What is Saving Faith?

In his Systematic Theology, Charles Hodge says the following about the importance of faith:

“As so much prominence is assigned to faith in the Scriptures, as all the promises of God are addressed to believers, and as all the conscious exercises of spiritual life involve the exercise of faith, without which they are impossible, the importance of this grace cannot be overestimated.” (Vol. III, p.41)

That being said, the importance of having a right understanding of what faith is probably cannot be overestimated either. The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines saving faith in the following way:

Q. 86.What is faith in Jesus Christ?

A. 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 first thing that the Shorter Catechism does is specify the source of saving faith. That such faith is said to be a “saving grace” makes this clear. To speak of it as a “saving grace” means that such faith not only saves, but is also a work of God’s sovereign grace. In other words, such faith comes from God alone. As the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (ESV)

Saving faith (not just salvation in general) is not of ourselves, but rather is (like all of salvation) the “gift of God.”

The second thing that the Shorter Catechism does here is to define or describe saving faith by what it (so to speak) does. And what does saving faith do? Basically two things:

1. Saving faith receives Christ as He is offered to us in the gospel.
2. Saving faith rests upon Christ alone as He is offered to us in the gospel.

To receive Christ means to accept Him as a gift, freely offered to and bestowed upon us by God. This, by definition, precludes works. (See Ephesians 2:9 above.) And notice that we don’t just receive some particular benefit(s) as considered in abstraction from Christ, but rather we receive Christ Himself by faith, and all of the benefits that are ours in Him alone.

To rest in Christ alone is to depend wholly upon Him, and Him alone, for salvation. Not Christ plus something else. Not Christ plus our good works, not Christ plus our obedience, not Christ plus anything else! Another way of putting this would be to say that our entire confidence for our salvation from sin is to be in Christ alone, and nothing else.

Lastly, this saving faith, this receiving and resting upon Christ alone for our salvation from sin, must be “as he is offered to us in the gospel.” In other words, true, saving faith must be in accordance with the Word of God. We are not saved by faith in a Jesus of our own imagination, but only by faith in the Christ of Scripture. It is often said that faith is only as good as its object. Well, the object of our faith must be the Lord Jesus Christ, as He Himself is offered to us in the gospel!

Have you received Christ? Are you resting upon Him alone for salvation, as He is offered to you in the gospel? As John 1:13-13 says,

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (ESV)

 

Jesus Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King

What is the “three-fold office” of Jesus Christ, and why does it matter?

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks and answers the first part of that question:

Q. 23. What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer? A. Christ, as our Redeemer, executes the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.

Charles Hodge explains why Christ’s three-fold office is so important to every believer:

We as fallen men, ignorant, guilty, polluted, and helpless, need a Saviour who is a prophet to instruct us; a priest to atone and to make intercession for us; and a king to rule over and protect us. And the salvation which we receive at his hands includes all that a prophet, priest, and king in the highest sense of these terms can do. We are enlightened in the knowledge of the truth; we are reconciled unto God by the sacrificial death of his Son; and we are delivered from the power of Satan and introduced into the kingdom of God; all of which supposes that our Redeemer is to us at once prophet, priest, and king. (Systematic Theology, Vol. II, p.461)

Another way of saying that is to say that the Lord Jesus Christ has done, is doing, and always will completely do everything that is necessary for our salvation from sin.

Left to ourselves we are ignorant of God, but Jesus Christ is our ultimate Prophet who was to come (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).  He is “the Word” (John 1:1), God’s fullest and final revelation of Himself to sinful mankind.  Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us,

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (ESV)

Left to ourselves we are sinful, rebellious against God and cut off from Him because of the guilt, uncleanness, and corruption of our sin, but Jesus Christ is our “great high priest” (Hebrews 4:14).  He represents us before the Father, offering the once-for-all sacrifice of His own shed blood (Hebrews 9:24-28) to pay for our sins, and ever lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25).  1 Peter 1:18-19 says,

 . . .you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Left to ourselves, we are weak and helpless, but Jesus Christ is our all-powerful King.  He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), the One to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given (Matthew 28:18).   And He rules over and defends His people from all of their enemies.  In Philippians 2:9-11 Paul writes,

 . . .God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In fact, to use the words of the Heidelberg Catechism, part of our “only comfort in life and death” is that the exalted Christ watches over us “in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation” (Q.1)!

The “three-fold office” of Christ, may sound like a dusty old theological term, but it really is anything but that.  It helps us to understand the glory of Christ in the gospel and the greatness of the salvation that God has blessed us with through faith in Him!

