Week 30 Question:

What is faith in Jesus Christ?

Week 30 Answer:

Faith in Jesus Christ is acknowledging the truth of everything that God has revealed in his Word, trusting in him, and also receiving and resting on him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel.

Week 30 Verse: Galatians 2:20

Commentary

Upon the whole, the best, and clearest, and most perfect definition of justifying faith, and most according to the Scripture, that I can think of, is this, faith is the soul's entirely embracing the revelation of Jesus Christ as our Saviour…. It is called believing, because believing is the first act of the soul in embracing a narration or revelation: and embracing, when conversant about a revelation or thing declared, is more properly called believing, than loving or choosing…. The definition might have been expressed in these words: faith is the soul's entirely adhering and acquiescing in the revelation of Jesus Christ as our Saviour—Or thus: faith is the soul's embracing that truth of God, that reveals Jesus Christ as our Saviour—Or thus: faith is the soul's entirely acquiescing in, and depending upon, the truth of God, revealing Christ as our Saviour. It is the whole soul according and assenting to the truth, and embracing of it. There is an entire yielding of the mind and heart to the revelation, and a closing with it, and adhering to it, with the belief, and with the inclination and affection.

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758). A colonial American preacher, theologian, and philosopher, Edwards became pastor of his church in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1726. He is widely known for his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" as well as his many books including The End For Which God Created the World and A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. Edwards died from a smallpox inoculation shortly after beginning the presidency at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University).

From “Concerning Faith” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 2 (London: Ball, 1839), 580.

Video Commentary

NCC Q30: What is faith in Jesus Christ? from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Supporting Scriptures

Hebrews 11:1-3; James 1:6; Romans 4:16-21

Prayer

Let us pray with the disciples, "Lord increase our faith” and with the poor man in the gospel, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief."

Richard Sibbes (1577–1635). An English Puritan theologian, Sibbes was known in London in the early 17th century as "the Heavenly Doctor Sibbes." Preacher at Gray's Inn, London and Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, his most famous work is The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax.

From the sermon "Fountain Opened: or The Mystery of Godliness Revealed" in The Works of the Reverend Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (Aberdeen: Chalmers & Co., 1809), 213.