Recently someone told me that they believed that the work of God in John 6:29 means that God makes a person believe. I assume they think the Holy Spirit works in a person making them believe. I know that faith comes from hearing the Word of God but would like to know if there are any other Scriptures I could use in teaching this.<\/p>\n\t
What the person is doing is playing with the flexibility in language.<\/p>\n
“Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent”<\/em>” (John 6:28-29).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What was the question? “What shall\u00a0we do<\/strong>, that\u00a0we may work<\/strong>\u00a0the works of God?” The answer was that believing was the work God wanted them to do. This passage does not teach that the Holy Spirit (not even mentioned) forces a person to believe. Jesus is telling them what they must do.<\/p>\n
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:6).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Recently someone told me that they believed that the work of God in John 6:29 means that God makes a person believe. I assume they think the Holy Spirit works in a person making them believe. I know that faith comes from hearing the Word of God but would like to know if there…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[49,55],"class_list":["post-27880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-faith","tag-works"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28611,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":27880,"position":0},"title":"What is a work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm a little confused by works. I understand that faith and works go hand in hand. But I'm the type of person who needs concrete examples. Is reading my Bible considered a work? Is, say, giving turkeys to the poor on Thanksgiving considered a work? Is praying a work?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20041,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-still-confused-as-to-what-love-is-is-it-a-feeling-an-action-or-both\/","url_meta":{"origin":27880,"position":1},"title":"I’m still confused as to what love is. Is it a feeling, an action, or both?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading over\u00a0the email you sent me a while back and I understand what love is but at the same time, I don't. I know what is but I feel it's hard to explain. Love is like faith, it isn't an action but without action, it is basically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28249,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-exactly-meant-by-works\/","url_meta":{"origin":27880,"position":2},"title":"What is exactly meant by works?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the Missouri Synod denomination, although I really don't like to see the denominations as \"separations.\" I like to see us all as Christians -- just Christians with different ideas. Anyway, I had read that faith without works is dead. Which I do agree with.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":761,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-water-baptism-a-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":27880,"position":3},"title":"Is water baptism a work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is water baptism a work? Answer: I have always been amazed at the dread shown by people toward the word \"work.\" You would think that it was a dreaded disease or something equivalent to sin. The word \"work\" by itself is neither good nor bad. It simply refers to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2026,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-teaching-is-a-work-then-it-doesnt-save-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":27880,"position":4},"title":"Since teaching is a work, then it doesn’t save. Right?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Telling others about Christ is a work. \"For by grace we are saved through faith, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast\u00a0\" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Answer: There was a branch of the Baptist denomination that fully accepted the idea that being saved was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-righteousness-be-apart-from-works-when-faith-is-a-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":27880,"position":5},"title":"How can righteousness be apart from works when faith is a work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: \"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin\"\" (Romans 4:6-8). \"Then they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}