Aspects of Faith and Evangelism

In our modern age, people have gotten the idea that true faith can be created in sinners through the craftiness of man's speech, or that conversion can be accomplished by making the message of the Cross palatable to sinners. Others may think that saving faith is generated by being able to employ apologetics to convince sinners concerning the accuracy of Biblical data. Charismatic Christians sometimes insist that miracles and/or manifestations of the spiritual gifts are needed to create saving faith in sinners.

I once had the idea in my head that if I were only able to "say the right thing", "play the right song", or somehow make the Gospel attractive enough, then people might decide to be saved. After some trial and much error, I found out that I was wrong! I have come to understand that none of these things alone (or combined) are what actually "flips the switch" in the heart to cause the sinner see he's lost and in need of Christ.

As my theology has shifted to the Reformed view, and I've gained a different understanding of God's working in the salvation of sinners. I have come to accept the fact that none of the things I have mentioned can create saving faith in a sinner apart from God's sovereign action in the heart of the person! I've learned that true saving faith is a gift of God, not something sinners possess within themselves. Such conclusions often lead to people to ask me questions like "why do we need to preach if it's God that is the one responsible for causing a person to believe?"

I believe in order to better understand the importance of preaching, witnessing, apologetics, and even miracles in regards to evangelism, we must first understand what saving faith is -and just as importantly, what it is not as well! To illustrate, I want to refer to the teaching of Dr. R.C. Sproul as found in the book What is Reformed Theology?.

In a chapter entitled "Committed to Faith Alone", Dr. Sproul discusses the different aspects of genuine saving faith. Of interest to this article is where he writes, "Early Reformed Theologians customarily distinguished among various aspects of saving faith. For the most part they discerned three chief aspects known as notitia, assensus, and fiducia."(emphasis added)

It is these three aspects of faith -and their relationship to evangelism- that I would like to address in this article. Before I do, I want to take a moment and try to define the three words Dr. Spoul has used above. Please try to gain an understanding of the terminology, otherwise it may be hard to follow the rest of the article:

• Noticia is knowledge of the data of the faith. Certain facts must be known before saving faith can be present. Dr. Sproul writes "For Example, we must believe in God, and the person and work of Jesus Christ to be saved. This is the data (notae) of the faith. Without belief in the truth claims of Christianity, saving faith is absent."
• Assensus is intellectual assent. This is more than just awareness of the facts and data concerning the faith. Dr. Sproul writes, "one must also assent mentally (assensus) to the truth of the information. Saving faith gives intellectual assent to the truth of Christ's deity, atonement, resurrection, and so forth. We do not believe in what we believe to be a myth."
• Fiducia is cognitive, effective volitional faith. According to Dr. Sproul, "Fiducia [is] a personal trust and reliance on Christ, and on Him alone for one's justification. Fiducia also involves the affections. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the believer sees, embraces, and acquiesces in the sweetness and loveliness of Christ."

We often see that skeptics, athiests, agnostics, and pagans can have some knowledge of Biblical data (noticia), though they do not believe it to be absolute truth. Others may have noticia and believe the facts to be true (assensus), yet they may still lack a personal trust and reliance upon Christ to save them (in other words they lack fiducia). Dr. Sproul goes on to conclude that in order for there to be genuine saving faith, all three of the different aspects of faith must be present in a person.

In America, statistics show that a majority of Americans have the aspects of noticia and sometimes assensus as well. I commonly meet people who tell me they "believe in God" or even "believe the Bible is true", yet they lack the fruit that indicates they have any genuine saving faith. I have many family members who know some of the facts concerning Christianity -and even believe the facts are true- yet they will not repent of their sins or even attempt to live their lives for Christ! Tragically some of them actually believe they are going to Heaven because of their so-called faith!

The presence of noticia and assensus alone, will not get anyone into Heaven. The only thing these two aspects of faith qualify a person to be is a demon!! According to James 2:19, the devils believe; they even"fear and tremble!" Satan and his demons possess both noticia and assensus, (probably more than any human alive) yet they are in total rebellion against their creator and are heading for eternal destruction. Unfortunately, many people -including those who claim to be Christians- lack the fear of God that James says even the devils possess!

We might think that in the face of irrefutable evidence (or even by the witnessing of miracles) people would certainly place their faith in Christ. Though God may indeed choose to bring people to faith in coordination with such things, I have found that this is not always the case. I've seen that such evidence may lead people to have an increase of noticia, or even to some greater degree of assensus, but it does not always lead to fiducia in every case!

In Matthew 11:21, the Lord Jesus even proclaimed a "woe" against the people of Bethsaida because they had seen "mighty works" yet refused to repent! So there we see from our Lord's own mouth that "mighty works" do not always result in repentance and genuine faith.

For example: Many years ago God miraculously healed my sister-in-law of a disease that is incurable to modern medicine. The disease had disintegrated the "ball" of her hip joint. As a young child, the disease robbed her of the ability to walk and should have resulted in her never being able to walk again. However, at a doctor's visit after a prayer meeting was held at her grandmother's church, the doctors discovered there had been an actual restoration of the entire bone that had been destroyed by the horrible disease!! The stunned doctors involved could only attribute it to an act of God! God had done what was impossible for medical science!

Not only was my sister-in-law able to learn to walk, but before her death in a car accident at the age of 16, she had grown up to be a softball player and a cheerleader with no apparent effects of the childhood disease! This event was (and still is) a great encouragement to the Christians in the family, but even in the face of the irrefutable medical evidence, some people in the family have persisted in their sinful rebellion against God! The miracle indeed brought noticia and assensus to the doctors and members of the family, but not too many have shown any fiducia in spite of what God obviously did!

It is evident that in order for a person to have fiducia, there must be an act of God to give it to the person (see John 1:12-13 and Eph 2:8). We sow, we water, but it is God who gives the increase! (1 Corin 3:6) It is God who draws the sinner! It is God the Holy Spirit who makes our preaching effectual and enables the sheep to hear the voice of the Divine Shepherd.

This brings us to the fact that the work of Regeneration is monergistic -a work of God alone. Though they are a vital part of God's plan of Salvation -apart from the Holy Spirit bringing a spiritually dead sinner to life- no amount of argumentation, witnessing, apologetics, or even bona fide miracles can produce actual saving faith (fiducia) in the sinner. Regeneration and Conversion is not within man nor in his fallen will, but completely an act of God; for Paul declares "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:6 ESV)

These things ought not to discourage us, but they ought to help us to understand that we have an important job to do! We should be honored that God has ordained to give us this vital role in His plan to redeem His Elect sheep. We are to preach Gospel and teach the truth in order to increase a person's degree of noticia and assensus, all the while trusting in the fact that it is God who produces fiducia in the person. All we need to do is be faithful to our calling to witness, evangelize, and support the work of foreign missions! If we are faithful to plant and water the seed, God will cause there to be an increase in which we -and all the angels of Heaven- will rejoice!

Soli Deo Gloria!