Easton's 1897
Bible Dictionary : Faith
- Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a
certain statement is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13). Its primary idea is
trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees
up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it
rests. Faith is the result of teaching (Rom.
10:14-17). Knowledge is an essential element in all faith, and is sometimes
spoken of as an equivalent to faith (John 10:38; 1 John 2:3). Yet the two are
distinguished in this respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act
of the will in addition to the act of the understanding. Assent to the truth is
of the essence of faith, and the ultimate ground on which our assent to any
revealed truth rests is the veracity of God.
Historical faith is the apprehension of and assent to certain statements which
are regarded as mere facts of history. Temporary faith is that state of mind
which is awakened in men (e.g., Felix) by the exhibition of the truth and by the
influence of religious sympathy, or by what is sometimes styled the common
operation of the Holy Spirit. Saving faith is so
called because it has eternal life inseparably connected with it. It cannot be
better defined than in the words of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism: "Faith in
Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for
salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel."
The object of saving faith is the whole revealed Word of God. Faith accepts and
believes it as the very truth most sure. But the special act of faith which
unites to Christ has as its object the person and the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ (John 7:38; Acts 16:31). This is the specific act of faith by which a
sinner is justified before God (Rom. 3:22, 25; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9; John
3:16-36; Acts 10:43; 16:31). In this act of faith the believer appropriates and
rests on Christ alone as Mediator in all his
offices. This assent to or belief in the truth
received upon the divine testimony has always associated with it a deep sense of
sin, a distinct view of Christ, a consenting will, and a loving heart, together
with a reliance on, a trusting in, or resting in Christ. It is that state of
mind in which a poor sinner, conscious of his sin, flees from his guilty self to
Christ his Saviour, and rolls over the burden of all his sins on him. It
consists chiefly, not in the assent given to the testimony of God in his Word,
but in embracing with fiducial reliance and trust the one and only Saviour whom
God reveals. This trust and reliance is of the essence of faith. By faith the
believer directly and immediately appropriates Christ as his own. Faith in its
direct act makes Christ ours. It is not a work which God graciously accepts
instead of perfect obedience, but is only the hand by which we take hold of the
person and work of our Redeemer as the only ground of our
salvation. Saving faith is a moral act, as it
proceeds from a renewed will, and a renewed will is necessary to believing
assent to the truth of God (1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4). Faith, therefore, has its
seat in the moral part of our nature fully as much as in the intellectual. The
mind must first be enlightened by divine teaching (John 6:44; Acts 13:48; 2 Cor.
4:6; Eph. 1:17, 18) before it can discern the things of the
Spirit. Faith is necessary
to our salvation (Mark 16:16), not because there is any merit in it, but simply
because it is the sinner's taking the place assigned him by God, his
falling in with what God is doing. The warrant or ground of faith is the
divine testimony, not the reasonableness of what God says, but the simple fact
that he says it. Faith rests immediately on, "Thus saith the Lord." But in order
to this faith the veracity, sincerity, and truth of God must be owned and
appreciated, together with his unchangeableness. God's word encourages and
emboldens the sinner personally to transact with Christ as God's gift, to close
with him, embrace him, give himself to Christ, and take Christ as his. That word
comes with power, for it is the word of God who has revealed himself in his
works, and especially in the cross. God is to be believed for his word's sake,
but also for his name's sake. Faith in Christ
secures for the believer freedom from condemnation, or justification before God;
a participation in the life that is in Christ, the divine life (John 14:19; Rom.
6:4-10; Eph. 4:15,16, etc.); THE DEVIL'S
DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) : FAITH, n.
Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without
knowledge, of things without parallel.