What is Saving Faith?
There are two words the Bible uses to communicate saving faith, the words “believe” which is a verb, and “faith” which is a noun. In relationship to salvation Jesus Christ is the object of saving faith. He is the center of the gospel (see What is the Gospel?).
There are three aspects to saving faith, they are: knowledge, mental assent, and trust.
My children are fascinated by the Titanic. Therefore, I have often used it to illustrate this point (any sea faring vessel would do). In order to be saved from a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean, one must know that lifeboats are available. One must have knowledge that lifeboats are there. In order to be saved from a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean, one must not only know that lifeboats are there, but understand that they can save one’s life. One must have mental assent of the importance of the lifeboats. One can know, and say they believe in the lifeboats ability to save people, logically one can argue that they know all about the lifeboats. That one can tell others how sturdy the lifeboats are, where they are located, even how to operate them, yet without the trust to get in to the boat that one will perish. One must exercise trust, saving faith, and get into the lifeboat in order to be saved.
Larry Moyer Executive Director of Evan Tell, Inc. Evan Tell, Inc., has provided an excellent outline of this concept from a biblical perspective that should help to clarify what saving faith is. Minor changes have been made to personalize it to this publisher.
I. Faith involves knowledge.
A. The proof
1. The Bible sometimes puts hearing before believing.
a. John 5:24 – “…He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me…”
b. Romans 10:14 – “…how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?”
c. Acts 18:8 – “…many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.”
d. Ephesians 1:13-“In whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth…”
2. It is axiomatic (or self evident) that to believe in someone (in this case God) one must know about him.
B. The Person
1. His deity- John 1:1&14; 1In the beginning was the Word and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. 14And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
2. His humanity- 1Joh4:2; Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3. His death- 1Corinthians 15:3; For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;
4. His resurrection- 1Corinthians 15:4; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures...
II. Faith involves mental assent.
A. The proof
The most basic meanings of the Greek words translated “believe” and “faith” is “to accept something as being true” or “to be convinced of something.”
B. The reason
A person can understand something yet not accept it as being true. For example: If I tell someone that “I live in Sylvania, Ohio”, that one may know where Sylvania is, how to get there, and many wonderful facts about Sylvania. However, that doesn’t mean that one believes me. In a similar manner, one can understand many facts about Christ and yet not accept them as being true.
III. Faith involves trust.
A. The proof
1. The two Greek words translated “believe” and “faith” includes the idea of “trust.” This means “reliance on” or “dependence on.”
2. The New Testament emphasizes this many times by putting a preposition after “believe.”
a. John 3:16; “…that whosoever believeth in him should not perish…”
b. John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life…”
B. The point
One can understand the Good News of Christ and accept it as being true, and yet not be trusting in Christ alone to save him.
Conclusion: Saving faith involves knowledge, mental assent, and trust.
The gospel is made clear by Paul. The good news is that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-8).
Will you receive it, embrace it and make it your own?
There are three aspects to saving faith, they are: knowledge, mental assent, and trust.
My children are fascinated by the Titanic. Therefore, I have often used it to illustrate this point (any sea faring vessel would do). In order to be saved from a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean, one must know that lifeboats are available. One must have knowledge that lifeboats are there. In order to be saved from a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean, one must not only know that lifeboats are there, but understand that they can save one’s life. One must have mental assent of the importance of the lifeboats. One can know, and say they believe in the lifeboats ability to save people, logically one can argue that they know all about the lifeboats. That one can tell others how sturdy the lifeboats are, where they are located, even how to operate them, yet without the trust to get in to the boat that one will perish. One must exercise trust, saving faith, and get into the lifeboat in order to be saved.
Larry Moyer Executive Director of Evan Tell, Inc. Evan Tell, Inc., has provided an excellent outline of this concept from a biblical perspective that should help to clarify what saving faith is. Minor changes have been made to personalize it to this publisher.
I. Faith involves knowledge.
A. The proof
1. The Bible sometimes puts hearing before believing.
a. John 5:24 – “…He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me…”
b. Romans 10:14 – “…how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?”
c. Acts 18:8 – “…many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.”
d. Ephesians 1:13-“In whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth…”
2. It is axiomatic (or self evident) that to believe in someone (in this case God) one must know about him.
B. The Person
1. His deity- John 1:1&14; 1In the beginning was the Word and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. 14And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
2. His humanity- 1Joh4:2; Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3. His death- 1Corinthians 15:3; For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;
4. His resurrection- 1Corinthians 15:4; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures...
II. Faith involves mental assent.
A. The proof
The most basic meanings of the Greek words translated “believe” and “faith” is “to accept something as being true” or “to be convinced of something.”
B. The reason
A person can understand something yet not accept it as being true. For example: If I tell someone that “I live in Sylvania, Ohio”, that one may know where Sylvania is, how to get there, and many wonderful facts about Sylvania. However, that doesn’t mean that one believes me. In a similar manner, one can understand many facts about Christ and yet not accept them as being true.
III. Faith involves trust.
A. The proof
1. The two Greek words translated “believe” and “faith” includes the idea of “trust.” This means “reliance on” or “dependence on.”
