The Southern Presbyterian Journal/Volume 13/Number 39/Saving Faith
Articles on the Westminster Confession
by Gordon H. Clark
The Word of God (WCF 1)
Creeds
Knowledge and Ignorance
The Trinity (WCF 2)
A Hard Saying (WCF 3)
Providence (WCF 5)
Creation (WCF 4)
Healthy, Sick, or Dead? (WCF 6)
The Covenant (WCF 7)
Christ the Mediator (WCF 8)
Justification (WCF 11)
Sanctification (WCF 13)
Free Will (WCF 9)
Effectual Calling (WCF 10)
Adoption (WCF 12)
The Law of God (WCF 19)
Assurance (WCF 18)
Saving Faith (WCF 14)
Repentance (WCF 15)
Good Works (WCF 16)
Christian Liberty (WCF 20)
Perseverance (WCF 17)
Worship and Vows (WCF 21, 22)
The Sacraments (WCF 27)
Baptism (WCF 28)
The Church (WCF 25)
The Civil Magistrate (WCF 23)
The Lord's Supper (WCF 29)
Censures and Councils (WCF 30, 31)
Resurrection and Judgment (WCF 32, 33)
Chapter XIV of the Westminster Confession, on Saving Faith, is another of those that invite long study and long explanation. Brevity therefore requires omissions.
"The grace of faith . . . is the work of the Spirit of Christ." In conformity with the doctrine of total depravity and the need of regeneration, the Confession teaches that faith is a gift of God. It is not something that a sinner can produce by his own will power. Like repentance, which will be discussed in the next chapter, it is a gift. It is something that the Spirit produces within us.
In producing faith within us, the Spirit does not ordinarily work without means. Possibly the Spirit never works faith without means; but at least ordinarily He uses the ministry of the word, prayer, and the administration of the sacraments.
Once faith is so produced in us, what effect does it have on us? Now, the principal acts of saving faith are accepting Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace. But all these and other derivative effects can be subsumed under one general statement, which the Confession puts at their head.
"By this faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein."
There are ministers of the northern Presbyterian church who say they believe the fact of the Incarnation but not the theory of the Virgin Birth. Presumably the Virgin Birth is a biological miracle and such do not happen. And there are many ministers who believe some statements in the Bible but not others. Such ministers do not believe what they believe because of the authority of God speaking in the word. They believe in a sort of Incarnation that suits their view of science; they believe in a sort of divine love and disbelieve in divine wrath because it suits their sensibilities. They have made the resources of their own minds, apart from revelation, the test of truth. In plain words, they do not accept revelation as God's word.
When such men, and the large denominations are full of them, gather for discussion in a theological society, how do they proceed? Suppose they wish to discuss the existence of God in opposition to naturalistic humanism; or suppose they wish to discuss immortality; or possibly the nature of the church: how do they resolve their arguments?
Having attended such meetings, I can report that they remind me of a bunch of boys arguing about a ball game. One boy says that the ball should be a sphere three inches in diameter; the next boy says, No, it should be an oval about a foot long; the third boy offers a compromise—the ball should be both spherical and a foot in diameter, but he insists that there should be five, not nine or eleven boys on each side. And then a truly ecumenical spirit declares that such creedal discussions are trivial: the important thing is that they should all play one big ball game.
Discussions among Christians whose saving faith has caused them to believe to be true whatever is revealed in the word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein, do not follow such a confused and frustrating procedure. If Christians wish to know what the future life is like, they examine what God has said. "In my father's house there are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you." "Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." And in any honest ball game too, the decisions must be made in accordance with the rule book.
"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 the finisher of our faith" (sec. iii).