What is the definition of "faith" in reformed theology?

[Ribosome]

Faith to me, is a persuasion that something is true. Salvation by faith alone, means to be persuaded that some things are true about Christ and his work.

If the reformed definition of faith is the same, what are the facts that one must believe to be saved?

 

[JM]

We are saved by Christ Alone through faith. All Reformed folks would agree with the Reformed Confessions.

Chapter 14: Of Saving Faith

1._____ The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word; by which also, and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened.

( 2 Corinthians 4:13; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 10:14, 17; Luke 17:5; 1 Peter 2:2; Acts 20:32 )

2._____ By this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the authority of God himself, and also apprehendeth an excellency therein above all other writings and all things in the world, as it bears forth the glory of God in his attributes, the excellency of Christ in his nature and offices, and the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit in his workings and operations: and so is enabled to cast his soul upon the truth thus believed; and also acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come; but the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

( Acts 24:14; Psalms 27:7-10; Psalms 119:72; 2 Timothy 1:12; John 14:14; Isaiah 66:2; Hebrews 11:13; John 1:12; Acts 16:31; Galatians 2:20; Acts 15:11 )

3._____ This faith, although it be different in degrees, and may be weak or strong, yet it is in the least degree of it different in the kind or nature of it, as is all other saving grace, from the faith and common grace of temporary believers; and therefore, though it may be many times assailed and weakened, yet it gets the victory, growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ, who is both the author and finisher of our faith.

( Hebrews 5:13, 14; Matthew 6:30; Romans 4:19, 20; 2 Peter 1:1; Ephesians 6:16; 1 John 5:4, 5; Hebrews 6:11, 12; Colossians 2:2; Hebrews 12:2 )

Gertsner fleshes out how faith relates to justification for us below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGqMn0ph3Q0

 

[AMR]

There are three basic elements in true faith.

1) Knowledge, notitia

2) Assent, assensus

3) Trust, fiducia

WSC Question 86. What is faith in Jesus Christ?

Answer. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive {assent} and rest {trust} upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us {knowledge} in the gospel.

Heidelberg Catechism Q21. What is true faith?

A. True faith is a sure knowledge whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word. At the same time it is a firm confidence that not only to others, but also to me, God has granted forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation, out of mere grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits. This faith the Holy Spirit works in my heart by the gospel.

To borrow the chair analogy for true faith,

I can know the chair is there, I can appreciate its workmanship, and its function.
I can believe the chair will support my weight, and that it will be comfortable.
But until I rest my body upon the chair, I have not really trusted it to hold me.

Does this sound like your faith?

 

[hedrick]

Faith to me, is a persuasion that something is true. Salvation by faith alone, means to be persuaded that some things are true about Christ and his work.

If the reformed definition of faith is the same, what are the facts that one must believe to be saved?

Please recall that in Reformed soteriology God does the saving. We are justified by faith in the sense that God uses faith to unite us — whom he has already decided to save — to himself. I’m a bit concerned that your question presupposes that faith is like a test you need to pass to get to the next grade in school: I have to get a passing mark on a test of beliefs in order to be saved. There are things that if you don’t believe I wouldn’t consider you a Christian. It’s a bit hard to see how you could rely on Christ for salvation if you didn’t believe certain things about him. But still, in Reformed theology you’re not saved because you’ve passed the Theological Qualification Test, but because God loves you and has chosen to save you. His plan for doing that includes having you learn the things you need to know.

 

[JM]

hedrick and AMR reminded me of John Gill on Hebrews 11.1:

The "faith" here spoken of is not a mere moral virtue, which is a branch of the law; nor a bare assent to anything revealed, declared, and affirmed in the Gospel; nor a faith of doing miracles; nor an implicit one; nor a mere profession of faith, which sometimes is but temporary; nor the word or doctrine of faith; but that which is made mention of in the preceding chapter, by which the just man lives, and which has the salvation of the soul annexed to it: and it does not so much design any particular branch, or act of faith, but as that in general respects the various promises, and blessings of grace; and it chiefly regards the faith of Old Testament saints, though that, as to its nature, object, and acts, is the same with the faith of New Testament ones; and is a firm persuasion of the power, faithfulness, and love of God in Christ, and of interest therein, and in all special blessings:

it is described as "the substance of things hoped for"; and which, in general, are things unseen, and as yet not enjoyed; future, and yet to come; difficult to be obtained, though possible, otherwise there would be no hope of them; and which are promised and laid up; and in particular, the things hoped for by Old Testament saints were Christ, and eternal glory and happiness; and by New Testament ones, more grace, perseverance in it, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal life.

