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Unfallen Adam was a loyal subject under God’s government and an obedient son in God’s family. When he sinned, he fell from his high position and everything changed....His fall into sin affected him inwardly in his character—he became totally depraved. It also affected him legally—he forfeited all his privileges as God’s son. (3)

"Regeneration is that act of saving grace which, at least incipiently, reimparts to him [the fallen sinner] his lost filial disposition, while adoption is that act of grace which restores to him his filial standing. By the one [regeneration], he is given
the heart of a child, by the other [adoption], he is given the rights of a child. Both are unspeakably important—to have sonship as a law right and prerogative on the one hand, and to have an appropriate filial disposition to correspond to the legal filial status." 2. Webb, The Reformed Doctrine of Adoption, 21. (4)

Adoption, in this redemptive sense, refers to that gracious act of God by which He receives sinners into His family through faith in Christ, and gives them the right to all the privileges and liberties of His children, such as: His Fatherly protection (Ps. 121:7), His Fatherly provision for all our needs (Ps. 34:10), His Fatherly correction
and discipline (Heb. 12:6), His ear to our prayers (1 John 5:14–15), and His wealth as our inheritance (Rom. 8:17). (4)

“But as many as received Him, (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12)....Notice the four phrases in this verse. First, “He gave the right.” This privilege of becoming God’s
child is a pure gift of God’s sheer grace....Second, “the right to become.” This statement is concerned with the status of the believer. When he receives Jesus, his
status and legal standing change from that of a hostile rebel to that of a legal heir in God’s family....Third, “children of God.” Not only do God’s children enjoy all the privileges and liberties of sonship, but they also become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). This means that we participate in God’s CHARACTER, not in God’s being. We do not become divine; rather, we become holy, as God is holy....Fourth, “believe on His name.” Adoption into the family of God is through the reception of and belief in Jesus Christ. (5)

A son of God has access to God and fellowship with God. He is also “led” by God’s Spirit. In fact, to be led by the Spirit of God and to be sons of God are interchangeable terms....In this family relationship, the Holy Spirit is fully and necessarily operative. He witnesses to us of the reality of our sonship, thereby
giving us the assurance of it. He guarantees our full possession of our total inheritance as heirs of God in Christ. (7)

“In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the [good pleasure] of His will” (Eph. 1:5)....From the context of this verse, we can see that this sonship to which we are predestined includes three blessings: (1) Conformity to the image of God, i.e., we are chosen to holiness of life (vs. 4); (2) Enjoyment of God’s favor, being special objects of His love; and (3) Heirship, i.e., participation in the glory and blessedness of God. Charles Hodge reminds us that “God having predestinated His people to the high dignity and glory
of sons of God, elected them to holiness, without which that dignity could neither be possessed nor enjoyed.” 4. Charles Hodge, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d.), 36. (7)

[1] The Fatherhood of God and Forgiveness of Sins: The Fatherhood of God and the forgiveness of sins are so closely connected that one cannot be considered without the other, as illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son and in Matthew 6:14,
15. Forgiveness of sins is the presupposition of the Father-child relationship
between God and Jesus’ disciples. (8)

[2] The Fatherhood of God and the Covenant of God: The origin of the idea of a Father-child relationship in the preaching of Jesus is to be found in the special covenant relationship between Jehovah and Israel in the Old Testament (Ex. 4:22;
Deut. 14:1; 32:6, 18; Isa. 1:2; 63:8–10, 16; Jer. 3:19, 21; 10:20; 31:20; Hos. 11:1, 3; Mal. 2:10). (9)

[3] The Fatherhood of God and Jesus' Messiahship: Jesus taught His disciples to address God as “our Father,” because they are the restored people of God. They are restored to intimate fellowship with God as the redeemed People of the Messiah,
whom Paul describes as “the body of Christ.” (9)

[4] The Relationship Between the Father and Jesus: The real and deepest explanation of this relationship between God and those to whom the kingdom of heaven is promised lies in the person of Jesus Himself; or to put it more accurately, in Jesus’ own relationship with the Father....Jesus never speaks of “our Father,” so as to identify himself with his disciples, but distinguishes between “my Father” and “your Father.” The former expresses the exclusiveness of his Sonship which had
been proclaimed when he entered upon his duties (Matt. 3:17), later confirmed (Matt. 17:5) and therefore always maintained by Him as a special privilege (cf., Matt. 17:24–27).
On the other hand, Jesus is the Mediator with respect to the sonship of believers (Matt. 11:27), “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”...From the character of the gospel it follows that such knowledge is not merely intellectual, but creates a personal relationship (cf. Matt. 7:23). This revelation of the Father by the Son is, therefore, based on the whole of Jesus’ work. It is indissolubly connected with all that he accomplishes for the remission of sins of all those who are his. ....
In fact, He is the Father of Christians precisely because, and only because He is the
Father of Jesus Christ: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). God is our Father, because He is Jesus’ Father. (10)

