borrow heavily here from Augustus Strong, Systematic Theology (Philadelphia: Judson, 1907), 837 – 38.
The Nature of True Faith
(2 Peter 1:1). How do we know that faith is God's gift? Left to ourselves, no one would ever believe: "There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God" (Rom. 3:11). "So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy" (Rom. 9:16). God draws the sinner to Christ and gives the ability to believe. Without that divinely generated faith, one cannot understand and approach the Savior. "A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised" (1 Cor. 2:14). That is precisely why when Peter affirmed his faith in Christ as the Son of God, Jesus told him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 16:17). Faith is graciously given to believers by God Himself.
As a divine gift, faith is neither transient nor impotent. It has an abiding quality that guarantees it will endure to the end. The familiar words of Habakkuk 2:4, "The righ teous will live by his faith" (cf. Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38), speak not of a momentary act of believing, but of a living, enduring trust in God. Hebrews 3:14 emphasizes the permanence of genuine faith. Its very durability is proof of its reality: "We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end." The faith God gives can never evaporate. And the work of salvation cannot ultimately be thwarted. In Philippians 1:6 Paul wrote, "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (cf. also 1 Cor. 1:8; Col. 1:22 – 23).
The faith God graciously supplies produces both the volition and the ability to comply with His will (cf. Phil. 2:13: "God . . . is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure"). Thus faith is inseparable from obedience. Berkhof sees three elements to genuine faith: An intellectual element (notitia), which is "a positive recognition of the truth"; an emotional element (assensus), which includes "a deep conviction [and affirmation] of the truth"; and a volitional element (fiducia), which involves "a personal trust in Christ as Saviour and Lord, including a surrender . . . to Christ."11 Modern popular theology tends to recognize notitia and often assensus but eliminate fiducia. Yet faith is not true faith if it lacks this attitude of surrender to Christ's authority.
Writing about the verb "to obey" (peitho m), W. E. Vine says:
11. Louis Berkhof, Systematic Th eology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1939), 503 – 5. Berkhof seems to borrow heavily here from Augustus Strong, Systematic Th eology (Philadelphia: Judson, 1907), 837 – 38. Strong is as explicit as Berkhof in defi ning the volitional element of faith, fi ducia. He says it involves "surrender of the soul, as guilty and defi led, to Christ's governance." Th us we fi nd "lordship salvation" at the very heart of the defi nition of faith.