Saving Faith, Justification, & Sanctification 

Saving Faith, Justification, & Sanctification 

Saving faith is in three parts. 

Knowledge + Belief + Trust = Faith.   

notitia, or knowledge about the content of the gospel of Jesus as taught in the Scriptures. (Demons know)

assensus, or the intellectual acceptance/belief of the truth about Jesus. (Demons know)

fiducia, or personal reliance and trust in Jesus and His gospel. (Only saved-our part)

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All are called. God wants all to come to knowledge of truth. He draws all men to Himself. 

Some resist and reject grace and faith unto death. 

Some are overcome. 

All are dead in sin and can’t raise themselves. 

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The Elect is Jesus Christ. All who receive, believe, and trust in him are elect due to being In Him. 

All elect are Love gifts to Jesus from the Father. He is the reason we are chosen not due to anything in us. 

Receiving, and believing, of grace and faith for salvation is monergistic. (Gift of Almighty God)

Justification and Sanctification is synergistic. (He gives knowledge of himself and enables one to believe the knowledge)

Our part is to TRUST what He has revealed and what he promises and keep believing Him. (Wants us to choose him back in love, grow in grace and knowledge by cooperating with his grace to walk out our salvation in fear and trembling)

He gives us the faith, we are called to exercise it. He wants alive faith producing fruit, not dead faith that produces no fruit. Fruit glorifies God. 

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Saving faith is obeying by grace working through love (he planned our works and calls us to obey)

We must exercise our gifts of grace and faith by habits (worship, studying the word, sacraments, obedience, prayer, repentance, and love) we are called to a dependent surrender in absolute trust to his divine direction every moment for grace and faith to live our calling. It is a constant growth as a child does all the way home. No one is born into adulthood. We will fall but get up!

If we choose after tasting the holy gifts that we don’t want to love and serve God, he will let us have what we wish. (King Saul, Samson, Simon the sorcerer (acts) , and Judas)

Because the gifts are irrevocable, if we repent he will keep his faithful promises. But if we resist and reject he will deny us. 

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Paragraph: 397 Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command.