I will make is not the point. Therefore, I will let God be God and spread the Good News....those that hear and believe will be saved.

Blessings,
Dee

 

[ivdavid]

If I have quoted a scripture outside of the approved bible, please let me know. To my knowledge what I have presented is in the bible.

No, no...I wasn't in any manner implying you did - I only was drawing attention to the fact that much of our interpretation could be influenced by commonly held worldly perceptions rather than the Word of God straight from the Bible and that we each need to guard ourselves against this. This was more of a precautionary statement than an indicative one.

So what does this mean? God is unfair? I'm not going there....
...I don't claim to understand it all....

You've been genuine in your post and I understand your intent of avoiding controversies. I have no intention of arguing unnecessarily - all I have to say is that God's plan for each of us includes our growing in the knowledge of God continuously and the answers to these questions are very much in the Bible and when God teaches these to us at the time He decrees, it will seem so sweet. The truth will set us even more free from our previous ignorance and all this will abound to the glory of God.

We say God is fair and just.

Absolutely true. This cannot be denied by anyone's interpretation.

Is it just to say to someone, you will never have the option to choose Christ and be saved?

How can you say that when you cannot know who will be saved and who won't. And besides, at the point of sharing the Gospel itself, there is an option for them to choose Christ and be saved - so your dilemma doesn't exactly arise.

As you rightly said, "Therefore, I will let God be God and spread the Good News....those that hear and believe will be saved."

Are some born doomed to die because, unlike some others they will never have the ability or desire to proclaim their belief in God?
Or does God, being all-knowing, declare some condemned because in His infinite wisdom He knows those who will never accept His message when they hear it.

Your contrast of these questions seems to imply that you believe that some desire and believe in God by themselves while some others don't. I hope you don't believe that we believers in Christ are any better in our wisdom/goodness/will-power than those who are perishing - in that case, you'd be building up the law again, claiming that the flesh profits something at least and resting on man's self-righteousness in that small aspect which is not resting entirely in God through faith.

God doesn't simply know that "some" will reject His grace - He knows that all in the flesh will keep rejecting His grace because of the nature of rebellion in the flesh. What is rebellion - it is the direct opposite of what God says. This is the reason that the natural man can never obey any of God's commandments, including the Gospel. This is the reason that God regenerates us - takes away our heart of stone that is unresponsive to His truth, and gives us a heart of flesh and a renewed spirit to understand, embrace and believe in Christ alone. This is entirely God's work where the flesh profits absolutely Nothing thereby granting all glory to God alone and depriving the flesh of any glory.

 

[ivdavid]

So if He says we have a choice, then that's what I have to believe.

Let's not miss the point here. We are given the moral responsibility to make a choice but it's a far cry from being able to actually make it. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that God has given us the consciousness of choice. But don't you see that our choices are always tempered according to our master - either sin in the flesh or God in our inward man. When we are in the flesh, we can do nothing but sin - does that represent our ability to choose good?

You see, God commands us by His law to choose what is good, knowing full well that we cannot make that choice - but He does so for us to realize that we are unable to make that choice. The law of works is in Lev 18:5 and the choice of the law has been declared in Deut 30:19. But we know that none can keep the commandments of the law - does that mean that God was unjust in asking us to choose? May it never be.

The purpose of the law was never for us to be righteous in keeping it by the flesh - the purpose was entirely different - it was given to show US that we can never keep it. To make us realize that there is a nature of rebellion that flaunts God's law always. When we realize that we have been rebels in enmity with God all along, then we see God's righteousness in condemning us. It is then that we see the grace and love of God in sending Christ to die on the cross while we were yet rebelling and rejecting Him. It is then that we lose all faith in our own will and ability/wisdom/understanding and are subdued to God's working in us thereafter - because we can never do any good by our own wisdom/understanding/will-power[the flesh].

We believe in Christ's death on the cross for our justification and we believe in Christ's life working in us for our righteousness - neither of which depends on the flesh and therefore not on the choice we make with respect to salvation.