[5] The Fatherhood of God and the Kingship of God: The Fatherhood of God and the Kingship of God are not set over against each other in the preaching of Jesus. Nor is one considered as more important than the other. The fact that God’s Fatherly
relationship with His children, i.e., Christ’s disciples, is connected with His covenant relation with His chosen people as their Sovereign- Friend, indicates the close connection between His Fatherhood and His Kingship. (11)

[6] The Fatherhood of God and the Gift of Obedience: Jesus taught that the doing of God’s will was the proof of citizenship "in the kingdom of God and the proof of adoption into the family of God; but He also taught that doing God’s will was
a gift belonging to the salvation of the kingdom proclaimed by Him.… The truth that obedience to God’s commandments is a gift belonging to the salvation of the kingdom is already clearly implied in the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. The last of them explicitly mentions the doing of God’s will (Matt. 6:10), as a gift that must be asked for of God." 12. Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom, 247. (12)

[7] The Proof of the Sonship of God: Therefore, the doing of God’s will is the norm and standard of sonship to God in His kingdom....Jesus said, “For whoever shall
do the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother andsister and mother” (Matt. 12:50). (13)

[8] Doing God's Will and Fellowship with Christ: "[According to Matthew 7:23,] [i]t is not in a man’s appeal to Jesus, (“Lord, Lord”) on his own authority, but in
Christ’s taking him into his fellowship [knowing him], that we must find the explanation and the criterion of doing righteousness. Outside of this fellowship there is no obedience.…Only those who are known by Him in the sense of this fellowshipwill receive the grace of the doing of the Father’s will (cf. Matt. 13:50)." 15. Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom, 253–54. (13-14)

[9] The Fatherhood of God and the Believer's Life in the World:  Jesus taught that the filial relationship His disciples enjoyed with the Father was not only concerned with future bliss in eternity...but also with our temporal life here and now... (14-15)

[10] The Fatherhood of God and Eternal Life: It must be emphatically stated that in Christ’s kingdom, God will be the Father of His disciples-children through all eternity... (15)

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We are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone, unaccompanied by other Spiritual graces, unproductive of good works to the glory of God....These graces are “the fruit of the Spirit,” inseparably connected with faith and produced by the same Spirit that produced faith in the same person, i.e., “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol” (Gal. 5:22–23). (851)

These graces, to be sure, are distinguished from faith, but they are inseparable from it. The Bible makes unmistakably clear that we are NOT justified by love, or hope, or self‑control, or kindness, or godliness, but BY FAITH ALONE. At the same time,
with equal emphasis, it must be said that the faith that is the instrumental cause of our justification is not a solitary faith unaccompanied by the host of Spiritual graces that amount to Christ-likeness of character and heart. (852)

Although such Spiritual graces always accompany true faith, it is not because of these graces manifested in us by the Spirit that God justifies a sinner. (852)

"I wish the reader to understand that as often as we mention Faith alone in this question, we are not thinking of a dead faith, which worketh not by love, but holding faith to be the only cause of justification (Gal. 5:6; Rom. 3:22). It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone;…" 216. John Calvin, quoted in Sproul, Faith Alone, 128. (853)

Spiritual graces have reference to what God does within the heart and life of the believer in the life-long process of sanctification, which process, although distinct from justification, begins with justification. Sanctification is the subjective and continuous work of God within the believer, shaping him more and more into the image of Christ. Justification is that objective act and declaration of God outside the believer on which his eternal right standing with God is based. (853)

...good works have no role in our justification before God, although they do play an important role in our sanctification as proof of true justifying faith, and hence, glorify God and are encouragements to the believer to continued faithfulness. (855)

"By what right or in what sense the good works which the Spirit of Christ performs in us are called ours, Augustine briefly teaches when he draws an analogy from the Lord’s Prayer: saying, that the bread which we there ask is called “ours” on no
other ground than simply that it is given to us. Accordingly, as the same writer elsewhere teaches, no man will embrace the gifts of Christ till he has forgotten his own merits." 224. Sproul, Faith Alone, 157. (857)

