Question 86 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is faith in Jesus Christ?”

The answer: “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.”  

It is among the simplest and first questions one can have in becoming a Christian. But like all other words that used to be commonplace in a different time, such words have been multiplied and twisted in the popular imagination. We hear of “people of faith” and “faith-based programs,” or with more sophistication in freshman philosophy class, the division between “faith and reason.” For the vast majority of those who have already begun to attend church, or expressed a genuine interest in the gospel, the question is really about that more specific kind of faith that we call “saving faith.”

Q1. Is there a difference between faith (most generally used) and trust when used in the Bible?

Faith is a broader word and can encompass both intellectual faith, or “belief-that” as some would call it (e.g. Heb. 11:3), as well as the act of putting a personal stake in the object of belief (e.g. Rom. 4:4-5). Trust is more of the latter, though it can be speaking of salvation or else something less than salvation. In any event, faith is the broader word. 

Q2. Then what more specifically is saving faith?

The Reformed tradition has spoken of three elements of saving faith, and they would use three Latin words that corresponded to these: 1. The things believed (notitia); 2. Our agreement with their truth (assensus); and 3. Personal trust in God for their attainment (fiducia).

Q3. Is faith a work?

Just as we saw with repentance, we must distinguish: It is not a meritorious work. That is, it is not for the purpose of performing the works of righteousness that only Christ accomplished for us (Phi. 3:8-9). But if the question is whether it is something that we do, then yes. God does not believe for us. So it depends what is meant by it.

Q4. Is faith a gift?

God gives a new heart to His elect (Jn. 3:3-8) and then that new heart is able to believe (Jn. 1:12-13). So faith is said to be granted (Phi. 1:29) or a gift of grace (Eph. 2:8-9). This is what the answer to the catechism question means by calling faith a “saving grace.” 

Q5. But I still believe in order to become born again, right?

No. Regeneration (or “being born again”) precedes faith. There are several texts that teach this, for example: Ezekiel 36:26,  John 3:3-8, Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 11:18, 16:14, 2 Timothy 2:25.

Q6. Why must regeneration precede faith?

Because faith and its various fruits are gifts from God, and because the cause of salvation is necessarily synonymous with the credit for salvation. If our natures or efforts were the decisive cause, then salvation would not be by grace. God would be responding to our prior act, and such a response would then be rewarded for what we did. Finally, because the natural man is incapable of spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:11-14) and therefore we need regeneration to come first experientially as well.

Q7. If God determines salvation, why call people to believe?

As to elements of salvation such as faith, far from eliminating these, election is the beginning of establishing them. Prior to regeneration, we were in bondage to sin. Consequently we could neither repent nor believe. Having chosen us, God sends the Holy Spirit to those same elect in order to give them a new heart, so that this salvation that is by sovereign grace ensures that the conditions for repentance and faith will be brought about. For instance, Paul says, “God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). So it is a case of seeing primary cause (election) and secondary causes (faith) going together.

Q8. How is faith God-glorifying if it is something we do?

Aside from the fact mentioned that He produces it in the first place, faith works by believing in the promises of God. Whatever it is that God has offered to us in Christ, that thing our faith declares God as trustworthy for. Paul makes the point that faith eliminates boasting (Rom. 3:27) and one reason is that, being aimed at God’s promise, in a sense, it “makes” the promise rest on grace (Rom. 4:16). By the way, the same answer really applies to the question of why faith is the instrumental cause that God chose to impute Christ's righteousness to us. Because faith looks outside of itself, to the merit of another, therefore God (in Christ) remains the Giver, and the Giver gets the glory. That is why faith eliminates boasting.

Q9. How is faith different from the way the demons believe in James 2:19?

We can view the difference between the way that the demons “believe” in Christ and what we call saving faith by the whole substance of what is believed and then the fruit of it. When we see the demons responding to their encounters with Jesus in the Gospels, we may see a greater sense of who Jesus is. But that is for our benefit; not for the demons. Notice that in all of those cases, the demonic “confession” was accompanied by a dread of the judgment that this spelled for them. All of that to say, they merely “say” (James 2:18) facts about God. They have intellectual apprehension only, but no personal ownership in or love for the Christ of which they are aware.

Q10. But how does that help me, since I don’t know if I have personal trust?

Personal trust is not a mystical thing. When we consider the truth of how Jesus obeyed the law for his people, or how He paid the debt of their sin, or rose to newness of life, do we want the same? If so, we have more than mere intellectual assent. This wanting what Christ offers and seeking His way of obtaining it justisthe same thing as coming to Him for it. And what does Jesus say about that? He says this: “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).