Now faith is the "substance" of these things; it is the ground and foundation of them, in which there is some standing hope; in which sense the word (upostasiv) is used by Septuagint in ( Psalms 69:2 ) . The word of promise is principal ground and foundation of hope; and faith, as leaning on the word, is a less principal ground; it is a confident persuasion, expectation, and assurance of them. The Syriac version renders it, the "certainty" of them; it is the subsistence of them, and what gives them an existence, at least a mental one; so with respect to the faith and hope of the Old Testament saints, the incarnation, sufferings, and death of Christ, his resurrection, ascension, and session at God's right hand, are spoken of, as if they then were; and so are heaven, and glory, and everlasting salvation, with regard to the faith and hope of New Testament saints: yea, faith gives a kind of possession of those things before hand, ( John 6:47 ) . Philo the Jew F5 says much the same thing of faith;

``the only infallible and certain good thing (says he) is, that faith which is faith towards God; it is the solace of life, (plhrwma crhstwn elpidwn) , "the fulness of good hopes"''

 

[JLR1300]

I believe that faith is the persuasion or confidence that a thing is true. It really just means to believe something. Faith in God in general is the persuasion that God exists and that He is the kind of God that the Bible describes.

Faith in Christ has two parts. 1. The belief and confidence that the Gospel is true. (That God the Son left heaven to become a man and that He died for our sins and rose again and that His death actually saves those who believe in Him apart from all human works.)
2. The belief and persuasion that even though I am a sinner and can do nothing to save myself, I PERSONALLY am now right with God because the blood of Jesus covers my sins. This is what it means to look to Jesus for salvation or to trust in Him for salvation.

It may at first seem presumptuous for the sinner to believe that he personally is saved by the blood of Christ but he has every right to do so because the Gospel invites all who desire Salvation by Christ to lay hold of that salvation by faith. Revelation 17:22 says... WHOEVER DESIRES let him take of the water of life FREELY." I desire salvation by Christ alone so I simply believe and trust that the death and sacrifice of Jesus saves ME. That is faith.

There are lots of well meaning people who try to add all kinds of things to faith. Why do they do this? They do it because they know that it is unbiblical to say that people are saved by faith plus works and so they describe faith in a way that allows them to inject all kinds of works into it. The Puritans are the Calvinists that started doing this about 150 years after Calvin and Luther. For them the definition of faith involves the decision to obey the ten commandments and the commitment to love God and the resolve to submit to Christ and the intention to persevere in good works and all kinds of moral works and obedience. Those things are all good but they are what is needed for sanctification not justification.

 

[JM]

I believe that faith is the persuasion or confidence that a thing is true. It really just means to believe something. Faith in God in general is the persuasion that God exists and that He is the kind of God that the Bible describes.

Faith in Christ has two parts. 1. The belief and confidence that the Gospel is true. (That God the Son left heaven to become a man and that He died for our sins and rose again and that His death actually saves those who believe in Him apart from all human works.)
2. The belief and persuasion that even though I am a sinner and can do nothing to save myself, I PERSONALLY am now right with God because the blood of Jesus covers my sins. This is what it means to look to Jesus for salvation or to trust in Him for salvation.

It may at first seem presumptuous for the sinner to believe that he personally is saved by the blood of Christ but he has every right to do so because the Gospel invites all who desire Salvation by Christ to lay hold of that salvation by faith. Revelation 17:22 says... WHOEVER DESIRES let him take of the water of life FREELY." I desire salvation by Christ alone so I simply believe and trust that the death and sacrifice of Jesus saves ME. That is faith.

There are lots of well meaning people who try to add all kinds of things to faith. Why do they do this? They do it because they know that it is unbiblical to say that people are saved by faith plus works and so they describe faith in a way that allows them to inject all kinds of works into it. The Puritans are the Calvinists that started doing this about 150 years after Calvin and Luther. For them the definition of faith involves the decision to obey the ten commandments and the commitment to love God and the resolve to submit to Christ and the intention to persevere in good works and all kinds of moral works and obedience. Those things are all good but they are what is needed for sanctification not justification.