2. The New Testament emphasizes this many times by putting a preposition after “believe.”
a. John 3:16; “…that whosoever believeth in him should not perish…”
b. John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life…”
B. The point
One can understand the Good News of Christ and accept it as being true, and yet not be trusting in Christ alone to save him.
Conclusion: Saving faith involves knowledge, mental assent, and trust.
The gospel is made clear by Paul. The good news is that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-8).
Will you receive it, embrace it and make it your own?
posted by J. Wendell at 6:59 AM
6 Comments:
Wow, what a neat blog...I'm so happy I came upon it. God bless you and don't spend TOO much time on it. Love ya!
By
Anonymous, at 23/8/05 12:40 PM
Welcome to you Rose, my hope is to be a blessing to others as I have been blessed by God. I welcome comments in good taste and on topic. I also welcome questions on any topic or Bible passage. I may not always have an answer and I may not always say what others want to hear, but I will endeavor to speak the truth in love seasoned with grace.
By
J. Wendell, at 23/8/05 9:33 PM
john;
there is nothing in your comments that i disagree with, but i would respectfully suggest there are a few things missing.
First, love is an integral part of faith. John 14:21-“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me…” To reach a point of saving grace i think a person would have love (which satisfies all the law, #1 commandment.) How can you have faith in Jesus without love for him and if you have love for him you will be earnestly attempting to follow the commandments.
Second, faith is an action word as well. If a person has faith it will be reflected in their actions. James 2:26-“ For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.” A beleiver with "saving faith" is in the ministry of serving Jesus throught serving the needy. also, Matthew 10:38-39-“ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” This passage implies a person must commit their lives to serving Jesus to find their lives. The conclusion i arrive at from these 2 passages (and many others) is that a person who has saving faith has totally committed their life to Jesus, turned their back on the world and even their own wants, needs and desires. Then they are "saved" This is not the end of the story! This is where everyone stops, though. What really happens when a person is saved? lets look at the 1st passage again:Matthew 10:38-39-“ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” What does it mean to "find" your life? It means to be BORN AGAIN! Jesus said we must be "born again" to enter the kingdom of heaven. What happens when a person is born again? John 14:21-“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." Now we see the connection between love and faith and the results of being born again...Jesus discloses himself to you! Heres another passage:Matthew 11:25-“At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” Who is a babe, but a recently "born" (again) person? Jesus reveals himself to us, "shines the light of knowledge" of "truth" and of "all truth" to a born again child of God. All the promises of the Spirit contained in the epistles are for BORN AGAIN beleivers! When you are born again you are driven to the bible with an insatiable thirst and the secrets of the text (of Jesus because he is The Word) are revealed to you. You are also filled with a love for Jesus that you thought you knew before, but afterwards you realize you had NO IDEA what it really meant!you travel 5 yards on your own and the Spirit takes you 95 yards to the end zone! You are motivated to share what you have learned (ambassador) with anyone/everyone. Now, ask a roomful of 100 people who say they have been saved if they have been born again and see what happens! This is a thorny truth that many people do not want to confront! John 3:9-10-“ Whoever has been born of God does not sin (deliberately, habitually, knowingly), for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. This is for the born again person. I see a lot of people who have said the sinner's prayer when they were 8,9 or 10 yrs old and think they are secure, but i beleive they are under STRONG DELUSION. How many of them have fallen into serious sin while in their teens and twenties and tell themselves that they were just questioning their faith? Many of them! These people think they are right with God, but they are not. You dont hear sermons on this topic, but it is SOOO NECESSARY! i know it is because 6 months ago and for over 10 years before that I WAS ONE OF THEM!
By
Anonymous, at 27/8/05 11:01 AM
Anonymous~
The gospel is So simple a child can understand it yet so profound that we can never fathom it's depths, hights, or riches.
Love is integal, this is a very good point and I'm glad you pointed this out. The Bible says that, "We love Him because He first loved us." (1John 4:19 cf. the context)
Some of the things you suggest are true after salvation occures. After we have been born again, we should grow in grace and be more and more transformed into the image of Christ our Lord.
Thank you for your comments and feel free to come back as I may address some of the issues you brought up in future posts.
By
J. Wendell, at 30/8/05 6:52 AM
The problem with the lifeboat analogy is that we are not saved by getting into anything, we are saved by our trust or our belief in other words.
If a man believes (has mental assent to the fact) that he has eternal life through Christ alone, then he trusts in Christ for eternal life. Likewise if he knows that he has eternal life through Christ, he is trusting in Him.
You cannot make an arbitrary distinction between trust and belief.
If I say 'I believe that John will not use bad language in his blog' I essentially say the same thing as 'I trust that John will not use bad language in his blog.' If there is a difference between the two statements, I cannot see it. Again there is not difference if I said 'I know that John will not use bad language in his blog.'
Every Blessing in Christ
Matthew
By
Matthew Celestine, at 4/6/06 3:17 PM
How can you say,'I believe that John will not use bad language in his blog' if you do not know John?
By
J. Wendell, at 5/6/06 7:07 AM
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