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You are here: Home / 1 Theology / Faith / The Difference Between Historical Faith and Saving Faith

The Difference Between Historical Faith and Saving Faith

August 2, 2010 by mattperman

From Rod Rosenbladt’s chapter “Christ Died for the Sins of Christians, Too” in Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation:

I hear the reader asking, “Well then, is saving faith just a matter of knowing facts?” Hardly, and the Reformers knew that. They distinguished between historical faith and saving faith.

Historical faith has human speculations as its goal or end. It is an intellectual acceptance of facts concerning Jesus’ life, work, and death; nevertheless, it comes only from the human mind, acknowledging the facts, but remaining basically uninvolved with the One that caused the facts to happen. And the key phrase that Luther used was that the person who just has historical faith believes that none of this is pro me, or for me.

Once a person comes to accept that this whole action summed up in the Nicene Creed is for me, then, said Luther, we are talking about the kind of faith that saves. There we have an active embracing of the Son of God and his self-sacrifice.

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About Matt Perman

 

I am the director of career development at The King’s College NYC, co-founder of What’s Best Next, and the author of What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done. This is my personal website where I blog on four of my favorite topics: theology, apologetics, culture, and living in New York City.

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