JLR, are you a Calvinist? I thought I read in another post you were not a Calvinist?

Thanks,

jm

 

[JLR1300]

Yes, I am a Calvinist. I am no longer a lordship salvationist calvinist but I do hold to the 5 points. I am not an antinomian either. I do believe that when the Spirit regenerates us and gives us faith and justifies us He then works in our lives and changes us. Nevertheless, it is true that some believers have progressed much farther in sanctification than others and nobody is perfect.

 

[JM]

Yes, I am a Calvinist. I am no longer a lordship salvationist calvinist but I do hold to the 5 points. I am not an antinomian either. I do believe that when the Spirit regenerates us and gives us faith and justifies us He then works in our lives and changes us. Nevertheless, it is true that some believers have progressed much farther in sanctification than others and nobody is perfect.

Good. Just checking. But I do have a question about your statement on sanctification. I'll wait and ask latter.

Peace,

jm

 

[Skala]

Faith to me, is a persuasion that something is true. Salvation by faith alone, means to be persuaded that some things are true about Christ and his work.

If the reformed definition of faith is the same, what are the facts that one must believe to be saved?

When the NT authors spoke of "Faith" or "Belief" in Christ, they meant something similar to the faith you would have in a parachute if you jumped out of a plane.

You are entrusting your life to the parachute. You put all of your confidence in the parachute that it will save you from going splat on the ground.

Thus, you can see that faith has a much deeper meaning than simply acknowledging something as true. You don't simply believe the parachute exists. Likewise, even the demons believe Jesus is the Messiah. But in both cases, trust in Jesus is not expressed, thus it's not Biblical faith.

 

[JLR1300]

I know we think that we are saying something different when we speak of belief and when we speak of trust or confidence. That is an illusion. Trusting Jesus to save me is actually no different than truly believing that that Jesus is going to save me. If I entrust my soul to Jesus for salvation that is just another way of saying that I do not believe that I can do anything to save myself but instead I truly believe that Jesus covers my sins with His blood and will take me to heaven.

The reason we think that faith or trust is different from belief is for two reasons. 1. James says that even devils believe and tremble. But the verse in context says "You believe IN ONE GOD ....even the devils believe....
So the problem with the devil's belief is that they only believe in one God ....they do not believe that the blood of Jesus covers their sins and that they are saved by that apart from works. (Of course, Jesus didn't die for them either) The other reason we imagine that faith is different from belief is ... 2. Because by belief people usually just mean that you believe that by His death Jesus saves men in general. Of course that is not enough. You also must believe that Jesus' blood saves you PERSONALLY from the wrath of God apart from all your works. Now that is rightfully called trust. But if you examine it...it is also just a belief even though it is a belief about you personally.

So you are not really wrong to say that belief in just the facts of the gospel is not faith or trust. We do have to add trust and confidence to that. But we fool ourselves when we say that trust or confidence is something different in it's essence than just truly believing that Jesus is certain to save me personally because His blood covers my sins.

Trusting a chair to hold me up is really just truly believing that a chair will hold me up. If you believe the chair will hold you up enough to sit on it, that is trust ....and if you trust that the chair will hold you up enough to sit on it ... that is really believing. This is why the bible tells us over and over that salvation is by believing in Christ. Belief is not a bad word ...it is the word the Bible constantly uses.

I admit that this might just seem like semantics but a problem in Christianity has arisen by constantly telling people that believing in Christ is not enough for salvation. They are never able to have assurance of salvation when we tell them that you can believe in Christ all day long to save you but maybe you are not really trusting Him to save you! That just confuses people because no one ever knows if they are believing in Jesus enough for salvation that it qualifies as trust. Where exactly is the line where we are believing enough that it becomes trust? Since I asked that question I will answer it...... belief becomes trust when we do not merely believe that the death of Jesus saves others but when we believe that the death of Jesus saves ME! That is trust ... but that is also actually just a belief. They aren't really two different things if we understand it rightly.

