In the hope they might be useful, I will paste my notes on John Willison's Plain Catechising. He discusses this in outline and we went into it in some detail in our study class.
Intro The Catechism has taught us about gospel requirements – faith, repentance, and the outward means of grace. We now take up each of these in turn beginning with faith. This study is going to take us about a month; but it is a central and vital subject, so we should move through it slowly to make sure we understand it properly.
1 The Bible uses the word “faith” in different senses. (1) It can be used objectively to describe the doctrine of the Christian faith. This refers to the body of teachings we are to believe. Jude 3, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Here, “the faith” refers to the teachings delivered by the apostles and received by believers. This is WHAT we believe. (2) But then faith is also used subjectively to describe the action of a believer. Heb. 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Here, “faith” is defined as the personal act of one who comes to God. It is not a matter of receiving certain doctrines but beliving in God Himself. This is WHOM we believe. There is a subjective reliance on God’s existence and character. It is not limited to knowing facts about God but includes an act of trust in God Himself. So the Bible uses “faith” in different ways – sometimes for the truth believed and other times for the act of believing.
2 Looking now at the act of believing there are also different kinds of faith. To believe is a natural human action. If someone tells me Captain Cook discovered Australia in 1770, and I accept what I am told, that is faith. We call it historical faith. I believe as I would any fact of history. If I believe that somebody can do miraculous works or that I can do such works that is the faith of miracles. Different from both of these things is saving faith. As we will see, saving faith is not a natural human action and it is exercised for the purpose of being saved.
3 Jam 2:19, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” Here James explains that to acknowledge God’s existence does not constitute saving faith. Nobody thinks that the devils will be saved, and yet they have faith. They believe certain facts about God but remain in a state of condemnation. We see them in the Gospels confessing that Jesus Christ is the holy One of God and shuddering at the thought of judgment. Likewise men can affirm truths about the nature of God, about Jesus as the Saviour, or about the infallible authority of the Bible, and yet they might be enemies of God. Being able to agree with a list of doctrines is not saving faith. I can speak with somebody from the United States and tell them about their history and constitution, but it does not make me a US citizen. So if I can speak with a Christian and tell them all about the Bible or the Westminster Confession of Faith, it does not make me a true Christian. Historical faith in itself will not save anybody.
4 Here we see how historical faith works. It is just like any other fact. Man has a mind to grasp what is being said, as well as a will to agree or disagree with it. Since we all accept Christianity as being true, it should not surprise us that it commends itself to people of good judgment. Even atheists have commented on the superior nature of Christianity above other religions, although they do not believe in it. A person can investigate the claims of the Bible and of Christ and find them quite compelling. People even credit the resurrection of Jesus. But these are mere facts to them. The statement, Jesus rose from the dead, carries the same significance as the statement, Captain Cook discovered Australia. Here are some examples in the Bible; Mt 13:20, “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while.” This is the stony-ground hearer. He initially believes and it even causes an emotional response of joy; but he is easily moved by other considerations to abandon his faith. It is not deeply rooted in his heart; his faith is temporary, not saving. John 2:23, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.” These “believers” were brought to faith by seeing the signs that Jesus did; they did not have faith in Christ Himself. Later in the Gospel of John we hear that many of them turned back from following Him. Acts 8:13, “Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip.” This is Simon the sorcerer who later offered money for the gift of bestowing the Holy Spirit, from whom we get the name simony for those who attempt to buy their way into church offices. Peter later rebuked him, saying he was “in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity,” showing that his faith was not genuine. Acts 26:27, “King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.” Agrippa knew the truth as taught by the prophets but did not submit to Christ; he was almost persuaded to be a Christian; his faith was intellectual, not saving.
5 Saving faith goes far beyond agreeing that the Bible’s message is true. But before we draw attention to that, it is important to notice what Mr. Willison says here. It also includes assent. That is, assent does not equate to saving faith but you cannot have saving faith without assent. We must believe the facts as revealed to us in the Word of God as a starting point. The Christ we believe in is the Christ revealed in the Scriptures. There is no other Saviour. I say this so as to avoid the error of those who would undermine the propositional nature of truth. They would speak of “feeling their way” towards Jesus. I can say with utmost certainty that people who speak this way are believing falsehoods. Jesus Himself said, You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Knowledge is fundamental to faith. Willingly assenting to the truth is also necessary. It is not mere knowledge but what also wins us to itself. Then, as Mr. Willison says, this is so strong and full that it leads to a heartfelt embrace of the Saviour Himself as precious. Christ is such an object of faith that we receive Him not only as true but as good for us. He is not a mere historical fact but one to be trusted in for salvation. We know ourselves to be hungry, and He is food; thirsty, and He is water; sinners, and He is the Saviour. He is perfectly suited to our soul’s need. And so the act of faith includes a heartfelt embrace of Him or closing with Him so as to secure the good that we desire in Him. 1 Tim. 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” See that word “worthy.” He deserves to be embraced as supremely desirable. Rom. 10:10, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Faith is an act of the heart in clinging to Christ because He alone has the righteousness by which we can be saved. * So there are three things. I often use the acronym KAT to remember it. Knowledge, assent, and trust. Knowledge is an act of the mind in coming to understand the facts as they are presented. Assent is an act of the will in accepting that the facts are indeed true. Trust is an act of the whole soul, or what the Bible calls “the heart,” the whole inward man, embracing, cleaving to, and resting in Christ as the one thing needful for us.
