? I guess. I think. It’s silly, but I think? These are the well-known words of the young Susan Walker in the famous Christmas film De Iluso Also Seive (1947), which provide a simple example of how faith is generally represented in our culture: a blind leap into darkness?Reason.
However, such a view of faith is completely different from what the Bible teaches. Faith, according to the Bible, is neither irrational nor “stupid. ” It is not a blind commitment or an arbitrary sense of closeness to God. These things are not faith, just as it is not faith for a man to choose, blindfolded, a person out of the crowd and ask him to undergo heart surgery. It is not faith at all; it’s crazy, pure and simple.
- So what is faith? Historically.
- Orthodox Christianity has answered this question by distinguishing three main elements that together constitute the saving faith.
- In general.
- Three Latin words were used to identify these three elements: notitia.
- Or “knowledge”; consensus or “assent”; fiducia or “trust.
- “.
The first element of the saving faith is notitia, or knowledge, which indicates that authentic faith must believe in something, that is, it must have intellectual content. It cannot be empty or blind, but must be based on knowledge of certain fundamental truths, as we see throughout the Bible in passages distinguished by the phrase “I think,” followed by a doctrinal proposition of a certain nature. Examples include Romans 10. 9, who says that if you believe that God rose [Jesus] from the dead, you will be saved,” and John 20:31 who says, “These [signs] have been recorded so that you can believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you can have life in your name?In each case we see that there is doctrinal content for faith, faith means believing in certain proposals; examples cited above. , the proposals are “that God raised Jesus from the dead?”and “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. “
The second element of the saving faith is consensus or consent; He seems to be favorable. This refers to the intellectual belief that someone’s knowledge is true and personally beneficial. It’s not enough to know certain things. We must also believe that these things are true and meet our needs. We see this element of faith described in biblical passages such as John 5:46-47; 8. 31 to 38, 45 to 46; 10,37-38; 14. 11.
The third element of the saving faith is trust, or trust. This is by far the most important of the three elements we have mentioned. Without this element, is faith simply an intellectual enterprise?A little like faith? Of demons who know the truth about Jesus, but refuse to trust him because they hate what they know to be true (James 2. 19; Mt 8. 29) . This element consists of a personal trust in Christ as offered in the gospel, and a total trust in it for salvation. see him in passages that speak of believing in Jesus (for example, John 3. 15-16; Romans 9. 33; 10. 11) and in passages that speak of?
Consider the following illustration. Imagine that four people are thrown without food or water in the middle of a very large field full of landmines. Suppose one of the individuals blindly chooses a path across the field and heads in that direction without hesitation. It’s not an example of faith, but it’s more like the nonsense we talked about before. True faith is not blind; is based on knowledge.
But suppose a helicopter appears over the remaining three men, and from the helicopter, a stakeholder announces the route through the minefield, one of the men trusts in the word of man and immediately walks through the minefield, nor is it an example of faith. Yes, man’s actions are based on knowledge (the testimony of the interested parties) and consent (man considers that testimony is true and beneficial to meet his needs), but his action remains blind because it is based on insufficient knowledge (i. e. uncertain testimony of complete unknown). It also lacks the most important element of faith: personal trust in the speaker.
Suppose, however, that the remaining two men ask the person concerned a few questions to discern how they came to know the right path of the camp, why they want to help them, and to what extent it is safe to be able to guide them safely. through the camp. Let’s say they also ask for references to the person in question to see if they know someone they know or are related to. Suppose you even try to test your instructions by throwing objects in the direction you suggest to see if they look mine-free. By doing such things, the remaining two men gain enough knowledge to decide if they can trust the individual in the helicopter. Is this trust (fiducia), which is based on knowledge (notitia) and consent to such knowledge (assentus), what faith is not that faith?Not at all, but quite reasonable.
When the three elements of faith are present, they are necessarily manifested in good works If we consider the illustration above, we can see that the two remaining men demonstrate the authenticity of their faith (or lack there is) for what they do. They choose to stand still and refuse to follow the man’s instructions in the helicopter, or if they go in their own direction, they will show that they do not really believe, but if they really trust the man in the helicopter, they will go in the direction they indicate They will follow their instructions (in Joo 14. 15). Your actions will demonstrate the authenticity of your faith.
When news, consensus, and fiducia are present together, there is true faith. And when there is true faith, they will necessarily follow good deeds. Good deeds are not part of faith; come from faith. It is only faith that receives the gift of God’s justification, but the faith it justifies will never be alone; will always manifest itself in good works.