Geez..it’s like speaking to a brick wall.
And you are the brick wall.
In the same way that repentance is granted by God (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25), faith is also a supernatural gift of God. Ephesians 2:8–9 affirms this: “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
That is a serious misread and misunderstanding of Ephesians 2:8-9. The Greek grammar will not permit the interpretation that faith is the gift there. The gift is salvation, not faith. Some mistakenly conclude that Ephesians 2:8 says faith is a gift: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” This is disproved, though, by the rules of Greek grammar. The Greek word for “faith” (pistis) is feminine in gender, but the Greek pronoun (touto, translated “that” or “this”), which refers to the gift that is given, is neuter in gender. If it were referring back to faith, it too would be feminine in form. The fact that it is grammatically neuter shows that it is not talking about faith. (There is no word in the Greek corresponding to the pronoun “it” in English translations.)
It is significant that this verse actually shows that faith is not a gift, since in it grace and faith are carefully distinguished. We are saved by grace, as God’s part; but we are saved through faith, as our part, as distinct from the grace given. Faith is not a gift of grace and the result of regeneration; it is a response to grace and a prerequisite to regeneration.
That faith precedes regeneration and is a prerequisite for it is specifically affirmed in Colossians 2:12, “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God.” Here it is important to see that “raised up with Him” refers to regeneration (see v. 13, “He made you alive together with Him”), and that faith is the means by which the regeneration is received: we are “raised . . . through faith.” The spiritually-dead unbeliever makes his decision to believe of his own free choice, moved by the power of the gospel, before being “raised up” to new life in regeneration. (See Ephesians 1:13-14, where “hearing” and “believing” are aorist participles, suggesting that these acts precede the action of the main verb, the sealing with the Spirit. See also Acts 5:32; 15:7-9; 16:30; 1 Peter 1:22.)
Thus in Colossians 2:12 Paul contradicts the heart of the Calvinist doctrine of salvation. The Calvinist system requires that regeneration must precede faith; but Paul says that faith must precede regeneration (resurrection to new spiritual life). It is not a gift of grace, but a condition for receiving grace.