to come. But the principal acts of
saving faith are, accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ
alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue
of the covenant of grace.

Exposition of 14.2

1. The general object of divine faith is the whole Word of God. As
faith, in general, is an assent to truth upon testimony, so divine
faith is an assent to divine truth upon divine testimony. Saving
faith, therefore, includes an assent of the heart to all the truths
revealed in the Word of God, whether they relate to the law or to
the gospel, and that, not upon the testimony of any man or Church,
nor because they appear agreeable to the dictates of natural reason,
but on the ground of the truth and authority of God himself,
speaking in the Scriptures, and evidencing themselves, by their own
distinguishing light and power, to the mind.

2. The special and personal object of saving faith is the Lord Jesus
Christ. To know Christ, and God as manifested in him, is
comprehensive of all saving knowledge—a term by which faith is
sometimes expressed.—John 17:3. Hence, this faith is called "the
faith of Jesus Christ," and the scope of the apostle's doctrine is
thus described: "Testifying both to the Jews and the Greeks
repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."
"This faith consists in believing the testimony of God concerning
his Son, and the life that is in him for men. It respects him in his
person and whole character, according to the revelation made of him,
and according to the measure of knowledge a person has of him as
thus revealed, especially as now manifested, and more clearly
exhibited, and freely offered in the gospel. It views him in his
supreme Deity as 'Immanuel, God with us;' as vested with all saving
offices, so as to bear, in the highest sense, the name Jesus or
Savior, Lord or King, the great High Priest, Messiah, or the Christ;
and as exercising all his offices for the benefit of mankind
sinners, with whom be entered into near affinity, by the assumption
of their nature, that he might be capable of acting the part of a
surety in obeying, dying, meriting, and mediating for them." It will
not do to limit the object of saving faith to any one doctrinal
proposition—such as, that Jesus is the Son of God—or, that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh—or, that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures. This, at the utmost, would only be
giving credit to a certain doctrine; but saving faith is a believing
on the person of Christ, or an appropriating of Christ himself, with
all the benefits and blessings included in him.

3. The principal acts of saving faith are, accepting, receiving, and
resting upon Christ. Romanists make faith to be nothing more than "a
bare naked assent to the truth revealed in the Word." This notion
was strenuously opposed by our Reformers, and is renounced in the
National Covenant of Scotland, under the name of a "general and
doubtful faith;" yet, many Protestants, in modern times, represent
saving faith as nothing more than a simple assent to the doctrinal
truths recorded in Scripture, and as exclusively an act of the
understanding. But, although saving faith gives full credit to the
whole Word of God, and particularly to the testimony of God
concerning his Son Jesus Christ, as has been already stated, yet,
its principal acts are "accepting, receiving, and resting upon
Christ." True faith is the belief of a testimony; but it must
correspond to the nature of the testimony believed. Were the gospel
a mere statement of speculative truths, or a record of facts in
which we have no personal interest, then, a simple assent of the
mind to these truths—the mere crediting of these facts, would
constitute the faith of the gospel. But the gospel is not a mere
statement of historical facts, or of abstract doctrines respecting
the Savior; it contains in it a free offer of Christ, and of
salvation through him, to sinners of every class, who hear it, for
their acceptance. Saving faith, therefore, that it may correspond to
the testimony believed, must include the cordial acceptance or
reception of Christ, as offered to us in the gospel.

