Faith is used by theologians in various senses. It is sometimes taken to denote the mere assent of the understanding to a set of facts or of propositions set before it; but it is more peculiarly used to express the living reception by the heart of the 'truth as it is in Christ.' Some divines have enumerated no fewer than four kinds of faith: (1) The faith of miracles, or that immediate persuasion of the almighty presence and power of their Master, which enabled the early Christians to work miracles—a persuasion, apparently, which might exist and issue in astonishing results without being associated with moral excellence. 'Though I have all faith,' says St Paul, 'so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.' (2) Historical faith, or the assent of the understanding to truth, the evidence of which is irresistible, such as we have described above. (3) Partial or temporary faith, such as our Lord implies in his exposition of the parable of the Sower, and as appeared to animate those who, after having followed after Christ, turned back and walked no more with him; and (4) Saving faith, or the persuasion of Christian truth wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
These distinctions are rather theological refinements than anything else; the proper and characteristic meaning of the term faith in Scripture has little to do with any of them except the last. 'Faith,' says the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 'is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' It is a vision, quality, or capacity of soul whereby spiritual truth is apprehended, and spiritual life engendered. The distant is brought near by it, and substantially appropriated; the unseen is felt to be a reality. Faith is the organ by which the soul passes beyond the present and the visible to the eternal and the invisible. Still more characteristically, perhaps, faith is the living affection which binds the Christian to Christ as a Saviour.
Faith, in the distinctively Christian sense, can only exist by the operation of God's Holy Spirit. 'For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.' Orthodox divines greatly insist on the necessity of this operation of the Spirit of God, yet not so as to exclude the active co-operation of man. The Pelagian and Antinomian extremes respectively throw out—the former the divine, the latter the human element. Orthodoxy combines the two, attributing to God the effective agency, but to man a real and voluntary concurrence. For the theological controversies connected with faith, reference must be made to the theological treatises of the different communions.