I can confidently say that the biblical witness to the nature and dynamic of faith presents a conclusive defeater of the Calvinist doctrines of God’s sovereignty as a theistic determinism and of unconditional election. Indeed, it presents an insurmountable obstacle to these doctrines. Why? Calvinists claim that God causes faith only in his elect or chosen one’s so that they will believe in Christ and be saved. To defeat this Calvinist interpretation (primarily resting on Eph. 2:8, 9), it will suffice to show that a) faith is presented in Scripture as a free will response of the individual, b) that all sinners are called to believe by the very content of the gospel message, which, in that God cannot lie, indicates his genuine desire and will that they be saved, c) the definition of the gospel as “good news” also demonstrates God’s desire to save all those who hear it without distinctions or exceptions and thereby showing its applicability to all, and d) in Scripture, faith is never presented as bestowed by God, let alone to certain individuals. Hence, we can say that essential to the gospel message is God calling the sinner to freely respond in faith to the message being proclaimed. Faith or belief is the responsibility of the hearer who has heard the good news of their salvation. Yet faith is devoid of works or merit, and as such it is the only appropriate response required by God of the sinner to receive salvation and become a child of God. The apostle John writes about the role of John the Baptist who testified about “the light” [Jesus] and becoming children of God by believing.
“There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.” (Jn. 1:6-13, CSB, cf. Jn. 3 for Jesus’ ‘commentary’ on these verses.)
John’s gospel is also clear that the hearing sinner is condemned, not for their sins, but for their unbelief in the person and work of Christ who is the only way a person’s sins can be forgiven. John records,
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.” (Jn. 3:14-18, CSB)
Condemnation remains upon a person for their refusal to “believe in him [Jesus].” This personal responsibility logically implies that neither belief or unbelief are caused by God according to whether one is predestined to salvation or not. Believing or remaining in unbelief is a matter of the person’s own will. Even though our sin nature results in unbelief, nevertheless, when confronted with the “good news” of our salvation, it is we who continually decide to reject the message and resist the Spirit that accompanies and is at work in the mind and heart of the sinner through this “good news.” All this God has provided for us in Jesus. If we believe, we are then “born of God.” (Jn. 1:13) This distinctly spiritual event cannot be brought about by “natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man.” And it would be contrary to the whole of the biblical witness about the nature of faith to teach that faith, just because it is called for as a free decision of the sinner is therefore a “work” or meritorious and falls under the caegory of “the will of man.” Whatever that phrase means, it cannot be referring to the faith exercised by the sinner by which he is saved. These biblical texts, as does the Bible as a whole, indicate that God wants each sinner to be saved. We also know this from John 20:30-31 where we read,
“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (CSB)
The Truth of the Gospel 