As Christ is exhibited in Scripture under various characters and
similitudes, so faith in him is variously denominated. It is
expressed by coming to him—by looking unto him—by fleeing to him for
refuge—by eating his flesh and drinking his blood—by receiving him,
and by resting upon him. It is to be observed, that the terms
employed in our Confession do not denote different acts of faith,
but are only different expressions of the same act. Believing on
Christ is called a receiving of him, in reference to his being
presented to poor sinners, as the gift of God to them; and it is
styled a resting on him, because he is revealed in the gospel as a
sure foundation, on which a sinner may lay the weight of his eternal
salvation with the firmest confidence. It is manifest, that all the
figurative descriptions of saving faith in Scripture imply a
particular application of Christ by the soul, or a trusting in
Christ for salvation to one's self in particular; and this is what
some have called the appropriation of faith. It is no less evident,
that in the phraseology of Scripture, faith is not simply an assent
of the understanding, but implies an act of volition, accepting the
Savior and relying on him for salvation. This does not proceed upon
any previous knowledge which the sinner has of his election; nor
upon any persuasion that Christ died intentionally for him more than
for others, for it is impossible to come to the knowledge of these
things prior to believing; nor does it proceed upon the persuasion
that Christ died equally for all men, and therefore for him in
particular; nor upon the perception of any good qualities in himself
to distinguish him from others; but it proceeds solely upon the
free, unlimited offer and promise of the gospel to the chief of
sinners.

4. That the true believer receives and rests upon Christ alone for
salvation. This distinguishes the true believer from such as rest
their hope of salvation on the general mercy of God, without any
respect to the mediation of Christ, or upon their own works of
righteousness, or upon the righteousness of Christ and their own
works conjoined.

5. That the true believer receives and rests upon Christ for a
complete salvation. He trusts in Christ for salvation not only from
wrath, but also from sin—not only for salvation from the guilt of
sin, but also from its pollution and power—not only for happiness
hereafter, but also for holiness here. In the language of the
Confession, he rests upon Christ "for justification, sanctification,
and eternal life;" and that "by virtue of the covenant of grace;"
that is, as these blessings are exhibited and secured in that
covenant.

SECTION 3. This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong; may
be often and many ways assailed and weakened, but gets the victory:
growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through
Christ, who is both the author and finisher of our faith.

Exposition of 14.3

Different interpretations have been put on this section. Some have
maintained, that "assurance is here plainly made a fruit and
consequent of saving faith, and not an essential act." Others have
held that assurance is here supposed to be essential to saving
faith, and that it belongs, in some degree, to every believer,
strong or weak, but is always in proportion to the degree of his
faith. "How faith," says the illustrious Boston, "can grow in any to
a full assurance, if there be no assurance in the nature of it, I
cannot comprehend." And another, amplifying this idea, says: "If
there was not some degree of assurance in the nature of faith, it
could never grow up to full assurance. To what degree soever
anything may grow, it cannot, by its growth, assume a different
nature. It may increase to a higher degree of the same kind, but not
into another kind." Perhaps this difference of opinion has arisen
from attaching a different meaning to the word assurance. Those who
deny that assurance belongs to the nature of faith, understand, by
that word, an assurance that a person is already in a state of
salvation; but this sense of the term is disavowed by those who
maintain that assurance is essential to faith. "It would greatly
conduce to clear views of this subject," says one of the latter
class of divines, "were the distinction between the assurance of
faith and the assurance of sense rightly understood and inculcated.
When we speak of assurance as essential to faith, many suppose we
teach that none can be real Christians who do not feel that they
have passed from death unto life, and have not unclouded and
triumphant views of their own interest in Christ, so as to joy under
the manifestations of his love. 'My beloved is mine, and I am his.'
But God forbid that we should thus offend against the generation of
his children. That many of them want such an assurance may not be
questioned. This, however, is the assurance, not of faith, but of
sense; and vastly different they are. The object of the former is
Christ revealed in the Word; the object of the latter, Christ
revealed in the heart. The ground of the former is the testimony of
God without us; that of the latter, the work of the Spirit within
us. The one embraces the promise, looking at nothing but the
veracity of the promiser; the other enjoys the promise in the
sweetness of its actual accomplishment. Faith trusts for pardon to
the blood of Christ; sense asserts pardon from the comfortable
intimations of it to the soul. By faith, we take the Lord Jesus for
salvation; by sense, we feel that we are saved, from the Spirit's
shining on his own gracious work in our hearts." The distinction
between these two kinds of assurance has been accurately drawn by
Dr. M'Crie, and extremes on both hands judiciously pointed out.
"Assurance," says he, "is of two kinds, which have been designed the
assurance of faith and the assurance of sense. The former is direct,
the latter indirect. The former is founded on the testimony of God;
the latter, on experience. The object of the former is entirely
without us; the object of the latter is chiefly within us. 'God has
spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice,' is the language of the
former; 'We are his workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus,' is
the language of the latter. When a man gives me his promissory-note,
I have the assurance of faith; when he gives me a pledge, or pays
the interest regularly, I have the assurance of sense. They are
perfectly consistent with one another, may exist in the soul at the
same time, and their combination carries assurance to the highest
point.

