What is Saving Faith

Dr. Ron Cooke

Dr. Cooke answers the question what type of faith is necessary for salvation; saving faith consists of knowledge, assent, and heart trust.

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Grace: the unmerited favour of God for sinners.

When we speak of salvation by grace alone, we mean that the Bible says that every man is a sinner before God. We have broken the first and great commandment of the law of God, which is to love God with all our soul, strength, and mind. We are all sinners, and not small sinners, but big sinners. We are dead in sin and corrupted in sin. We are self-centered and not God-centered.

How can you, a sinner, be saved? How can you be saved from wickedness by your works? What can you do to wipe out your past? Nothing. What can you do to change your heart? Nothing. What can you do to please God? What can you do to satisfy God’s law? Nothing! So if you are going to be saved it has to be by grace; in other words, it has to start with God. God must do the saving.

God offers this salvation free of charge. You don’t pay for it; you don’t work for it. It is not by church or sacrament. It is by faith in Jesus Christ. This salvation is by grace alone; that is, it comes from God freely, because He loves us. It is in Christ alone because He purchased it by His death on the cross, and it is through faith alone. You receive Christ by faith, not by works—not by effort—but by trusting Him.

This is what Paul told the jailor in Philippi; “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). To believe is not merely to believe certain thing about Jesus, but to believe in Him, to commit oneself entirely to him in soul and obedience of life.

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