Saving Faith

 True saving, or justifying, faith is the main grounds of Christianity.

Galatians 2:16 says that “we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Christ.” It is through faith that we are saved from damnation. It is by faith that we are declared just or right before God. It is in faith that all the blessings of Christ are given to the unworthy. Yet what is this faith?

There are 4+1 necessary elements of saving faith: hear, agree, turn and trust.

1. HEAR: Hearing the Gospel (Latin. noticia- to note it or hear it). Like responding to any message, we must hear the Gospel message in order to be saved.
   1. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” (Ro 10:17)
2. AGREEING: We must not only hear it but believe it, agree or assent with our minds that it is true (assensus- to assent). We never act on messages we believe to be false.
   1. E.g. “Thus it is written that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.” (Lk 24:46)

 * Here we must pause and observe an important point. This is where many professing Christians stop and confuse belief/agreement/assent with true saving faith. We do not self-realize or feel an interest in the Gospel to be saved. This is where the demons stop! “Even the demons believe in God and shudder,” James 2:19 tells us.
 
   3.     TURN: The Gospel calls us to respond. This response involves turning (repenting) from our             sin, changing our mind, changing direction. We turn from sin and toward Christ.                                 (poenitentiam- to show penance, or sorrow; to change direction; to change one’s mind.                       From the Greek μετάνοια).
                    a.      “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk 1:15)

1. 4. TRUST. Trust, or faith, is a relational word. Faith is not a noun but a verb. It is to trust in what Jesus has done (life, death and resurrection) and trust in His promise to rescue and give life. It is to actively cry out to Christ for mercy; to rely upon Jesus to save us. (fiducia-confidence, trusting).
   1. See Mk 1:15 above.

 
All of this can of course appear as if it happens in a moment. For example someone could hear the Gospel, assent to it, recognize without convincing their life is on the wrong path turn and trust in an instant. Or one could hear the Gospel many times, wrestle with believing it to be true, wrestle with their sin and finally come to a place where they actually trust in Jesus. Conversion is like an accordion, either all bunched up or discernible over time. Regardless these are the steps the Bible lays out for us to discern saving faith. 

So we must hear, agree, turn and trust in order to be saved and we know someone is saved because they persevere in trusting Christ’s promises and commands. See Paul and James. 

1. 5 WALK: James tells us we prove our faith through our perseverance, through an active and ongoing faith that works, or is obedient. If someone has trusted in Jesus they receive the Spirit who ensures they go on being saved. If someone says they are a Christian but their life doesn’t consistently match their profession there can be little assurance, indeed the very real possibility that on Judgement day they will hear the words, “Depart from me.” (Mt 7:23 ) (opera- our works, literally ‘acting out our faith’ in a real sense).
   1. Speaking of false teachers Jesus gave us a valuable principle, “you shall know them by their fruit.” (Mt 7:20).

*The first step in following Jesus is to be baptized; how we make our private faith public.
This is the test of faith we ought to look for in ourselves and in those who profess to be Christians.