The Difference Between Morality & Sanctification

We often mistake mere outward moral reform for sanctification.

Sanctification is “the work of God’s free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness” (The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q.35).

Mere outward morality is fine as far as it goes, but it does not go nearly far enough.  Unlike sanctification, it is not the work of God’s free grace.  In fact, it may actually be antithetical to God’s grace.  Unlike sanctification, it does not involve the renewal of the whole man, but leaves the inward man completely unchanged.  And unlike sanctification, mere outward moral reform does nothing to enable us to truly die to sin and to live unto righteousness.

Louis Berkhof writes,

A man may boast of great moral improvement, and yet be an utter stranger to sanctification. The Bible does not urge moral improvement pure and simple, but moral improvement in relation to God, for God’s sake, and with a view to the service of God. (Systematic Theology, p.532)

So while you cannot have sanctification without moral improvement, you most certainly can have moral improvement without even the slightest trace of sanctification.

Charles Hodge goes so far as to say,

“The two things differ in nature as much as a clean heart from clean clothes. Such external reformation may leave a man’s inward character in the sight of God unchanged. He may remain destitute of love to God, of faith in Christ, and of all holy exercises or affections. (Systematic Theology, Vol. III, p.214)

Sanctification is the gracious, unmerited (although not without effort on our part!) renewal of the whole man, making believers more and more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  It is the gracious, ongoing renewal of our hearts and minds, our thoughts, words, and deeds.

Charles Hodge on Christ and the Old Testament

Charles Hodge on Jesus Christ as the promised Redeemer and the only Way of salvation in both the Old and New Testaments:

Our Lord commanded the Jews to search their Scriptures, because they testified of Him. He said that Moses and the prophets wrote of Him. Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to the disciples in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. The Apostles when they began to preach the gospel, not only everywhere proved from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ, but they referred to them continually in support of everything which they taught concerning His person and work. It is from the Old Testament they prove His divinity; His incarnation; the sacrificial nature of His death; that He was truly a Priest to make reconciliation for the people, as well as a Prophet and a King; and that He was to die, to rise again on the third day, to ascend into heaven, and to be invested with absolute authority over all the earth,  and over all orders of created beings. There is not a doctrine concerning Christ, taught in the New Testament, which the Apostles do not affirm to have been revealed under former dispensations. They therefore distinctly assert that it was through Him and the efficacy of His death that men were saved before, as well as after His advent. (Systematic Theology, Vol.II, p.370-371)

Simply an amazing paragraph.  To say that the Old Testament (and not just the New Testament) is primarily about the Lord Jesus Christ is an understatement.

As Hodge points out, the Apostles referred to the Old Testament again & again in support of everything they taught regarding the person & work of Jesus Christ.

You can’t read the Gospels without noticing the multitude of quotations from & allusions to the Old Testament.

You can’t read the book of Romans (all about the gospel of Christ!) and not see how often the Apostle Paul quotes the Old Testament, especially the Psalms and the book of Isaiah.

We have one Bible, which has always taught one way of salvation through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.  He is, and has always been, the one & only “Redeemer of God’s elect” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.21).

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Updated – October 2012!

Schreiberspace

That is what no less than Charles Hodge said about the following quote:

“God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.”

Where is that definition found?

The Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.4. (“What is God?”)

Not only did Hodge give high praise to that particular question in the above quote (see title of this post), but he went a lot further than that.

If you look at the table of contents of his 3-volume Systematic Theology, you will notice that he actually uses Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.4 as an outline of sorts for nearly his entire treatment of the attributes of God (p.376-439 in particular).  He goes through every word in the definition (i.e. Spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, etc.) one by one and provides a detailed treatment of each one!

Clearly Dr. Hodge held the Shorter Catechism (and all of…

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“probably the best definition of God ever penned by man.”

That is what no less than Charles Hodge said about the following quote:

“God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.”

Where is that definition found?

The Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.4. (“What is God?”)

Not only did Hodge give high praise to that particular question in the above quote (see title of this post), but he went a lot further than that.

If you look at the table of contents of his 3-volume Systematic Theology, you will notice that he actually uses Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.4 as an outline of sorts for nearly his entire treatment of the attributes of God (p.376-439 in particular).  He goes through every word in the definition (i.e. Spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, etc.) one by one and provides a detailed treatment of each one!

Clearly Dr. Hodge held the Shorter Catechism (and all of the Westminster Standards) in very high regard, particularly Q.4.

Take some time to dig into the Shorter Catechism.  You will be glad that you did!