6 The “faith of miracles” concerns the power of God to perform supernatural works. This was active in those who were given the ability to work miracles like healing or casting out devils; or passive in those who saw or received it, that is in those who were healed or were filled with wonder at what they saw happen to others. This kind of faith was especially evident in the days of Christ and the apostles when the gift of doing miracles was still present as a part of confirming the Word of the gospel. But it gave no indication as to whether the person was saved by faith in Christ. There are clear examples of those who did miracles or received benefits from them who were not saved. Firstly, Judas; Mt 10:5, 8, “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them... Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils...” Jesus granted His disciples (including Judas) the temporary ability to perform miracles. Yet Judas betrayed Him and eventually hanged himself in a desperate feeling of guilt. Likewise, when Jesus healed ten lepers, only one returned to give thanks. Lk 17:17-18. “And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?” All ten had faith to be healed, but only one had saving faith which was demonstrated by gratitude and worship. Understanding this is helpful because it puts miracles in context. Miracles do not create saving faith. We said this on Sabbath night. They were never intended to produce faith in people. They were designed to confirm new revelation so that believers would have evidence that it came from God. The miracles presuppose faith; they do not produce faith. This helps us to see the false use of miracles among professing Christians today. Their claim that they produce faith is itself a mark of error and shows the miracles are not true. As we trust in the sufficiency of Scripture we do not expect new revelation today, so there is no reason to expect miracles to confirm the Word.
7 Saving faith is not something we can work out of our natural state. This distinguishes it from other forms of faith. They can be produced simply by the mind and will of man observing the truth or observing a miracle. But saving faith is the result of God working it in us. It is a “grace,” which means it is a free gift of God that is granted to us by His undeserved favour. Eph 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Salvation comes by grace through faith. There is an instrumental exercise of faith, as we will see in another question; but even the ability to believe is God’s gift, not man’s achievement. We cannot muster it up from within ourselves. Without this grace, we are spiritually dead and unable to believe. The Gospel calls us to come to Christ but we cannot come except the Father draws us to Him, which He does by the gift of faith. And so we are always beholden to God for this grace. We do not set ourselves apart from other men. God sets us apart by bestowing the gift upon us. The language of Scripture is that we obtain precious faith, we do not achieve it.
8 Faith is called a “saving” grace because it is the God-given means by which sinners lay hold of salvation in Christ. Without it, no one can be saved; with it, none shall perish. Mk 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” It is divinely appointed as the means for us to be saved. And the promise is absolute – all who believe will be saved. This kind of faith always results in salvation; it cannot fail, because it rests in Christ. It joins the soul to Christ, making Him and all that He is to be ours. And so this faith is the mark of salvation. He who has it must be saved. On the other hand, without it man remains under God’s wrath and must be condemned for ever. No faith means no Christ, which means no salvation. All of these things are linked together in a chain that cannot be broken.
9 When Scripture says we are saved or justified by faith there is no suggestion that faith takes the place of the Saviour. Sadly this is how it is presented in Arminian circles. Faith is man’s work that God rewards with salvation. This is just another way of introducing salvation by works. But in Scripture faith is presented as an instrument to apply to us what Christ has already accomplished. It puts us in a saving relation with Jesus Christ so that what is His may become ours. This is expressed with precision in Rom. 3:25, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” This verse reveals a vital connection between faith and propitiation. It shows how faith is the means by which sinners receive the benefits of what Christ is. What is propitiation? It is a satisfaction made to the justice of God by a substitutionary sacrifice. Christ in the place of sinners turns away God’s righteous anger from them. The benefit of this propitiation is received “through faith in his blood.” That is, as we look to Christ and trust in Him, His blood covers us so that our sins are forgiven. Faith does not make the sacrifice effective; it only lays hold of what Christ has already done. And this declares God is righteous because it shows He will only forgive sin when His justice is satisfied. So we must always think on faith as nothing in itself, but only the means by which we receive what Christ has done. All the substance and matter of our salvation has been wrought by Him. He is the meritorious cause; faith is only the instrument.
Faith is excluded as a meritorious work in Rom 3:28, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Faith is required in the law and is one of the deeds of the law. The command, “Thou shalt have no other god” means that we must believe in God and everything that God reveals to us. This means faith is a moral duty. Yet it does not justify us as a moral duty performed by us. In itself faith has no virtue and does no work that can make us righteous before God. It is only as a means of receiving the gift of Christ’s righteousness that faith justifies us. To be more exact, God justifies us when He looks upon us in His Son and accounts us as righteous for His sake. Faith is what God uses to put us in Christ so that we can be reckoned in Him.
10 Faith is the empty hand that receives Christ and His righteousness. This is clearly expressed in Rom. 3:22, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” The righteousness is external to us; what Luther called an alien righteousness. It is imputed to us. Therefore Paul speaks of it being “unto all and upon all.” But he never says it is within us. Faith does not produce righteousness; it only receives it like a beggar’s hand receiving a gift. It is empty of anything in itself and renounces all self-trust. It submits to God’s method – that sinners are justified only by Christ’s merit, not their own. That is why the least degree of faith is saving. It is not the greatness of faith, but the greatness of Christ that saves us.