The reason our good works do not merit justification and cannot justify is twofold: (1) Any works we do before we are regenerated are not good, and hence are of no merit before God whatsoever, for “there is none who does good, no not one.”...(2)
The good works, which are done by the regenerate person, that flow out of justifying faith, are not good enough to meet the perfect demands of God’s Law, and hence, are not meritorious. (857-858)

...three sound reasons why our doctrine encourages godly living, rather than careless living.
(1) While believers in Jesus are not rewarded or blessed in direct proportion to what their works deserve, they are rewarded and blessed graciously according to their works....He accepts and blesses both our persons and our good works because of the merit of Christ in which we stand and live. ...
(2) Sluggishness and negligence in living the Christian life cannot be “indulged without bringing our title to the inheritance [God has promised believers] into doubt.”232 Jesus said that true believers could be distinguished from false prophets by their manner of life: “by their fruits you shall know them.”...Although the Bible consistently affirms that our good works are in no way the meritorious basis of our justification with God, nevertheless, they are legitimate evidences of our justification. ...
(3) “[F]ree justification does not diminish the believer’s legitimate self‑interest in his good works.”235 The gospel of the Bible brings out an inseparable relationship between faith in Christ and the righteousness of Christ it embraces, on the one hand, and holy character and holy living on the other. That relationship is that of
means to an end....
"Redemption from the curse, and gratuitous restoration to favor, are the means; restoration to holiness the end.… The man who understands that Christ has justified him, not by, but in order to, good works, cannot possibly slight their importance."236
232. Dabney, Discussions, 1:88. ; 235. Dabney, Discussions, 1:92. 236. ; Dabney, Discussions, 1:92–93.
(862-864)

The Catechism says that faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God not… as if the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification (LC, Q.73). ...
What is the misconception being answered in these words? It is this: faith in Christ is the basis of our justification, i.e., God justifies the believer BECAUSE he believes in Jesus; faith is the cause for some people being accepted with God while others, remaining in unbelief, are condemned. (867)

What is wrong with this interpretation? (1) It is not taught in the Bible. (2) It makes the action of man, i.e., believing, the basis of salvation rather than Jesus Christ....(3) It is a covert way of reintroducing another version of the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification that teaches that the basis of justification is an inherent and infused personal righteousness rather than the imputed righteousness of Christ. (4) It is a return to a subtle form of salvation by works. (868)
 
What does the Bible say? Profoundly this: it is not faith that saves; it is not even faith in Christ that saves; it is Christ who saves through faith. (868)

Faith in Christ alone is THE instrument by which justification is received, neither the cause nor the basis of justification....Faith is the hand that receives salvation and the reliance which rests upon Christ alone. (869)

Three points of resemblance the bronze serpent incident and Christ and the gospel are: (1) As the bronze serpent was lifted up on a pole, so Christ was lifted up on a cross; (2) As the bronze serpent was made by divine command in the likeness of the poisonous “fiery serpents,” so Christ was made in the likeness of sin‑poisoned
humanity; and (3) As the sinning Israelites, snake‑bitten and dying, looked to the brass serpent and lived, so sinful, perishing men and woman, poisoned by that old Serpent, Satan, look in faith to the crucified Jesus, and live forever. ...
It was held up so that by obediently and trustingly looking up to it they might acknowledge their sin, their helplessness and their hopelessness apart from the mercy and power of God, in true repentance of sin and in true faith in God’s method of salvation. ...
Why is faith described as “looking”? To look is to believe, to give credit to a person, to count as true what he says....Everyone who believes in Christ, who counts as true what He has said and promised, and who looks away from their sinful, helpless and hopeless condition to Him alone for salvation will be saved. We are not saved because we look, as if there were some merit or magical power in our looking; but we are saved as we look to Christ. (871-872)

The gospel method of salvation, therefore, is worthy of all acceptation. It reveals the divine perfections in the clearest and most affecting light, and it is in every way suited to the character and necessities of men. It places us in our true position as undeserving sinners; and it secures pardon, peace of conscience and holiness of
life. (873)

Justification frees the believer’s conscience from the crippling burden of sin and guilt. It makes us free in Jesus Christ (John 8:31–36). (874)

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The point of the Catechism here is to impress us with the fact that the justification of believing sinners by God is an act of free and sheer grace....God freely forgives the
sins of believers without regard to anything done by us to procure that forgiveness; and on the other hand, God insists on and receives the full satisfaction of His justice and Law, as the meritorious, procuring cause of that forgiveness. (811)

