Ask FGBC #32: Are there different types of faith? Ie. temporary, historical, saving

Jim Butler

Scripture distinguishes several types of faith, and only saving faith — the kind that receives and rests upon Jesus Christ — differs qualitatively, not merely in degree, from historical or temporary faith. Historical faith acknowledges the facts about Christ without personal trust; temporary faith produces an apparent profession that does not endure. Saving faith, even in its weakest form, is united to Christ as its object and is accompanied by all other saving graces, working through love. The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith chapter 14 paragraph 3 grounds the distinction: even weak saving faith is different in kind from the faith of temporary believers, and it will ultimately attain full assurance through Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.