Faith in What?

We’re justified by faith alone, but it isn’t a generic faith in anything whatsoever. Today, R.C. Sproul expresses our need to convey the truth of the gospel accurately before we can call someone to saving faith in Christ.

When we say that you are justified by faith, the faith that justifies has to have a content. So, the immediate question is, if I say you have to be saved by faith, you should say to me, “Faith in what?” Faith in hamburgers? Faith in Buddha? I mean, we have that idea in our culture where people say, “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere.” Oh, does that mean I can put my trust in Satan and be saved, or that the Old Testament people could trust in Baal and they could be saved? No, no, no. There is certain content that is part of Christianity, an essential level of information. So that when the Apostles went out to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, they gave a summary of key points about the person of Jesus and about the work of Jesus—how He was born according to the Scriptures, how that He suffered on the cross for their sins, how He was raised from the dead, and so on.

That’s all part of the notes, or the data, or the notitia. That’s the information that before I can actually call somebody to saving faith, I have to give them the information, or the content, that they’re asked to believe. And that involves the mind. That involves communication of information that people can understand. Before I can call upon Christ, for example, as my Savior, I have to understand that I need a Savior. I have to understand that I’m a sinner. So I have to have some understanding of what sin is. I have to understand that God exists. I have to understand that I am estranged from that God, that I’m exposed to that God’s judgment, in order for me ever to flee to Christ as a Savior. Again, manifestly, I don’t reach out for a Savior unless I first am convinced that I have a need of a Savior.