 

[Don Maurer]

2._____ By this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the authority of God himself, and also apprehendeth an excellency therein above all other writings and all things in the world, as it bears forth the glory of God in his attributes, the excellency of Christ in his nature and offices, and the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit in his workings and operations: and so is enabled to cast his soul upon the truth thus believed; and also acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come; but the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

I am not disagreeing here. I just want to say that I think the paragraph above is the issue. When people say that faith is mere intellectual assent, it makes it sound like faith does not touch any other aspect of their lives. That paragraph above makes it clear that Faith touches many aspects of our lives.

As it says above, Faith enables us "to cast his soul upon the truth." By faith we yield "obedience to the commands, trebling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come; but the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace."

As for me, I cannot accept that faith is mere intellectual assent that does not touch any other aspect of our lives. How can that faith NOT result in antinomianism? Or as James 2 says, "Can that faith save?" That would be the faith of demons.

 

[JM]

Hey Don,

I posted a few quotes on the kinds of faith here if you're interested. I believe there is the historical faith of mental assent and the saving faith given by God as a Gospel grace.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[JLR1300]

I am not disagreeing here. I just want to say that I think the paragraph above is the issue. When people say that faith is mere intellectual assent, it makes it sound like faith does not touch any other aspect of their lives. That paragraph above makes it clear that Faith touches many aspects of our lives.

As it says above, Faith enables us "to cast his soul upon the truth." By faith we yield "obedience to the commands, trebling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come; but the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace."

As for me, I cannot accept that faith is mere intellectual assent that does not touch any other aspect of our lives. How can that faith NOT result in antinomianism? Or as James 2 says, "Can that faith save?" That would be the faith of demons.

If a person really believes something it can't help but affect many aspects of their lives... (If they possess the Holy Spirit). For instance, if you really believe that God is good and that God is love- then you will believe that the things He commands us to do are FOR OUR OWN GOOD. A good God is not going to tell you to do something that is truly going to destroy you or lead to ultimate misery. Now if you really believe that a particular command is truly for your good... you will strive to obey it. To really believe that a certain thing is best for you and to purposely intend not to follow it is insanity.

The only reason people do not try to obey God with regards to a certain issue is that they believe that they will get more overall happiness by disobedience. So the reason for disobedience is unbelief. The problem with people is that they SAY that they assent intellectually to the doctrines about God... such as He is Love and He is good and thus, His commands are what are best for us... but they actually are disbelieving that. The problem isn't that assent isn't effective to produce changes in the life (along with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit)... the problem is that men are lying when they say they believe... or the problem is that they really don't understand what the doctrines of God's love and goodness really teach and imply.

However, having said that we need to remember something else. When the Holy Spirit regenerates us and gives us faith He then justifies us and then enters us and indwells us. Then the Spirit begins working within us to produce the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, goodness etc. The Spirit uses the faith He implanted in us to really believe that the commands of God are good and He helps us (that is why He is called the helper) to want to obey those commands. So I am not really saying that assent alone gives us the power to have a changed life. I am saying that the gift of true assent (and the assent that Jesus saves me personally) PLUS the indwelling of the Spirit gives us what we need to do God's will.

Nevertheless, what we need to understand is that we don't need to change the nature of faith and make it a bunch of emotions and resolvings and committments and moral feelings and promises in order to ensure that a sinner's life changes and antinomianism doesn't result. If the Holy Spirit grants the sinner the ability to truly believe the doctrines regarding God and His goodness ...and also to believe that Christ is Divine... and also to believe the gospel of Christ ...and also that sinner trusts and believes that He personally is right with God because of the redemption of Christ alone... then with that simple gift of faith plus the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the now justified sinner will produce the fruit of the Spirit. ( Without the Spirit all of the promises and resolvings will do no good anyway.)

Also James said that the demons just believed that there is ONE God. That is not enough. Obviously that faith is an insufficient faith because it only believes one of the many things that must be believed. The demons did not believe that God is truly good and that His ways are best. In fact, they sinned in the first place because they thought their ways would be better and that God's ways weren't really that good. And the demons do not believe that Christ rescues them personally from the wrath of God.

The problem with the kind of faith the demons have is that it is an insufficient faith which does not assent to the full range of things which must be believed with full confidence. If you eat only one grain of rice for dinner and I ask " can that meal save you?" It is not that there is anything wrong with rice... the problem is that that type of meal...(an insufficient meal) cannot save you physically. You need lots more rice to survive. In the same way the type of faith the demons have is bad not because it is bad to assent that there is one God but because it is bad to believe only that and not all of the other things that need to be believed.

