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Saving Faith The grace of faith by which the elect
are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the
Spirit in their hearts. Normally
it is brought into being through the preaching of the Word. By faith a Christian believes
everything to be true that is made known in the Word, in which God speaks
authoritatively. He also
perceives in the Word a degree of excellence superior to all other
writings, indeed to all things that the world contains.
The Word shows the glory of God as seen in His various attributes,
the excellence of Christ in His nature and in the offices He bears, and
the power and perfection of the Holy Spirit in all the works in which He
is engaged. In this way the
Christian is enabled to trust himself implicitly to the truth thus
believed, and to render service according to the different requirements of
the various parts of Scripture. To the commands he yields obedience; when he hears
threatenings, he trembles; as for the divine promises concerning this life
and that which is to come, he embraces them.
But the principal acts of saving faith relate in the first instance
to Christ as the believer accepts, receives and rests upon Him alone for
justification, sanctification, and eternal life; and all by virtue of the
covenant of grace.
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