4. What faith is it then through which we are saved? It may be answered, first, in general, it is a faith in Christ; Christ, and God through Christ, are the proper objects of it. Herein therefore, it is sufficiently, absolutely, distinguished from the faith either of ancient or modern Heathens. And from the faith of a devil, it is fully distinguished by this, it is not barely a speculative, rational thing, a cold, lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head; but also a disposition of the heart. For thus saith the scripture, _With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness_. And, _If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe with thy |heart|, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved_.
5. And herein does it differ from that faith which the apostles themselves had while our Lord was on earth, that it acknowledges the necessity and merit of his death, and the power of his resurrection. It acknowledges his death as the only sufficient means of redeeming man from death eternal; and his resurrection as the restoration of us all to life and immortality: inasmuch as _he was delivered for our sins, and rose again for our justification_. Christian faith is then, not only 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 us_, and _living in us_; and in consequence hereof, a closing with him, and cleaving to him, as _our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption_.
II. What salvation it is, which is through this faith, is the second thing to be considered.
1. And first, Whatsoever else it imply, it is a present salvation. It is something attainable, yea, actually attained on earth, by those who are partakers of this faith. For thus saith the apostle to the believers at _Ephesus_, and in them to the believers of all ages, not ye shall be (tho’ that also is true) but _ye_ are _saved through faith_.
2. _Ye are saved_ (to comprize all in one word) from sin. This is the salvation which is through faith. This is that great salvation foretold by the angel, before God brought his first begotten into the world, _Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins_. And neither here, nor in other parts of holy writ, is there any limitation or restriction. All his people, or, as it is elsewhere express’d, all that believe in him, he will save from all their sins; from original and actual, past and present sin, of the flesh and of the spirit. Through faith that is in him, they are saved both from the guilt and from the power of it.
3. First from the guilt of all past sin. For whereas _all the world is guilty before God_; insomuch that should he _be extreme to mark what is done amiss, there is none that could abide it_: and whereas _by the law is only the knowledge of sin_, but no deliverance from it; so that _by fulfilling the deeds of the law, no flesh can be justified: now the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, is manifested unto all that believe_. Now _they are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Him God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood; to declare his righteousness for_ (or by) _the remission of the sins that are past_. Now hath Christ _taken away the curse of the law, being made a curse for us_. He hath _blotted out the hand-writing that was against us, taking it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. There is therefore no condemnation now, to them who |believe| in Christ Jesus_.
4. And being saved from guilt, they are saved from fear. Not indeed from a filial fear of offending; but from all servile fear, from that _fear which hath torment_, from fear of punishment, from fear of the wrath of God; whom they no longer regard as a severe master, but as an indulgent father. _They have not received again the spirit of bondage; but the spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father: the spirit itself also bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God._ They are also saved from the fear, tho’ not from the possibility, of falling away from the grace of God, and coming short of the great and precious promises: thus have they _peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. They rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts, through the Holy Ghost, which is given unto them._ And hereby they are _persuaded_ (tho’ perhaps not at all times, nor with the same fulness of persuasion) that _neither death nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heighth nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate them from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord_.