The “Elements” of Saving Faith

by Pastor Carl Robbins

Every Christian should have a strong understanding of the basics of saving faith since it is impossible to please God without faith (Heb. 11:6). Some of the basics concerning faith would include:

• God sovereignly gives saving faith as a gift (Eph. 2:8-9)
• An understanding that faith isn’t “optimism” (“Ya gotta have faith that Clemson’s going to win the ACC next year”).
• Saving Faith must be IN the right object: namely the Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:24, 6:29-47, John 7:38, Acts 16:31).

Let’s analyze what makes faith …”saving faith”. The Protestant Reformers uniformly taught that saving faith had three distinct elements: notitia, assensus and fiducia. Don’t get confused by the Latin, I’ll explain.

Element Number One- Notitia

This simply refers to a knowledge and understanding of the content of the Gospel. A person cannot believe the Good News of the Gospel until he knows what the Good News is! There is a knowledge that is indispensable to faith. We must know who Christ is (i.e. His deity and humanity) and what He has done (His Sinless Life, Substitutionary Atoning Death and Triumphant Resurrection) in order to be saved. Faith must have objective, propositional (“Christ died for our sins”) content.

But, Notitia alone is NOT saving faith. The Jews (according to John 5:47) had knowledge, but not saving faith. The Roman Catholic church has long taught that it is not necessary to even have notitia to be saved, saying that “blind faith” or “implicit faith” (i.e. I believe whatever the Church believes, I may not have any idea what that is- but I believe it ) can be saving faith. Obviously, we reject such an idea.

Element Number Two- Assensus

Assent is a confidence that my knowledge of the facts of the Gospel is absolute truth. Notitia claims “Jesus rose from the grave”. Assensus takes the next step and says “ I am absolutely persuaded that Jesus rose from the grave”. Assent is a deeply held conviction.

There have been groups and individuals thru church history that have said the first two elements (notitia and assensus) are sufficient for salvation. The Sandemanians come to mind, which was a denomination that flourished in the British Isles from 1730-1900. They preached “Believe that events occurred exactly as the apostles relate them and you’ll be saved”

But this “historical faith” is not saving faith. How do I know this? Devils (James 2:19) and Judas (Matthew 27:3-4) possessed this kind of faith and they are in hell.

Element Number Three- Fiducia

There is a final element that must be present in order for faith to be saving faith.

When you go to the bank and leave your money with them and walk away, expecting that your money will still be there months later- you are placing your personal trust in them. That is why they are called a “fiduciary” institution, which means trust. This is the final and necessary element of faith.

After I have understood my need and the person and work of Christ and assented to the truth-claims of the Bible, I must place my trust in Jesus to save me. I must transfer my reliance upon myself and my righteousness to Christ alone for salvation. Saving faith cannot be merely intellectual, it must also be volitional.

Real faith is knowledge passing into conviction and conviction passing into confidence in Christ.

Knowing, Assenting and Trusting,

Pastor Carl