ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF SAVING FAITH

[BBAS 64]

What are the constituent elements of saving faith? The Protestant Reformers recognized that biblical faith has three essential aspects: notitia, assensus, and fiducia.

Notitia refers to the content of faith, the things we believe. There are certain things we are required to believe about Christ, namely, that He is the Son of God, that He is our Savior, that He has provided an atonement, and so on.

Assensus is the conviction that the content of our faith is true. One can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true. We might have a doubt or two mixed with our faith, but there has to be a certain level of intellectual affirmation and conviction if we are to be saved. Before anyone can really trust in Jesus Christ, he has to believe that Christ indeed is the Savior, that He is who He claimed to be. Genuine faith says that the content, the notitia, is true.

Fiducia refers to personal trust and reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is effectual only if one personally trusts in Christ alone for salvation. It is one thing to give an intellectual assent to a proposition but quite another to place personal trust in it. We can say that we believe in justification by faith alone and yet still think that we are going to get to heaven by our achievements, our works, or our striving. It is easy to get the doctrine of justification by faith into our heads, but it is hard to get it into the bloodstream such that we cling to Christ alone for salvation.

There is another element to fiducia besides trust, and that is affection. An unregenerate person will never come to Jesus, because he does not want Jesus. In his mind and heart, he is fundamentally at enmity with the things of God. As long as someone is hostile to Christ, he has no affection for Him. Satan is a case in point. Satan knows the truth, but he hates the truth. He is utterly disinclined to worship God because he has no love for God. We are like that by nature. We are dead in our sin. We walk according to the powers of this world and indulge the lusts of the flesh. Until the Holy Spirit changes us, we have hearts of stone. An unregenerate heart is without affection for Christ; it is both lifeless and loveless. The Holy Spirit changes the disposition of our hearts so that we see the sweetness of Christ and embrace Him. None of us loves Christ perfectly, but we cannot love Him at all unless the Holy Spirit changes the heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh. ~Sproul, R. C. (2014). Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (pp. 238–239). Reformation Trust.

In Him,

Bill

 

[Clare73]

What are the constituent elements of saving faith? The Protestant Reformers recognized that biblical faith has three essential aspects: notitia, assensus, and fiducia.
Notitia refers to the content of faith, the things we believe. There are certain things we are required to believe about Christ, namely, that He is the Son of God, that He is our Savior, that He has provided an atonement, and so on.
Assensus is the conviction that the content of our faith is true. One can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true. We might have a doubt or two mixed with our faith, but there has to be a certain level of intellectual affirmation and conviction if we are to be saved. Before anyone can really trust in Jesus Christ, he has to believe that Christ indeed is the Savior, that He is who He claimed to be. Genuine faith says that the content, the notitia, is true.

Fiducia refers to personal trust and reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is effectual only if one personally trusts in Christ alone for salvation. It is one thing to give an intellectual assent to a proposition but quite another to place personal trust in it. We can say that we believe in justification by faith alone and yet still think that we are going to get to heaven by our achievements, our works, or our striving. It is easy to get the doctrine of justification by faith into our heads, but it is hard to get it into the bloodstream such that we cling to Christ alone for salvation.

There is another element to fiducia besides trust, and that is affection. An unregenerate person will never come to Jesus, because he does not want Jesus. In his mind and heart, he is fundamentally at enmity with the things of God. As long as someone is hostile to Christ, he has no affection for Him. Satan is a case in point. Satan knows the truth, but he hates the truth. He is utterly disinclined to worship God because he has no love for God. We are like that by nature. We are dead in our sin. We walk according to the powers of this world and indulge the lusts of the flesh. Until the Holy Spirit changes us, we have hearts of stone. An unregenerate heart is without affection for Christ; it is both lifeless and loveless. The Holy Spirit changes the disposition of our hearts so that we see the sweetness of Christ and embrace Him. None of us loves Christ perfectly, but we cannot love Him at all unless the Holy Spirit changes the heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh. ~Sproul, R. C. (2014). Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (pp. 238–239). Reformation Trust.