You see, God would not be unjust or unrighteous if He chose to condemn every single man in the flesh to the eternal lakes of fire. Given that, if He so chose to save some, is there now unrighteousness in Him - not at all. What else is God's sovereignty? He might be accused of partiality if He had differentiated between the sinners on some parameter in them - but if He chose of His own sovereign will, does not the Creator have the right to do so? Romans 9:11 states that He does not depend on our works to establish His sovereign purposes - Romans 4:4 denies God's obligation to our dead works, but rather our dependence on His grace and mercy alone.

I have written much - not with the intent to debate or argue. I simply want to present enough for you to be able to evaluate by confirming with Scripture. Please do not be obligated to reply until you have meditated on all the intents of God's plan for us.

 

[savedbygrace57]

d4:

According to Strong's "cannot" is about saying no

Thats not accurate, it does not necessarily mean say no..that would not even fit the context, Jesus did not ask them to hear his word and they said no..but the word no carries with it the idea of:

Surely not, in no wise, by no means, not at all

The inability here is because darkness hates light, the Truth, its an enmity against truth, the only way it can be resolved as Jesus said later, they must be of God vs

47He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

There lieth the reason for the cannot..nothing they can naturally recitify sorry..

 

[savedbygrace57]

wings:

I do not understand your indignation

indignation ? Please, nothing like that. You just seem to make comments, then when they are shown to be wanting, you skip to another subject, without addressing the previous rebuttal to a previous comment you made..

 

[Sam21]

"Must one believe to be saved"? Must one breath air in order to live?

 

[D4Christ]

Your contrast of these questions seems to imply that you believe that some desire and believe in God by themselves while some others don't. I hope you don't believe that we believers in Christ are any better in our wisdom/goodness/will-power than those who are perishing - in that case, you'd be building up the law again, claiming that the flesh profits something at least and resting on man's self-righteousness in that small aspect which is not resting entirely in God through faith.

I am not sure how you got that from what I wrote. What I wrote was not about will power. It was about the need to believe in order to recieve thru faith the gift of salvation that Christ has offered us. Even God is patient with those who He knows are perishing, why would I suggest those who believe are any better. If not for the grace of God we would perish too.

Romans 3

19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses[i] and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. 29 After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. 30 There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 31 Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.

God doesn't simply know that "some" will reject His grace - He knows that all in the flesh will keep rejecting His grace because of the nature of rebellion in the flesh. What is rebellion - it is the direct opposite of what God says. This is the reason that the natural man can never obey any of God's commandments, including the Gospel. This is the reason that God regenerates us - takes away our heart of stone that is unresponsive to His truth, and gives us a heart of flesh and a renewed spirit to understand, embrace and believe in Christ alone. This is entirely God's work where the flesh profits absolutely Nothing thereby granting all glory to God alone and depriving the flesh of any glory.

The heart of man is exceedingly wicked. Even those who hear and accept His message must guard what they have learned and die daily to their flesh. You stated, "[God] takes away our heart of stone that is unresponsive to His truth, and gives us a heart of flesh and a renewed spirit to understand, embrace and believe in Christ alone." How does God accomplish this? It is thru faith. And how do we receive faith? When we believe and confess Christ we belong to God. My point was God knows from the beginning those who will believe and those who will not. He knows everything. I've never denied this.

Blessings,
Dee

 

[D4Christ]

Is it just to say to someone, you will never have the option to choose Christ and be saved?

How can you say that when you cannot know who will be saved and who won't. And besides, at the point of sharing the Gospel itself, there is an option for them to choose Christ and be saved - so your dilemma doesn't exactly arise.

There is no dilema. This was a hypothetical question that was pointing back to the fairness of God. You stated what I have been saying all along this thread. There is an option (choice) to choose (accept) Christ. Therefore there is also an option to reject Him.

Blessings,
Dee

 

[D4Christ]

Let's not miss the point here. We are given the moral responsibility to make a choice but it's a far cry from being able to actually make it.

You see, God commands us by His law to choose what is good, knowing full well that we cannot make that choice - but He does so for us to realize that we are unable to make that choice.

We believe in Christ's death on the cross for our justification and we believe in Christ's life working in us for our righteousness - neither of which depends on the flesh and therefore not on the choice we make with respect to salvation.

