Part 2 -Jesus chose Paul
Perhaps the best example of "how faith comes" is found in the experience of Paul. Paul wrote about two-thirds of the NT, and one can argue we wouldn't know what the gospel is without Paul's writing. In God's ultimate arrangement, Paul was likely the most important man in history apart from Jesus, so let's identify how Paul came to believe.
In Acts 9:1-22, we find the story of Jesus appearing to Paul. Before this, he was a Jewish zealot, and strict follower of the law, bent on destroying the followers of Jesus. I've quoted the key texts below.
(Note: Paul’s original name was Saul and was changed to Paul later in his life.)
:3-6 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
And he said, "Who are You, Lord?"
Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads."
So, he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?"
Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
:13-17 Then Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name."
But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake."
And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.
:20-22 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.
Then all who heard were amazed, and said, "Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?"
But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.”
Now, consider four critical points in the above texts:
1 - Jesus initiated revealing Himself to Paul. Paul did not seek or "cry out" to Jesus, and Jesus did not offer Paul faith, then leave him with a choice to accept or reject it. Jesus authored Paul’s faith.
2 - Verse 15 says of Paul, "…he is a chosen vessel of Mine." Paul did not initially choose Jesus.
3 - God initiated Paul's experience of receiving his sight (literal and metaphorically) and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
4 - God enabled Paul to immediately start preaching the gospel, having never heard it from men.
Conclusion: Paul played no causal role in becoming fully aware of Jesus as the Son of God, and a preacher of the gospel. God did NOT give Paul the option to accept or reject Jesus. Therefore, we can safely and rightly assume Paul did not teach what he did not experience.
These additional texts, written by Paul after his experience with Jesus, confirm the above conclusions:
Galatians 1:11-12 - But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:15-16 - But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.
1 Timothy 1:12-14 - And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a proud man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. (God was the cause, and Paul’s experience of faith and love were the effect.)
Galatians 1:23 - But they were hearing only, "He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy."
Paul didn’t preach "you must repent, confess your sins, and choose to accept Jesus," because that wasn't his experience.
Now, upon reading the Scriptures specific to Paul's experience, you tell me what happened. Did Paul call out to Jesus in repentance, asking for forgiveness? Or did Jesus reveal Himself to Paul in an unmistakable fashion, inspiring Paul's repentance and confession? Did Paul experience Jesus as the offeror of faith or the author of faith? Did Paul, who had nothing to do with it, preach that you have everything to do with it?