"Those who deny the assurance of faith, appear to labor under a
mistake, both as to the gospel and as to believing. The gospel does
not consist of general doctrines merely; but also of promises
indefinitely proposed to all who hear it; to be enjoyed, not on the
condition of believing, but in the way of believing. 'I, even I, am
he who blots out your transgressions, for mine own sake, and will
not remember your sins.' 'I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and
you shall be clean.' 'I will put my laws into their mind, and write
them in their hearts.' 'Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great
joy, which shall be to all people.' Can a person believe these
promises, truly and with understanding, without having some
assurance of the blessings promised? There appears also to be a
mistake as to the nature of faith, and the place which it holds in
the application of redemption. It is a trusting in Christ, a relying
upon him for salvation upon the ground of the divine testimony
respecting him; and does not this always imply some degree of
assurance or confidence?

"Others go to an opposite extreme. They maintain, that every true
Christian always enjoys an absolute and unwavering certainty as to
his final happiness—that he is a true believer, and in a state of
salvation; and they dwell on the assurance of faith, to the neglect
of the evidence which arises from Christian experience and growth in
holiness. This is apt to cherish a spirit of presumption, on the one
hand, and to throw persons into a state of despondency, on the
other. There are various degrees of assurance, and in some genuine
believers it may be scarcely perceptible. He who is the author and
finisher of our faith, was careful not to break the bruised reed, or
quench the smoking flax. While he rebuked the unbelief and
unreasonable doubts of his disciples, he never called in question
the reality of their faith. He received the man who said, 'Lord, I
believe; help you mine unbelief.' While he said to Peter, 'O you of
little faith, wherefore did you doubt?' he took him by the hand and
lifted him out of the water. Grant that doubting is sinful; is there
a just man on earth that does good and sins not? Are not the love
and patience, and other gracious dispositions of a Christian, also
sinfully defective? Urge the admonition, 'Be not faithless, but
believing;' but neglect not to urge also, 'Be you holy, for I am
holy.' 'Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.' Would it
not be dangerous to the interest of holiness, and discreditable to
religion, if a person were supposed to be in possession of perfect
assurance, while subject to imperfection in every other respect? Is
there not a proportional growth in all the members of the spiritual
man? Would he not otherwise be a monstrous creature? Or is the
exploded doctrine of sinless perfection in this life to be revived
among us? He whose faith is faultless, and his assurance perfect and
unvarying, sees Christ as he is, and is already completely like him.
He would not be a fit inhabitant of earth; and the only prayer he
could put up would be, 'Now let you your servant depart in peace.' "



15. Of Repentance unto Life

SECTION 1. Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace, the
doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the gospel,
as well as that of faith in Christ.

SECTION 2. By it a sinner, out of the sight and sense, not only of
the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins,
as contrary to the holy nature and righteous law of God, and upon
the apprehension of his mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, so
grieves for and hates his sins, as to turn from them all unto God,
purposing and endeavoring to walk with him in all the ways of his
commandments.

Exposition of 15.1–15.2

The repentance described in this chapter is called repentance unto
life, because it is inseparably connected with the enjoyment of
eternal life, and to distinguish it from the sorrow of the world,
which works death. It is styled a grace, because it is the free gift
of God, and is wrought in the heart by the operation of his Spirit.
"Then has God also to the Gentiles granted, repentance unto life."
Acts 11:18. "Turn you me, and I shall be turned; surely after that I
was turned, I repented." Jeremiah 31:18, 19. This repentance is also
denominated an evangelical grace, to distinguish it from legal
repentance. The latter flows from a dread of Godly wra