Having said all that, if it makes people feel better, I really don't mind saying that Faith can be described as knowledge, assent, trust. Even though trust is really just a certain type of assent to a certain proposition (Namely, the assent and belief of the proposition that Jesus saves me personally by His work alone) I do agree that considering the way people normally are trained to think of these things it probably just creates confusion to try to show them that trust is a type of assent to a certain proposition. The Bible does tell us to believe epi (upon) Christ and to believe eis (into) Christ.... which is the Biblical method of saying that we should depend upon Christ or trust Christ. I suppose I am just being too nitpickey. I just think it sounds wrong and confuses some people when we tell them that believing in Jesus isn't good enough. We need to be careful if we tell them that to really explain what we mean. Galatians 3:6 ..."just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness"

 

[Ribosome]

I'm back!

People brought up that one of the things one must believe is that Jesus died for his sin...

How is a sinner supposed to believe Jesus died for him specifically if limited atonement is true? If he died for all people of all time, that'd be easy, but since he died only for the elect, how does a sinner find out he was one of those for whom Christ died and therefore can now put his trust/rest in Christ's work for him?

 

[JLR1300]

I'm back!

People brought up that one of the things one must believe is that Jesus died for his sin...

How is a sinner supposed to believe Jesus died for him specifically if limited atonement is true? If he died for all people of all time, that'd be easy, but since he died only for the elect, how does a sinner find out he was one of those for whom Christ died and therefore can now put his trust/rest in Christ's work for him?

Hello... that is a very good question and one that I used to ask myself all the time. The answer is Revelation 22:17

"And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" An let him who THIRSTS come. Whoever DESIRES, let him take the water of life FREELY."

If you THIRST to be saved by Jesus alone then come to Him and take the water of life (Salvation) freely (by faith).

If you DESIRE salvation by Christ alone then TAKE IT by believing He saves you .

Take it FREELY.

So the answer is that all you have to have to qualify to believe is the THIRST and the DESIRE!!! (ONLY THE ELECT WILL DESIRE TO BE SAVED BY JESUS ALONE APART FROM WORKS!!!!

The reason you may believe that Jesus saves you personally and covers you personally with His blood is because you have the DESIRE to do so and nobody but the elect for whom Jesus died would have such a desire!!

The non-elect never desire to be saved by Jesus alone. They always desire to be saved by Jesus plus baptism or Jesus plus a resolution to be good or Jesus plus membership in a certain denomination etc. etc. Only the elect have the desire to be saved by Jesus alone plus nothing else.

So we have the right and we have been authorized to believe Jesus saves us personally even though His death is for the elect because THE GOSPEL GIVES US THAT RIGHT. It tells us to go ahead and believe if we have the desire to do so. Any questions?

 

[sdowney717]

I'm back!

People brought up that one of the things one must believe is that Jesus died for his sin...

How is a sinner supposed to believe Jesus died for him specifically if limited atonement is true? If he died for all people of all time, that'd be easy, but since he died only for the elect, how does a sinner find out he was one of those for whom Christ died and therefore can now put his trust/rest in Christ's work for him?

Well you did respond in faith believing in His name when you heard the gospel call? So you know the Holy Spirit taught you about Jesus.
If you continue to believe all the way until the end, then your obviously one of the elect.

For example this destiny is determined by the Holy Spirit telling us about those who believe in Christ.
Acts 13

48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Matthew 10:22New King James Version (NKJV)

22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.
But he who endures to the end will be saved.

Heb 3

And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

Acts 13

44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us:

‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles,
That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’”[k]
48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

49 And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. 50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

And we have His Spirit inside us crying out Abba, Father to our God.

We have an inner witness to the truth, we are led by the Spirit of God.
If you belong to Christ, Jesus will not leave you orphans, He will send to you the Holy Spirit to be with you always and teach you everything you need to know.

John 14

15 “If you love Me, keep[d] My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

It just does not get any better than that. We have eternal consolations and help from Jesus to make it, enduring trials and to be given membership in His kingdom and that is His good pleasure to do for us, that is for all who repent - believe in the gospel of His dear Son.

Romans 8

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.