I am not sure where the disconnect is between our posts. I do not necesarily disagree with much of what you are saying. I understand that the law shows us how sinful we really are. Even if we chose to "obey every law" we could not obey them all and would be found guilty before God. The gift of reconcillation that God has given us thru his Son is what makes us righteous before God, not choices to obey or not to obey. How do we receive this gift? Confession and belief in his Son is how we get the gift. Once we get the gift, God renews our heart and minds and gives us a new spirit, so that by His hand we will be able to obey His law. Without this gift we can't be obedient to Him.

All I have been saying is that whether or not we receive the gift of salvation is dependant on whether or not we believe in God's son. That is the choice that we have to make. The saving happens afterwards and is a work of God. We cannot save ourselves, but we can choose whether we will believe and accept the gift offered to all sinners.

I believe you said the same thing...

How can you say that when you cannot know who will be saved and who won't. And besides, at the point of sharing the Gospel itself, there is an option for them to choose Christ and be saved - so your dilemma doesn't exactly arise.

Blessings,
Dee

 

[D4Christ]

d4:
Thats not accurate, it does not necessarily mean say no..that would not even fit the context, Jesus did not ask them to hear his word and they said no..but the word no carries with it the idea of:

Surely not, in no wise, by no means, not at all

The inability here is because darkness hates light, the Truth, its an enmity against truth, the only way it can be resolved as Jesus said later, they must be of God vs

47He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

There lieth the reason for the cannot..nothing they can naturally recitify sorry..

There is no need to be sorry. I got the definition you deny from Strong's so my conscience is clear. We differ in opinion and ultimately that is okay too. You say, they don't hear because they are not of God. I take it one step further. They don't belong to God because they don't believe....that's the verse you skipped over. I showed scriptures that clearly state belief is in God makes you His. With no belief, you don't belong to Him...and if you don't belong to him, you can't hear Him.

But I see we will have to agree to disagree on this point.

Blessings,

Dee

 

[Bob Carabbio]

That would be the Calvinist: "Irresistible Grace" fantasy -

It is ABSOLUTELY TRUE that nobody comes to the father UNLESS he's drawn - typically the final step is the Holy Spirit CONVICTION of Sin - where the individual is brought face to face with the enormity of his sin, and his totally hopeless condition before God. that's the beginning of saving faith.

BUT

You CAN just "walk away from that" (as I did repeatedly for almost 15 years).

I could have walked away the last time too, but I didn't. One reason was the impression that I wouldn't be given another chance -

Naturally "Belief" is a component of saving faith, so the simple answer is that:

YES!!! one must believe to be saved. But the simple fact is that the Holy Spirit CAN simply "blow away" foolish beliefs in a millisecond regardless of HOW strong they were - before.

 

[ivdavid]

I am not sure where the disconnect is between our posts. I do not necesarily disagree with much of what you are saying.

We are using the same language to mean quite different things - the differences are quite subtle but I believe they do add up to a lot. Again, to reiterate, I do not want to take up a "me vs you" stand at all - I only want to draw your attention to certain areas that might become a slippery slope later.

All I have been saying is that whether or not we receive the gift of salvation is dependant on whether or not we believe in God's son.

I understand that's what you're saying - and that's what I don't agree with entirely. I do agree with the part that we reject the gift of eternal life because of our not believing in Christ. But I don't agree with the part that we receive the gift of eternal life because of our believing in Christ.

Don't get me wrong here - I am not saying that any can be saved without faith. I'm not even saying that one with mere 'faith' alone but still walking in unrighteousness will enter the kingdom of God - any who believes in Christ is His ; He will preserve and cause him to walk in His ways. What I'm saying is that faith(the way it's referred to nowadays) is a necessary correlated factor - not the cause of our being saved. The cause of our being saved is God's grace, mercy and love in Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

That is the choice that we have to make. The saving happens afterwards and is a work of God.

Here you're assuming that man in the flesh can obey the Gospel. Meditate on this - can man in the flesh really make this choice to obey the Gospel. I hold that God's salvation work begins in us even before we believe.

Let's re-analyze what we've said so far -

"[God] takes away our heart of stone that is unresponsive to His truth, and gives us a heart of flesh and a renewed spirit to understand, embrace and believe in Christ alone." How does God accomplish this? It is thru faith.

If I've understood you correctly, you are making faith a pre-requisite for God's regenerative work. But isn't faith itself given by God? Which you've rightly dealt with here -

And how do we receive faith?

