Not all answers are created equally. I’m more like a filter, not a pump. I don’t dispute what the verses plainly say, but I may dispute what people think they say. That being said, I haven’t conclusively made my mind up that faith is a work of self-effort, but the evidence to the contrary seems a bit lacking.
The problem I see is that if faith isn’t something we can gain by self-effort then faith is not something we can produce. Therefore, faith must be a gift of God. However, I can’t find a verse that faith is a gift of God.
If saving faith is a gift of God afterall, then I’m at a loss for words. That would lead me to conclude God chooses who He wants to save and who will not be saved. Meanwhile, it’s God’s will that none should perish, but that all come to repentance. That’s why I have been leaning more in favor of faith being a work, trying to steer wide away from a Calvinist perspective.
Thankyou for your level headed response.
A question for you then. If, for example, John Calvin got it right, as to the workings of Salvation in God's Eternal plan - why then would you desire to steer clear of it? If this explanation fits the greater portion of Scripture, then why not embrace it?
Also, John Calvin was not the only person God led to this Truth. Much earlier than he, we had writers like Polycarp (AD69-156). Who was personally appointed by the Apostles, to be bishop of Smyrna. He taught the same things as Calvin would teach. So too for Irenaeus (c. 130-202AD). Martin Luther believed and wrote about these things before Calvin, on the points of Salvation. Later, men like A.W. Pink, John Gill, Charles Spurgeon and so on... Could the early fathers, who were taught by the Apostles personally - have been wrong?
You say there is no verse about faith being from God. First of all, one must distinguish between Holy Spirit driven faith and natural faith. All men possess faith. We believe or have faith a chair will hold us up when we sit in it. That the sun will rise in the morning and gravity will keep us planted securely upon the ground.
But this is not saving faith. Saving faith believes in the unseen and the unknowable. It allows one to believe in something that is as sure as the things we see and know. There is a verse that mentions saving faith as a gift and you used it:
Eph_2:8 for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
There is some modern day controversy over this verse, related to the Greek words gender. And of course there is. For anyone to believe that grace and faith are a gift of God, it will destroy many a persons Soteriological understandings. Yet, these same men have no problem in accepting everything else as a gift of God. Scripture says Jesus Christ was/is a gift. Grace is a gift of God, (Eph. 3:7). 1 Corinthians speaks of the gifts of the Spirit and Paul's ministry is said, by him, to be a gift, (Eph. 3:7). However, overall, Scripture teaches that the mind of a man must be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to have unwavering faith in God and His Christ.
Please read carefully, the points made by these men on Eph. 2:8;
Albert Barnes:
And that not of yourselves - That is, salvation does not proceed from yourselves. The word rendered “that” - τοῦτο touto - is in the neuter gender, and the word “faith” - πίστις pistis - is in the feminine. The word “that,” therefore, does not refer particularly to faith, as being the gift of God, but to “the salvation by grace” of which he had been speaking. This is the interpretation of the passage which is the most obvious, and which is now generally conceded to be the true one; see Bloomfield. Many critics, however, as Doddridge, Beza, Piscator, and Chrysostom, maintain that the word “that” (τοῦτο touto) refers to “faith” (πίστις pistis); and Doddridge maintains that such a use is common in the New Testament. As a matter of grammar this opinion is certainly doubtful, if not untenable; but as a matter of theology it is a question of very little importance.
Whether this passage proves it or not, it is certainly true that faith is the gift of God. It exists in the mind only when the Holy Spirit produces it there, and is, in common with every other Christian excellence, to be traced to his agency on the heart. This opinion, however, does not militate at all with the doctrine that man himself “believes.” It is not God that “believes” for him, for that is impossible. It is his own mind that actually believes, or that exercises faith; see the notes at Rom_4:3. In the same manner “repentance” is to be traced to God. It is one of the fruits of the operation of the Holy Spirit on the soul. But the Holy Spirit does not “repent” for us. It is our “own mind” that repents; our own heart that feels; our own eyes that weep - and without this there can he no true repentance. No one can repent for another; and God neither can nor ought to repent; for us. He has done no wrong, and if repentance is ever exercised, therefore, it must be exercised by our own minds. So of faith. God cannot believe for us. “We” must believe, or “we” shall be damned. Still this does not conflict at all with the opinion, that if we exercise faith, the inclination to do it is to be traced to the agency of God on the heart. I would not contend, therefore, about the grammatical construction of this passage, with respect to the point of the theology contained in it; still it accords better with the obvious grammatical construction, and with the design of the passage to understand the word “that” as referring not to “faith” only, but to “salvation by grace.” So Calvin understands it, and so it is understood by Storr, Locke, Clarke, Koppe, Grotius, and others.
It is the gift of God - Salvation by grace is his gift. It is not of merit; it is wholly by favor.
Adam Clarke:
For by grace are ye saved, through faith - As ye are now brought into a state of salvation, your sins being all blotted out, and you made partakers of the Holy Spirit; and, having a hope full of immortality, you must not attribute this to any works or merit of yours; for when this Gospel reached you, you were all found dead in trespasses and dead in sins; therefore it was God’s free mercy to you, manifested through Christ, in whom ye were commanded to believe; and, having believed by the power of the Holy Spirit, ye received, and were sealed by, the Holy Spirit of promise; so that this salvation is in no sense of yourselves, but is the free gift of God; and not of any kind of works; so that no man can boast as having wrought out his own salvation, or even contributed any thing towards it. By grace arc ye saved, through faith in Christ. This is a true doctrine, and continues to be essential to the salvation of man to the end of the world.
But whether are we to understand, faith or salvation as being the gift of God? This question is answered by the Greek text: τῃ γαρ χαριτι εστε σεσωσμενοι δια της πιστεως· και τουτο ουκ εξ ὑμων· Θεου το δωρον, ουκ εξ εργων· ἱνα μη τις καυχησηται· “By this grace ye are saved through faith; and This (τουτο, this salvation) not of you; it is the gift of God, not of works: so that no one can boast.” “The relative τουτο, this, which is in the neuter gender, cannot stand for πιστις, faith, which is the feminine; but it has the whole sentence that goes before for its antecedent.” But it may be asked:
Is not faith the gift of God? Yes, as to the grace by which it is produced; but the grace or power to believe, and the act of believing, are two different things. Without the grace or power to believe no man ever did or can believe; but with that power the act of faith is a man’s own. God never believes for any man, no more than he repents for him: the penitent, through this grace enabling him, believes for himself: nor does he believe necessarily, or impulsively when he has that power; the power to believe may be present long before it is exercised, else, why the solemn warnings with which we meet every where in the word of God, and threatenings against those who do not believe? Is not this a proof that such persons have the power but do not use it? They believe not, and therefore are not established. This, therefore, is the true state of the case: God gives the power, man uses the power thus given, and brings glory to God: without the power no man can believe; with it, any man may.
I Love you, first! 
