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embedded in the depths of the soul. In general it may be said that temporal faith is grounded in
the emotional life and seeks personal enjoyment rather than the glory of God.
d. True Saving faith.
True saving faith is a faith that has its seat in the heart and is rooted in the
regenerate life. A distinction is often made between the habitus and the actus of faith. Back of
both of these, however, lies the semen fidei. This faith is not first of all an activity of man, but a
potentiality wrought by God in the heart of the sinner. The seed of faith is implanted in man in
regeneration. Some theologians speak of this as the habitus of faith, but others more correctly
call it the semen fidei. It is only after God has implanted the seed of faith in the heart that man
can exercise faith. This is apparently what Barth has in mind also, when he, in his desire to
stress the fact that salvation is exclusively a work of God, says that God rather than man is the
subject of faith. The conscious exercise of faith gradually forms a habitus, and this acquires a
fundamental and determining significance for the further exercise of faith. When the Bible
speaks of faith, it generally refers to faith as an activity of man, though born of the work of the
Holy Spirit. Saving faith may be defined as a certain conviction, wrought in the heart by the Holy
Spirit, as to the truth of the gospel, and a hearty reliance (trust) on the promises of God in
Christ. In the last analysis, it is true, Christ is the object of saving faith, but He is offered to us
only in the gospel.
2. THE ELEMENTS OF FAITH.
In speaking of the different elements of faith we should not lose
sight of the fact that faith is an activity of man as a whole, and not of any part of man.
Moreover, the soul functions in faith through its ordinary faculties, and not through any special
faculty. It is an exercise of the soul which has this in common with all similar exercises, that it
appears simple, and yet on closer scrutiny is found to be complex and intricate. And therefore,
in order to obtain a proper conception of faith, it is necessary to distinguish between the
various elements which it comprises.
a. An intellectual element (notitia).
There is an element of knowledge in faith, in connection
with which the following points should be considered:
(1) The character of this knowledge.
The knowledge of faith consists in a positive recognition of
the truth, in which man accepts as true whatsoever God says in His Word, and especially what
He says respecting the deep depravity of man and the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Over
against Rome the position must be maintained that this sure knowledge belongs to the essence
of faith; and in opposition to such theologians as Sandeman, Wardlaw, Alexander, Chalmers,
and others, that a mere intellectual acceptance of the truth is not the whole of faith. On the
one hand it would be an over-estimation of the knowledge of faith, if it were regarded as a
complete comprehension of the objects of faith. But on the other hand it would also be an
under-estimation of it, if it were considered as a mere taking notice of the things believed,