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S23 reasoning: Nature of saving faith

Reasoning steps: Nature of saving faith

Verdicts: S23 · Nature of saving faith. Method: conventions, scoring and proximity eras. Scripture is the primary measure; fathers are weighed by era (Era I to c. 150 = 1.0, II = 0.8, III = 0.6, IV = 0.4).

S23.1: Faith as trust, or as assent formed by love

Step S23.1.1: Scripture

Abraham was ‘fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised’ (Rom 4:21); ‘with the heart one believes’ (Rom 10:10); ‘I know whom I have believed’ (2 Tim 1:12); the demons ‘believe — and shudder’ (Jas 2:19), so bare assent does not save; ‘faith working through love’ (Gal 5:6, πίστις δι’ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη): love is the means through which faith acts, not what gives it its form. Faith in Scripture includes assent and personal reliance, and issues in love.

Step S23.1.2: Patristic evidence

Clement of Alexandria (Era II): faith is ‘a voluntary preconception, the assent of piety’. Augustine (Era III): ‘belief itself is nothing else than to think with assent’; but to believe in Christ is ‘by believing to love Him … to be incorporated in His members’. Sources: clement-of-alexandria-s23-s1 · augustine-s23-s1 · augustine-s23-s2.

Step S23.1.3: Weighing decision

Era II defines faith as assent; Era III distinguishes believing that from believing in, and builds love into believing in. Nobody before 750 defines justifying faith as trust in the promise of forgiveness, nor as assent made living by charity in the later scholastic sense; both are developments. Scripture includes reliance (Rom 4:21; 2 Tim 1:12) and makes love the outworking of faith (Gal 5:6). Verdict: patristic faith is assent joined with love in ‘believing in’ Christ; the Reformation’s emphasis on trust is closer to Scripture’s reliance language, and Trent’s ‘formed by charity’ is closer to Augustine.

  • Confidence: Medium.

Step S23.1.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): Faith includes assent and personal reliance (Rom 4:21; 2 Tim 1:12); bare assent is insufficient (Jas 2:19); love is how faith works (Gal 5:6), not its form. (Scripture confidence: medium)
  • Assessment: Scripture leans to faith as reliance that works through love; Augustine leans to love within believing. Traditions defining faith as trust fit Scripture better; those making love constitutive fit Augustine better.

S23.2: Is assurance of salvation part of saving faith?

Step S23.2.1: Scripture

‘I write these things to you who believe … that you may know that you have eternal life’ (1 John 5:13); the Spirit bears witness ’that we are children of God’ (Rom 8:16); yet ‘be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election’ (2 Pet 1:10). Assurance is offered to believers and can grow; Scripture does not say a believer without it has no faith.

Step S23.2.2: Patristic evidence

Augustine (Era III): ‘who of the multitude of believers can presume, so long as he is living in this mortal state, that he is in the number of the predestinated?’ — this must be ‘kept hidden’ to guard against pride. Sources: augustine-s23-s3.

Step S23.2.3: Weighing decision

Era III denies certainty of final perseverance in this life; no Era I–II text was found defining faith as assurance. Verdict: the fathers checked do not make assurance part of faith, and Augustine denies certainty of predestination; Scripture offers real assurance to believers without making it the essence of faith.

  • Confidence: Medium.

Step S23.2.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): Assurance is offered (1 John 5:13; Rom 8:16) and grows with diligence (2 Pet 1:10); it is a fruit, not the definition, of faith. (Scripture confidence: medium)
  • Assessment: Positions that deny assurance fit Augustine but not 1 John 5:13; positions that make assurance the essence of faith go beyond Scripture; the Westminster formula fits Scripture closest.

Post-750 development by tradition

Catholic

Trent VI (1547): faith formed by charity; canon 12.

  • S23.1 (fathers 3/4; Scripture 2/4): Trent VI ch. 7: ‘faith, unless hope and charity be added thereto, neither unites man perfectly with Christ’; canon 12 anathematizes ‘justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy’ (verified).
  • S23.2 (fathers 3/4; Scripture 2/4): Trent VI ch. 9: ’no one can know with a certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God’ (verified).

Orthodox

Dositheus decree 9 (1672).

  • S23.1 (fathers 3/4; Scripture 2/4): Dositheus, decree 9: faith is ’the right notion that is in us concerning God and divine things, which, working by love, that is to say, by [keeping] the Divine commandments, justifies us with Christ’ (verified).
  • S23.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not assessed: no Orthodox text on assurance was checked.

Oriental Orthodox

Shenouda III on faith and works.

  • S23.1 (fathers 3/4; Scripture 2/4): Shenouda III, Salvation in the Orthodox Concept: ‘Faith is faith in the blood of Christ, and works are works founded upon the merits of the blood of Christ’; ‘faith without works is dead’ (verified).
  • S23.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not assessed: no Oriental Orthodox text on assurance was checked.

Lutheran

AC XX; Apology IV.

  • S23.1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 4/4): AC XX.23: faith ‘does not signify merely the knowledge of the history … but … the effect of the history … that we have grace, righteousness, and forgiveness of sins through Christ’ (verified).
  • S23.2 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Formula of Concord III: believers ‘must not … doubt either their righteousness … or the salvation of their souls, but must regard it as certain’ (verified).

Anglican

Art. XI; Homily of Salvation.

  • S23.1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 4/4): Homily of Salvation, part 3: faith is ’not only to believe that holy Scripture … [is] true, but also to have a sure trust and confidence in GODS merciful promises … whereof doth follow a loving heart’ (verified); Art. XI points to this homily.
  • S23.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not addressed in the Articles or the Homily of Salvation passage checked.

Presbyterian

WCF XIV.2.

  • S23.1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 4/4): WCF XIV.2: ’the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone’ (verified).
  • S23.2 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 4/4): WCF XVIII.3: ‘This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long’ (verified).

Reformed Baptist

1689 14.2.

  • S23.1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 4/4): 1689 14.2: ’the principle acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone’ (verified).
  • S23.2 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 4/4): 1689 18.3: assurance ‘does not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long’ (verified).

General Baptist

Standard Confession.

  • S23.1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 4/4): Orthodox Creed (1679) art. XXIII: justifying faith enables us ’to take and receive him as a Lord and Saviour, and wholly and only to rest upon Christ’ (verified, reformedontheweb.com transcription).
  • S23.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not addressed: Orthodox Creed (1679) art. XXXVI treats perseverance, not assurance (verified).

Anabaptist

Menno Simons.

  • S23.1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 4/4): Menno Simons, Christian Baptism: ‘in Christ, faith alone availeth, which worketh by love’ (verified).
  • S23.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not addressed in Dordrecht (verified).