is faith a work?

as an ex-classical calvinist, i used to struggle with the nature of faith. is faith a work? or is it not?

if faith is something we must do, then we are robbing God of His glory. if faith is not something we must do, then there is nothing we can do anyway. after all, some persons are chosen to glorify God by receiving His mercy whereas others are chosen to glorify Him by receiving His wrath. this is the underlying premise of classical calvinism.

however, this is nowhere to be found in Scripture. instead of holding the logically inconsistent classical calvinist position that faith is not a work yet is something we must do, i would simply say that there are two kinds of works. to this end, faith is a work in one sense and not a work in another sense. in particular, faith is a work of the New Covenant (Christ) and not a work of the Old Covenant (law).

from this new perspective, it is clear that whenever paul rails against justification by works, he is not opposing justification by works per se. he is only opposing justification by works of the Old Covenant (eg. animal sacrifices, circumcision, penance etc).

*****

yes, faith is something we must do. just because God has unlocked the prison of sin does not mean that we have left it. we have to follow Him as He leads us out of the darkness and into the light.

no, we are not robbing God of His glory. just because we are able to leave the prison of sin (because God has unlocked it from the outside) does not mean that we are able to unlock it from the inside.