OF SAVING FAITH

1.  The grace of faith by which 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 brought into being by the ministry of the Word; by which also it is increased and strengthened by the administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God.[1]

2.  By this faith a Christian believes to be true whatever is revealed in the Word because this Word has the authority of God Himself, and the Christian also apprehends an excellency in the Word above all other writings and everything else in the world, because the Word shows 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, the Christian is enabled to cast his soul upon the Truth thus believed; and also to see and respond to the different kinds of teaching that different passages of Scripture contain; equipping him to yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and the life to come; but the first and most important acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, when the soul accepts, receives, and rests upon Him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.[2]

3.  This faith, although it differs in degrees, and may be weak or strong, even though at its weakest is in an entirely different class and has a different nature, like other aspects of saving grace, from the kind of faith and common grace possessed by temporary believers; and therefore, though it may be frequently assailed and weakened, 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.[3]