First, justification is by sheer grace because God accepted the satisfaction of His justice from a Surety, which He might have demanded justly of every sinner without exception, if He had chosen to do so. (811)

He is the substitute of sinners, taking upon Himself the full debt which was due to God’s justice from sinners. He was ready to engage in this task voluntarily (Heb.
10:9). Whatever He suffered for us did not infer the least injustice in God who inflicted it. (812)

Second, God Himself provided this Surety in the person of His own only Son, imputing His righteousness to believing sinners. (813)

Furthermore, the grace of God is manifested in the Son of God’s willingness to become incarnate and engage Himself as our Surety to satisfy in full God’s justice....

"Without his consent the justice of God could not have exacted the debt of him. He being perfectly innocent, could not be obliged to suffer punishment; and it would have been unjust in God to have inflicted it, had he not been willing to be charged with our guilt, and to stand in our room and stead." 141 Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 2:95. (814)


Third, God requires of sinners nothing of them for their justification; but faith in Christ alone, which faith is His gift....The fact that justification is by faith alone and not by the works of the Law is proof that justification is by God’s grace alone. (814)


God was under no obligation to give anybody the gift of faith; but out of grace, He mercifully and sovereignly chose to do so to the praise and glory of His matchless
grace. Justification, then, is by the sheer grace of God, because the one instrument which God requires of us to be justified, He Himself provides: “For TO YOU IT HAS BEEN GRANTED for Christ’s sake, NOT ONLY TO BELIEVE IN HIM, but also to suffer for His sake” (Phil. 1:29; emphasis added). In this verse, God reveals that He has given to us, His people, as a gift of His grace: (1) The ability to believe, and (2) The privilege of suffering and enduring hardship for Christ’s sake. (815)

The synonyms for faith in the Old Testament are many. Thus we read much of trusting in, on, to God, or in His Word, His name, His mercy, His salvation, of seeking and finding refuge in God or in the shadow of His wings, of committing ourselves to God, setting confidence in Him, looking to Him, relying upon Him, staying upon Him, setting or fixing the heart upon Him, binding our love on Him, cleaving to Him. (816)

The Greek word for “believe” in the Septuagint and the New Testament is pisteuein. ...
In the New Testament, “faith” and “believing” are joined to various prepositions and cases that confirm and intensify the Old Testament’s conception of faith—To believe in God the Redeemer, to assent to His word, and with firm and unwavering confidence to rest in security and trustfulness upon Him alone for salvation. (817-818)

Justifying faith "consists neither in assent nor in obedience, but in a reliant trust in the invisible Author of all good (Heb. xi:27), in which the mind is set upon the things that are above and not on the things that are upon the earth (Col. iii:2; 2 Cor. 4:16–18, Mt. 6:25).…" 149. Warfield, Biblical and Theological Studies, 422–23. (819)

The first element of justifying faith is KNOWLEDGE, or UNDERSTANDING. ...
The knowledge of faith has to do with the content of faith, what faith believes, the Biblical information to be received, understood and embraced. To be saved a person must believe certain basic, divinely-revealed information from the Bible.
...
"I cannot have faith in nothing. My faith must have content or an object. Before I
can have a personal relationship with God or anyone else, I must first be aware of them to some degree. I must have some intelligible understanding of what or whom I am believing. I cannot have God in my heart if he is not in my head....To be saved we may not require an exhaustive or comprehensive knowledge of God, for none of us possesses such comprehensive knowledge, but we must have some knowledge and we must have some right knowledge about God."151 Sproul, Faith Alone, 77. 
(820-821)

We learn that knowledge is essential to justifying faith in several places in the Bible. (1) “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17)....(2) “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me”
(in faith), said Jesus (John 6:45). Learning implies understanding of the Word of God as essential to coming in faith to Christ. (3)...It should be obvious that the Word of God can be of no benefit to us, and that no one can obtain faith by the hearing of that Word, unless that person has some understanding of it. “The task of proclaiming the gospel includes more than an imparting of information, but not
less. It demands a constant clarification of the content of the gospel.”155 (4) “This is eternal life, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Personal knowledge of God of necessity includes knowledge about God drawn from the Bible by the help of the Spirit. (5)“Since every
believer is obligated to confess Christ (Matt. 10:32), to give an account of his faith (1 Pet. 3:15), it is therefore absolutely necessary that he have knowledge of those matters which he believes. He can neither confess nor give an account of that which he does not know.”156 (6) “By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11).
155. Sproul, Faith Alone, 78.
156. Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 2:272.
(821-822)

