2. Divisions of Failh.- — Faith is divided by the theo- logians mio fides hislorica andfdes saliifica, (historical faitli and saving faith). The former is intellectual knowledge and belief of the Christian doctrine; the lat- ter a genuine appropriation of the merits of Chrii-t unto salvation. True faith embraces both. T\\e, parts oi faith, in theological language, are three : a. Kotitia (act of the intellect), knowledge, instruction in the facts and doctrines of Christianity (Rom. x, 14). h. Assensus(a.ct of the will), assent to the doctrine, or reception of it as true and credible, c. Fiducia (act of the heart), trust or confidence in the divine word. " True and saving faith in Christ consists both of assent and trust ; but this is not a blind and superstitious trust in the sacri- fice of Christ, like that of the heathens in their sacri- fices, nor the presumptuous trust of wicked and im- penitent men, who depend on Christ to save them in their sins, but such a trust as is exercised according to the authority and direction of the word of God; so tliat to know the Gospel in its leading princii)les, and to have a cordial of helif in it, is necessary to tliat mere specific act of faith whicli is called reliance, or, in systematic language, ^irf^cia^ assent'' (Watson, /n- stitules, ii, 243).
3. Faith in Chiitt ; ji'stif/ing Faith — Faith as Coti- dition rf Salvation. — («.) Though the entire revelation of God is set forth, in one sense, as the object of faith (Luke xxiv, 25, 26 ; Heb. xi), yet Christ, the incar- nate Son of God, the dying and risen Redeemer, is Kar' t^o\;)]i', the object of faith (Gal.ii,16; John xvii, 21). In the evangelical churches, justifying faith is understood to be exercised specifically in Christ, as hy his death making expiation and satisfaction for the sinner's guilt, or (to put the same idea in another light) in God's covenant with mankind in Christ, as offering them pardon for the sake of Christ's death ; and this faith is yet viewed mereh/ as a condition of justifica- tion. (6.) "What faith is it, tlien, thiough which we are saved.' It maj' be answered, first, in general, it is a faith in Chrii=t ; Christ, and God through Christ, are the proper objects of it. Herein, therefore, it is suflicienth', absolutely distinguished from the faith either of ancient or modern heathens. And from the faith of a devil it is fulh' distinguished h\ this — it is not barely a speculative, rational thing, a cold, lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head, but also a disposi- tion of the heart. For thus saith the Scripture, 'With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.' And, ' If thou shalt confess Mith thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe with thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' It acknowl- edges his death as tlie only sufficient means of redeem- ing man from deatli eternal, and his resurrection as the restoration of us all to life and immortality ; inas- much as he ' was delivered for our sins, and rose again for our justification.' Christian faith is, then not onlj' an assent to the whole Gospel of Christ, but also a full reliance on the blood of Christ; a trust in the merits of his life, death, and resurrection ; a recumbency upon him as our atonement and our life, as given for
FAITH
460
FAITH
us, ami living in us. It is a sure confidence wliich a man hath in God that through the nu'iits of Christ his sins are foryivon, and he reconciled to the favor of God ; and in consequence thereof, a closing with him, and cleaving to him, as our ' wisdom, righteousness, sanctitication, and redemption,' or, in one word, our salvation" (VVeslej', Serm. on Justijicntion). (c.) Faith is not meritoriously, Init instriimentally, the condition of our jiardon. " If Christ had not merited, God had not promised ; if God had not promised, justification had never followed on tliis faith : so tiiat the indisso- luble connection of faith and justification is from God's institution, whereby he hath bound himself to give the benefit upon performance of tiie condition. Yet there is an aptitude in faith to be made a condition ; for no other act can receive Christ as a priest propitiating and pleading' the propitiation, and the promise of God for his salve to give tlie benefit. As receiving Christ and his gracious promise in tliis manner, it acknowl- cdgeth man's guilt, and so man renouncetli all right- eousness in himself, and honoreth God the Father, and Christ the Son as the onW Redeemer. It glorifies God's mercj' and free grace in the liigliest degree. It aclcnowledgetli on earth, as it will l)e perpetually ac- knowledged in heaven, that the whole salvation of sin- ful man, from the beginning to the last degree there- of, whereof there shall be no end, is from God's freest love, Christ's merit and intercession, liis own gracious promise, and the power of his own Holy Spirit" (Law- son). AVesley, speaking of faith as tlie condition of our justification, saj's, "We mean this much, that it is the only thing without which no one is justified; tlie only thing that is immediately, indispensably, absolutely requisite in order to p:irilon. As, on the one hand, though a min should iiave everything else, without f.iitii, yet he cannot be justified; so, on the other, though he be supposed to want everything else, yet if he hath faitli he cunnot but be justified. For suppose a sinner of any kind or degree, in a full sense of his total ungodliness, of his total inability to think, speak, or do good- — suppose, I sa}', tliis sinner, helpless and hopeless, casts himself wholly on tlie mercy of God in Christ (which, indeed, he cannot do but by the grace of God), who will affirm that any more is required be- fore that sinner can be justified .'" (Wesley, Sermon on Ju.^tijicaiion ; Neander, Planting and Training, ii, 128 sq.). "Faith, as it is mere belief, may be produced bj' rational evidence. But when tliat is attained, the work of grace in the heart is nowhere said in Scrip- ture to be carried on bj' the natural operatio.i of these credited truths. The contrary fact, that men often credit them and remain uninfluenced bj' them, is ob- vious. When a different state of mind ensues, it is ascribed to the quickening influence of the Spirit, an influence which may be ordinarily resisted. By that influence men are 'pricked in their lieart;' and the heart is prepared to feel tlie dread impression which is convej-ed by the manifestation of man's perishing state, not merely in the doctrine of the word, but as it stands in the Spirit's application to the heart and con- science. But, thouj;h this was previously credited, and is still credited ; and though its import and mean- ing are now more fully perceived as the perishing condition of the awakened man is more clearly discov- ered, the faith of affiance does not therefore follow. A person in these circumstances is not to be likened to a man drowning, who will instinctively seize the rope as soon as it is thrown out to liim. There is a per- verse disposition in man to seek salvation in his own way, and to stand on terms with his Saviour. There is a reluctance to trust wholly in liis atonement, and to be saved bj' grace. There is a sin of unbelief, an evil heart of unbelief, a repugnance to the committal of the soul to Christ, which the influence of grace, not merely knowledge of the op])osite truth and duty, niust conquer. Even wlien this is subdued, and man is made willing to be saved in the appointed way, a