In Him,

Bill

Help me out here. . .trust is fiducia in the Latin, and pistis in the Greek (Ro 3:3, Gal 5:22, Tit 2:10, 1Tim 5:12).
What is the basis for fiduciary being affection in the Greek pistis, the language of the NT?
Are we at liberty to alter the meaning of the Greek, or does it use another word for "affection."

The NT presents the elements of faith (pistis, pisteuo) as
conviction (2Th 2:11-12),
surrender (Jn 1:12) and
conduct (2 Co 5:7).
How do these correlate to notitia, assensus, and fiducia?

Keeping in mind the language of the Scriptures is Greek, not Latin.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

What are the constituent elements of saving faith? The Protestant Reformers recognized that biblical faith has three essential aspects: notitia, assensus, and fiducia.

Notitia refers to the content of faith, the things we believe. There are certain things we are required to believe about Christ, namely, that He is the Son of God, that He is our Savior, that He has provided an atonement, and so on.

Assensus is the conviction that the content of our faith is true. One can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true. We might have a doubt or two mixed with our faith, but there has to be a certain level of intellectual affirmation and conviction if we are to be saved. Before anyone can really trust in Jesus Christ, he has to believe that Christ indeed is the Savior, that He is who He claimed to be. Genuine faith says that the content, the notitia, is true.

Fiducia refers to personal trust and reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is effectual only if one personally trusts in Christ alone for salvation. It is one thing to give an intellectual assent to a proposition but quite another to place personal trust in it. We can say that we believe in justification by faith alone and yet still think that we are going to get to heaven by our achievements, our works, or our striving. It is easy to get the doctrine of justification by faith into our heads, but it is hard to get it into the bloodstream such that we cling to Christ alone for salvation.

There is another element to fiducia besides trust, and that is affection. An unregenerate person will never come to Jesus, because he does not want Jesus. In his mind and heart, he is fundamentally at enmity with the things of God. As long as someone is hostile to Christ, he has no affection for Him. Satan is a case in point. Satan knows the truth, but he hates the truth. He is utterly disinclined to worship God because he has no love for God. We are like that by nature. We are dead in our sin. We walk according to the powers of this world and indulge the lusts of the flesh. Until the Holy Spirit changes us, we have hearts of stone. An unregenerate heart is without affection for Christ; it is both lifeless and loveless. The Holy Spirit changes the disposition of our hearts so that we see the sweetness of Christ and embrace Him. None of us loves Christ perfectly, but we cannot love Him at all unless the Holy Spirit changes the heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh. ~Sproul, R. C. (2014). Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (pp. 238–239). Reformation Trust.

In Him,

Bill

I like what you are saying, and from a Biblical point of view I cannot disagree.
But I will say this is a lot of stuff. It almost seems a person would have to be a saint, a theologian, or a Bible scholar to get saved. I can only speak from my own experience. Before I was saved I was in the occult. I was in high school,17, it was 1970, and I was a normal teenager. I was saved by reading a tract. I knew very little about Christianity, faith, God, or even the details of the gospel. I had already known the creeds and catechisms. I read the tract and somehow, despite having been baptized and confirmed in the Episcopalian church, suddenly the reality of His sacrificial death, burial and resurrection became real to me. But due to my ignorance, I actually continued on with some of the occult and "youthful lusts" we are all prone to at that age. Yes, eventually He taught me and lead me away from those things. But it all did not happen on day one. I knew very little when those gospel truths were made real to me by the Holy Spirit. But I would challenge anyone who would say I was not saved the instant those truths were made real to me. I had saving faith at that moment.
Thanks for the discussion!

 

[Ain't Zwinglian]

Are we at liberty to alter the meaning of the Greek, or does it use another word for "affection."

Yes, I thought that also. I have heard of faith, assent, knowledge. But "affection"??? I am not so sure.

