We have cast doubt on the meaning of ‘belief’ (or ‘faith,’ or ‘having a belief.’ or ‘appropriating one’s faith’) as designating whatever it is that, in historical Christian theology, serves to separate those qualified to receive God’s eternal blessing from those who do not so qualify. But however we designate that qualification, the dilemma remains: either it is something we accomplish ourselves, or it is something that is gifted to us.

If it is something we accomplish, then it is a ‘work,’ as St. Paul uses the word, and therefore not an alternative to the religion of works to which his Gospel is offered as an alternative, but simply a refinement or variation of such a religion. But if it is not something we accomplish, then it must be something that is provided to us, something that is gifted.

The accomplishment of separation so understood – as a gift – would indeed be an alternative to a ‘religion of works,’ but the question immediately arises: why are some gifted with this belief (faith, trust), with this distinguishing qualification, and not others?

That this distinguishing belief or faith is not an accomplishment of our own, but rather something provided to us by God is attested to by St. Paul in many places, perhaps nowhere more plainly than in Ephesians 2: 8: “For by grace ye are saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”

The faith (or belief, or trust, or appropriation, or any other language we might use to designate the distinguishing qualification) is the gift of God. But then again: why are some given this gift, and not others?

“You did not choose me,” Jesus once told his followers, “but I chose you.”