You've asked the right question - what is the cause or pre-requisite factor for us receiving faith from God?

But your reply is this -

And how do we receive faith?
When we believe and confess Christ we belong to God.

Can you see the circular reasoning here? I am not trying to pick flaws in what you're saying - my intent is only to keep you from being deceived into bondage again by the evil one.

How do we receive faith[1] - when we put our faith[2] in Christ. Okay - how do I put my faith[2] in Christ? By the gift of faith[1] given by God.

There is no splitting or differentiating between 2 different kinds of faith - we have faith in Christ because such faith is given by God - the undeserving, unmerited gift of faith given by His grace through the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit in us. If He had to give it based on something we ought to do before that to merit it, then it becomes a payment and not a gift of grace. Besides, dependence on our work is putting us again into the bondage under the law. Why must we go back there from the freedom in Christ?

 

[ivdavid]

I hope you don't believe that we believers in Christ are any better in our wisdom/goodness/will-power than those who are perishing

I am not sure how you got that from what I wrote.

I know you agree that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But do you agree that we are all under the slavery to sin equally?

Let me repeat this post from another place -

... - let's take this analogy -
Mr.X and Mr.Y hear the Gospel. Mr.X believes and Mr.Y does not. Now, remove all factors,causes,parameters that are common to both Mr.X and Mr.Y. So for instance, the Gospel which was preached, is a necessary correlated factor in man's salvation but since it's common to both Mr.X and Mr.Y, it cannot be the differentiating cause in their responses.

So you see, I'm not referring to perhaps the 99.9% common factors that play a role in man's salvation - I'm very specifically referring to that 0.1% differentiating cause. ...I'm referring to this very narrow differential cause and saying that this differential cause is not the flesh's works. [these percentages are just for argument sake - not that I believe they should be partitioned like this]

So the question is - What is that differentiating cause that resulted in Mr.X believing?
a) Man's own ability/wisdom/goodness/understanding in the flesh
OR
b) God's grace in the Spirit's working in Mr.X?

If you hold on to (a), then you are saying that that man in the flesh has been that bit more wise/good/understanding than the other person who has not believed.

I can't say that - I was not seeking after God - He came seeking after me. I did not choose Him. He chose me. By His grace and sovereign will according to His good pleasure.

 

[ivdavid]

I understand that the law shows us how sinful we really are.

It does, truly. But can you see that the law shows us that we can do nothing but sin in the flesh - that there is not a single act of good that we can do in the flesh?

A more direct question for you to answer to yourself and not to me - do you believe that the natural man can do even a single act of good before God?

Even if we chose to "obey every law" we could not obey them all and would be found guilty before God.

It's very difficult for me to discern exactly in what sense you believe this - but for the sake of clarity, let me share a related error in my interpretation before I became a believer in Christ.

I always imagined the law to be a set of commandments, all of which I had to keep to be declared right before God - and this we all know man can never do. But I'd always fancied the "all" to be progressive in nature - ie I had fallen short in the remaining commandments which I did not keep but had at least kept some of the commandments and in that, I had done at least that little good in keeping those commandments, as few as they were.

But this understanding of mine has been proved wrong by God now - Look at the following sequence -
1. Man is said to have worked an act of good, if he has not committed an act of sin.
2. Man is said to have not committed an act of sin, if he has not transgressed the law.
3. Man is said to have not transgressed the law, if he has not broken any commandment in the law while performing his work. [James 2:10]
4. Though man in the flesh can keep from breaking certain commandments at a time, he can never satisfy all the commandments at the same time in a particular work. For instance, the natural man in the flesh who gives away large sums of money as charity without even others knowing it, is still committing sin before God.

In that sense, none in the flesh can obey God's law and be pleasing to Him, in any single work of his.

at the point of sharing the Gospel itself, there is an option for them to choose Christ and be saved
We are given the moral responsibility to make a choice but it's a far cry from being able to actually make it.

Please read my former statement along with the latter one to understand my beliefs.

I only want to raise the issue that I feel could derail one's faith in Christ to simply one's faith in one's own flesh - if you've understood the problem, then we could go ahead to see how Scripture deals with it - how God's Word resolves the ambiguities and misconceptions. If you need more clarification on what I've written, I'd be glad to elaborate.