 

[bling]

What are the constituent elements of saving faith? The Protestant Reformers recognized that biblical faith has three essential aspects: notitia, assensus, and fiducia.

Notitia refers to the content of faith, the things we believe. There are certain things we are required to believe about Christ, namely, that He is the Son of God, that He is our Savior, that He has provided an atonement, and so on.

Assensus is the conviction that the content of our faith is true. One can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true. We might have a doubt or two mixed with our faith, but there has to be a certain level of intellectual affirmation and conviction if we are to be saved. Before anyone can really trust in Jesus Christ, he has to believe that Christ indeed is the Savior, that He is who He claimed to be. Genuine faith says that the content, the notitia, is true.

Fiducia refers to personal trust and reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is effectual only if one personally trusts in Christ alone for salvation. It is one thing to give an intellectual assent to a proposition but quite another to place personal trust in it. We can say that we believe in justification by faith alone and yet still think that we are going to get to heaven by our achievements, our works, or our striving. It is easy to get the doctrine of justification by faith into our heads, but it is hard to get it into the bloodstream such that we cling to Christ alone for salvation.

There is another element to fiducia besides trust, and that is affection. An unregenerate person will never come to Jesus, because he does not want Jesus. In his mind and heart, he is fundamentally at enmity with the things of God. As long as someone is hostile to Christ, he has no affection for Him. Satan is a case in point. Satan knows the truth, but he hates the truth. He is utterly disinclined to worship God because he has no love for God. We are like that by nature. We are dead in our sin. We walk according to the powers of this world and indulge the lusts of the flesh. Until the Holy Spirit changes us, we have hearts of stone. An unregenerate heart is without affection for Christ; it is both lifeless and loveless. The Holy Spirit changes the disposition of our hearts so that we see the sweetness of Christ and embrace Him. None of us loves Christ perfectly, but we cannot love Him at all unless the Holy Spirit changes the heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh. ~Sproul, R. C. (2014). Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (pp. 238–239). Reformation Trust.

In Him,

Bill

A lot of what you are describing comes after the person is saved, yet for the person to be saved they must have a saving faith.

The faith you’re talking about, even though small, can move mountains.

What “Faith” did the prodigal son need to turn to his father, since that is the degree of faith we need to turn to our Father (who is at our elbow).

Saving faith comes by “hearing”: Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

Every mature adult has some God given “natural” faith, so can it become a saving faith when directed toward the Creator of the Universe seeking help?

The prodigal son had lived and experienced his father’s Love even though at the time he did not like or desire that Love. When he got himself in a terrible situation and thus really needing his father’s Love, he wimped out and turned to his father for just some help, which he was then willing to humbly accept.

We just need for even selfish reasons (a sinful reason), be willing to trust God not to hurt us (give us what we deserve) and help us with undeserved charity. We just need to be willing to humbly accept that charity as charity.

Christ showing with going to the cross how bad we really are and how Loving Deity is, helps us to trust God’s Love.

 

[bling]

Clare73 said:
Where in Scripture do we find that salvation is "humbly accepting charity as charity," and no mention of
belief in and trust on the person and atoning work (blood, Ro 3:25) of Jesus Christ for the remission of one's sin?

My response:
Let us start with what we agree on:

Agape type Love can be translated “Charitable” and God is Love so God is charitable.

Man is undeserving of any and all gifts from God, so they are given by God, out of pure undeserved charity.

The Christian expresses lots of faith in God, Jesus, the cross, and God’s Love but a lot of this come after the being redeemed by God.



All I am addressing is the little God given faith that all mature adults have, becoming a saving faith.

The main scripture I would use would be Matt. 18:12-35 but this takes some explaining.

We can also look at the prodigal son again, his arrogance and pride turned to a willingness the humbly accept pure undeserved charity from his father. The father did not send servants to drag the son back, but waited for the son to allow the situation he had gotten himself into to bring him to his senses on his own. How could the young son go to his father without humility and a knowledge that the father’s Love just might be great enough to extend to him just a little undeserved charity. The father showed the young son with gifts, just for humbling himself enough to return.

