John H. Niemelä Message of Life Ministries Aurora, Colorado I. INTRODUCTION Is faith the gift of God? John MacArthur gives a standard Reformed statement that it is: For 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, that no

Allan Chapple1 Part-time Senior Lecturer in New Testament Trinity Theological College Australia The Gospel of John has Jesus intervening dramatically in the Temple (John 2:13–22) before he begins his public ministry in Galilee (John 3:24; 4:3; cf. Mark 1:14). However, the only such event reported in the Synoptics occurs at the end of Jesus’ ministry