A Bible verse that Calvinists twist trying to show that faith is a gift of God is Philippians 1:29: "For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf".
But I’ve noticed a few things about Philippians 1:29 which argue against the Calvinistic interpretation that faith is a gift of God:
(1) Paul doesn't use the noun faith, but instead he uses the infinitive verb "to believe". What’s the difference? If we substitute other nouns and their corresponding infinitive verbs, the distinction becomes more clear. For example, if I said (using the noun), "I gave you food" — that's actually me giving you a gift. But if I use the infinitive verb instead of the noun, notice how the meaning is changed: "You have been granted the privilege to eat." Wow! That's a completely different meaning, right? By using the infinitive verb, now it doesn't necessarily mean that I gave you food at all, but rather that you have been given the privilege "to eat". So it changes the meaning from an outright gift, to something (a privilege) that you now have to choose to do and are involved in: eating! So that's one thing I noticed about Philippians 1:29 that argues against the Calvinistic interpretation.
(2) I looked up the Greek word for "granted" in the BDAG lexicon, and the Greek word is echaristhe (from charizomai), meaning, "to give freely as a favor, give graciously".[1] But what's interesting is that in the example that BDAG gives for the use of the word in Philippians 1:29, BDAG actually explains it using the word "privilege". BDAG says: "you have (graciously) been granted the privilege of suffering for Christ Phil. 1:29".[2] Why I think this is important is because I've seen a Calvinist trying to disprove Norman Geisler's non-Calvinistic interpretation of Philippians 1:29 because Geisler uses the word "opportunity" to explain what the Philippians were given: they were given the opportunity to believe.[3] Geisler interprets Philippians 1:29 to mean that the Philippians were given, not faith as a gift, but the opportunity "to believe". In response, the Calvinist said something like: "The text doesn't say 'opportunity'. That's Geisler reading it into the text."[4] But not true, because according to BDAG, the meaning of Philippians 1:29 is indeed that the Philippians were given/granted the "privilege" to believe. So it's the same idea: "privilege" is a synonym of "opportunity", or at least it has a similar meaning.[5]
(3) Whatever is said in Philippians 1:29 about the infinitive "to believe" must also be true of the other infinitive in the sentence, "to suffer". I like how the Weymouth New Testament translates this verse: "For you have had the privilege granted you on behalf of Christ—not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf". The New Living Translation puts it like this: "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him." So, this raises the question: does God give "suffering" like the Calvinists say that God unconditionally gives "faith"?[6] Well, no. People choose "to suffer". People have a choice in it. What is given is the privilege "to suffer". Paul says to Timothy: "Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 2:3). So Timothy had a choice in it. So this gets us back to my first point, that God has given us the "privilege" (Phil. 1:29, NLT) "to believe" and "to suffer". It's a choice we make, not an unconditional gift of God as the Calvinists try to twist it to mean.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Walter Bauer, F. W. Danker, Editor, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 4th Edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021), p. 960.
[2] Ibid, p. 960, emphasis original.
[3] See Norman Geisler's book Chosen But Free (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1999), page 183 in the 1st edition; page 190, 2nd edition. Commenting on Philippians 1:29, Geiser writes the following: "'For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him....' This is taken to mean [by Calvinists] that faith is a gift of God to certain persons, namely, the ones who are elect. Response: There are several indications here that Paul had no such thing in mind. First, the point is simply that God has not only provided us with the opportunity [i.e. the privilege] to trust Him but also to suffer for Him. The word 'granted' (Greek: echaristhe) means 'grace' or 'favor.' That is, both the opportunity to suffer for Him and to believe on Him are favors with which God has graced us. Further, Paul is not speaking here of initial faith that brings salvation but of the daily faith and daily suffering of someone who is already Christian. Finally, it is noteworthy that both the suffering and the believing are presented as things that we are to do. He says it is granted for 'you' to do this. It was not something God did for them. Both were simply an opportunity God gave them to use 'on the behalf of Christ' by their free choice."
[4] For example, in an article titled "Philippians 1:29 and the Gift of Faith (Part Five): A Look At The Interpretation Of Norman Geisler," James Swan (a Calvinist) says: "Dr. Geisler though has read in a word not explicit in the text: the word 'opportunity.'" Mr. Swan goes on to say: "Contrary to Dr. Geisler, Paul’s point is not that 'God provided us with the opportunity to trust Him' and 'suffer for him.' The word 'granted' does not imply a choice to embrace an opportunity or reject an opportunity. Rather, the believing on Christ is something given to man as a demonstration of the grace of God." (James Swan, "Philippians 1:29 and the Gift of Faith (Part Five): A Look At The Interpretation Of Norman Geisler" [January 16, 2006], Beggars All: Reformation & Apologetics blog, https://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2006/01/philippians-129-and-gift-of-faith-part_16.html [accessed August 20, 2022].) So basically Mr. Swan is denying what the BDAG lexicon and more than a few Bible translations have affirmed, namely that God has given us the "privilege" (i.e. the opportunity) "to believe" in Christ and "to suffer" for His sake. (Some of the Bible translations that use the word "privilege" in Philippians 1:29 include the Amplified Bible, the God's Word Translation, the New Living Translation, and the Weymouth New Testament.) And furthermore, in regards to Mr. Swan's statement about how "believing on Christ is something given to man as a demonstration of the grace of God", the words of D. L. Moody are worth repeating when he says: "But some say, Faith is the gift of God. So is the air; but you have to breathe it. So is bread; but you have to eat it. So is water; but you have to drink it. Some are wanting a miraculous kind of feeling. That is not faith. 'Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God' (Rom. x. 17). That is whence faith comes. It is not for me to sit down and wait for faith to come stealing over me with a strange sensation; but it is for me to take God at His Word." (Moody, The Way to God [Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1884], p. 51.)
[5] For example, the Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition as one of the meanings of the word "privilege": "Something regarded as a rare opportunity and bringing particular pleasure: I have the privilege of awarding you this grant." (Oxford Dictionary of Difficult Words [Oxford University Press, 2004], p. 342.) Also see the following definition of the word "privilege" on the encyclopedia.com website: "something regarded as a rare opportunity and bringing particular pleasure: I have the privilege of awarding you this scholarship." (www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/law/law/privilege) Similarly, the Cambridge English Dictionary gives as one of the meanings of the word "privilege" this definition: "an opportunity to do something special or enjoyable: I had the privilege of interviewing Picasso in the 1960s." And furthermore, the yourdictionary.com website lists in their thesaurus that the word "opportunity" is a synonym of the word "privilege". (https://thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/privilege)
[6] For example, in regards to what the apostle Paul says about suffering in Philippians 1:29, the Calvinist says, "Suffering and persecution are not opportunities to choose one way or the other. They are external forces that come upon us. Generally, one does not seize the opportunity to suffer. Suffering seizes us." (James Swan, "Philippians 1:29 and the Gift of Faith (Part Five): A Look At The Interpretation Of Norman Geisler".) But of course this is not true in light of what the apostle Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:3. Paul indicates that suffering is a choice; he says to Timothy: "Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 2:3). Paul goes on to make it crystal clear that suffering is a choice when he says, "Yes, and all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12, NKJV). So obviously a choice is involved (based on a person's "desire to live godly"), contrary to what the Calvinist says.
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