The cross makes it easier to believe God’s Love is great enough to forgive and our sins could never be worked off.

 

[Clare73]

Clare73 said:
Where in Scripture do we find that salvation is "humbly accepting charity as charity," and no mention of
belief in and trust on the person and atoning work (blood, Ro 3:25) of Jesus Christ for the remission of one's sin?

My response:
Let us start with what we agree on:

Agape type Love can be translated “Charitable” and God is Love so God is charitable.

Man is undeserving of any and all gifts from God, so they are given by God, out of pure undeserved charity.

The Christian expresses lots of faith in God, Jesus, the cross, and God’s Love but a lot of this come after the being redeemed by God.



All I am addressing is the little God given faith that all mature adults have, becoming a saving faith.

The main scripture I would use would be Matt. 18:12-35 but this takes some explaining.
his father. The father did not send servants to drag the son back, but waited for the son to allow the situation he had gotten himself into to bring him to his senses on his own. How could the young son go to his father without humility and a knowledge that the father’s Love just might be great enough to extend to him just a little undeserved charity. The father showed the young son with gifts, just for humbling himself enough to return.

The cross makes it easier to believe God’s Love is great enough to forgive and our sins could never be worked off.

Does not address the failure to mention the gospel message of belief in and trust on salvation by the blood of Jesus Christ (Ro 3:25) for the remission of one's sin.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Yes, I thought that also. I have heard of faith, assent, knowledge. But "affection"??? I am not so sure.

Agreed. I can see sloughing it in with the idea of submission that to me necessarily will result from or even accompany salvific faith, but that's about as close as it gets.

 

[bling]

Does not address the failure to mention the gospel message of belief in and trust on salvation by the blood of Jesus Christ (Ro 3:25) for the remission of one's sin.

“Gospel “means “good news” and the whole New Testament is “Good News”.

The “Good News” for the gentiles is that God has included them in the salvation of His people.

This thread is about a saving faith, that initial small faith needed to save a person and yes it will grow to include lots of stuff, but what is the beginning minimum needed to save a person?

 

[ViaCrucis]

Luther called faith "a bold trust in God's grace". By the power and working of God to give and work faith in us, we cleave to Christ, trusting in Him and what He has done. The details of that faith--how we come to understand it and think about it, as we learn more about the things of God, as we grow in our faith, those are all very good; but it is the actual faith itself which we have received that is the essence of new life. The smallest child can have faith, because God promises faith through the means of Word and Sacrament.

So I feel comfortable in saying as Luther does, faith is a bold trust in God's grace.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Mark Quayle]

“Gospel “means “good news” and the whole New Testament is “Good News”.

The “Good News” for the gentiles is that God has included them in the salvation of His people.

This thread is about a saving faith, that initial small faith needed to save a person and yes it will grow to include lots of stuff, but what is the beginning minimum needed to save a person?

The beginning minimum, as always, is the gift of God, the Spirit of God, placed within the person. The Spirit of God is the source of faith. Faith is a gift.

 

[bling]

The beginning minimum, as always, is the gift of God, the Spirit of God, placed within the person. The Spirit of God is the source of faith. Faith is a gift.

I never said faith was not a gift, but all mature adults have been gifted with some faith which enables them ti trust, believe and worship many things. A saving faith comes when the person of their own free will direct their faith toward a beneficent Creator for help.

 

[Mark Quayle]

I never said faith was not a gift, but all mature adults have been gifted with some faith which enables them ti trust, believe and worship many things. A saving faith comes when the person of their own free will direct their faith toward a beneficent Creator for help.

Or so your narrative goes. Now you need to support your bare assertion. And I really don't care even if you find it necessary, lacking Scriptural support, to do it from a merely logical point of view. We can do that.

 

[d taylor]

-
​

What a sorry state the message of how to receive God's free gift of Eternal Life salvation has fallen into. Obedience and its false complications,additions has taken over the true message of faith in The Messiah.

 

[concretecamper]

Faith is faith. "Saving faith" is a term cooked up by those who don't believe we can fall from Grace.

Vatican I:

And so faith in itself, even though it may not work through charity, is a gift of God, and its operation is a work belonging to the order of salvation, in that a person yields true obedience to God himself when he accepts and collaborates with his grace which he could have rejected

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Faith is make up of words. If you cannot confess your faith then you do not have any.
"Jesus is Lord, He died for my sins and rose from the dead," is a statement of faith. You are to hold fast to that confession in the face of all contradictory evidence and opposition.
The reason so many struggle with faith is because they do not have the Word. Faith is the Word. Do you want faith? Get the word, confess it, and begin to order your life in accordance with the content of that faith. Faith is not some sort of magic, or moral commitment, or mental concentration. You do not "try real hard" to get faith. You do not "think hard" and if you just think hard enough, that will be faith.
You simply say "it is written, Jesus is Lord, and I called on His name, and I am saved... "
Faith is directly proportional to the integrity of the speaker. If God is speaking, His integrity is infinite, and His word is infallible. Your faith is based on HIS faithfulness to do what He said. If He said you are saved, then you are. No power in heaven or earth can destroy that truth. He knows what He is talking about, and you are helpless to countermand what He said. You are at the mercy of His Word and His sayings.
It is not a matter of how can you be saved, it is a matter of how could you possibly not be saved.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I never said faith was not a gift, but all mature adults have been gifted with some faith which enables them ti trust, believe and worship many things. A saving faith comes when the person of their own free will direct their faith toward a beneficent Creator for help.

The "faith" to worship false gods, or to seek themselves, or even the mundane act of trusting the chair won't collapse under me when I sit on it, isn't what the New Testament talks about when it speaks of faith.

Faith justifies. How can faith in Odin or faith in human reason justify? It can't. So the New Testament isn't talking about some generic kind of faith. But the faith which is given as as the pure gift of God through the Gospel, that faith is faith that trusts Christ, that trusts God's promises, that trusts God's grace.

That faith comes only as the gift of God. That faith makes us new people.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Clare73]

Faith is faith.

So the faith of demons is faith?

"Saving faith" is a term cooked up

Actually, what is "cooked up" is "faith is faith."
Is the faith of demons the same as faith which saves?

"Saving faith" (salvation through faith, 2 Ti 3:15; the goal of faith, salvation, 1 Pe 1:9)
is to distinguish saving faith from counterfeit faith (Mt 7:21-23).

That's a good thing.

by those who don't believe we can fall from Grace.

"Fall from grace" (Gal 5:4) is not a reference to loss of salvation, but to falling away from grace and into law-keeping for justification (Ro 3:28), if the Galatians submit to circumcision as necessary for God's acceptance (Gal 5:2-3).

Vatican I:

And so faith in itself, even though it may not work through charity, is a gift of God,

Including the faith of demons?

Back to the drawing board. . .

and its operation is a work belonging to the order of salvation, in that a person yields true obedience to God himself when he accepts and collaborates with his grace which he could have rejected

 

[concretecamper]

So the faith of demons is faith?

Is it? You brought up, so what is your answer?

Actually, what is "cooked up" is "faith is faith."
Is the faith of demons the same as faith which saves?

Saying faith is faith is cooked up. Too funny.

There you go with the demons again. You better let us all in on your secret.

Including the faith of demons?

Back to the drawing board. . .

You are obsessed with demons. I wonder why.

Are you familiar with demons and their faith? I'll stick with Christ.

 

[Clare73]

Is it? You brought up, so what is your answer?
Saying faith is faith is cooked up. Too funny.
There you go with the demons again. You better let us all in on your secret.
You are obsessed with demons. I wonder why.
Are you familiar with demons and their faith?

The Catholic church deserves better representation. . .