The second element of justifying faith is intellectual ASSENT, or BELIEF....In other words, faith is not a risky and blind “leap in the dark,” making ourselves believe something is true when we do not know it is true. “Telling a blind person to believe
he can see when he cannot see makes as much sense as telling a person to fly when he cannot fly. Saving faith involves assent to what is true, not what is false.” 162
Sproul, Faith Alone, 79. (823)

Faith is and, indeed, must be a steadfastness of the heart, which does not waver, wobble, shake, tremble, or doubt, but stands firm and is sure of its case.… When this Word enters the heart by true faith, it makes the heart as firm, sure, and certain as it is itself, so that the heart is unmoved, stubborn, and hard in the face of every
temptation, the devil, death, and anything whatever, boldly and proudly despising and mocking everything that spells doubt, fear, evil, and wrath. For it knows that God’s Word cannot lie. (824)

The Bible teaches that ASSENT is an essential element of justifying faith. (1) In Hebrews 11:1 faith is described as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is the confident assurance that God is faithful and true, that He will do what He has promised in His Word....(2) Hebrews 10:22 calls upon us to draw near to God “with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,”...(3) “He
who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true” (John 3:33)....(4) If we “receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; the one who does not believe
God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has given concerning His Son” (1 John 5:9–10)....(5) “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). It is the considered judgment of Paul, the believer, that the gospel of Christ is fully reliable and “trustworthy.” (825)

The third element of justifying faith is TRUST. To appreciate this element, we must consider the case of Satan and his response to Christ. Satan had “knowledge” of Christ. He was clearly aware of who He was. He “assented” to the truth of the identity of Christ.
"But Satan personally places no… trust in Christ. He resists Christ. He does will to oppose Christ. He has no affection for Christ. In fact he despises Christ. His unmitigated hatred for Christ displays itself in an enmity that knows no bounds.…
Satan has no affection for Christ because he sees nothing lovable about Christ." 169. Sproul, Faith Alone, 85. (826)

In faith the believer ENTRUSTS himself and his eternal salvation to Jesus Christ. He relies upon Him, rests and leans upon Him. (826)

Our Catechism Q. 72 on justifying faith assumes that faith is comprised of these three elements: understanding (knowledge), assent (belief), and trust. (828)

The Bible speaks of different “kinds” of faith, three of which are produced by man, and therefore not justifying faith; and the fourth is produced by God in the heart of man, and is therefore justifying faith. (834)

[Historical Faith]: This is a purely intellectual apprehension of the truth and history
of the Bible, without any moral or spiritual purpose....This kind of faith may be the result of tradition, education, public opinion, or insight. It may be very orthodox and Biblical, but it is not rooted in the heart, and therefore not justifying faith. (834)

["Miraculous" Faith]: This kind of faith is a persuasion in the mind of a person that a
miracle will be performed by him or in his behalf, which is not rooted in the heart. This is “a heartfelt conviction generated by the immediate operation of God, that a given supernatural act will either occur due to a command given by us, or will be wrought upon us.”190 Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 2:264. (835)

[Temporary Faith]: This faith, produced by man is a persuasion of the truths of the
Bible which is "accompanied with some promptings of the conscience, and a stirring of the affections, but is not rooted in a regenerate heart.… It is called a temporary faith, because it is not permanent and fails to maintain itself in days of trial and persecution. This does not mean that it may not last as long as life lasts. It is quite possible that it will perish only at death, but then it surely ceases.…" 191. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 502. (835)

[Justifying Faith]: Saving faith is a gift of God’s grace (Eph. 2:8, 9) rooted in the
regenerate heart. It is “a certain conviction, wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, as to the truth of the gospel, and a hearty reliance (trust) on the promises of God in Christ.”192 Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 503. (836)

First, there would be no saving faith at all in the entire human race, if God had left sinners to themselves, for the Bible says that unbelievers are “dead in [their] trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1); that “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7, 8). (841-842)

Second, “God has made faith a gift so that (1). He will get credit for our salvation and (2) we will not get the credit.”199 Tom Wells, Faith: The Gift of God (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1983), 137 (842)

The Apostle Paul tells us that sinners believe in Jesus because of God’s mighty exertion of His omnipotence into their lives enabling them to do what they could not do in their own strength‑believe in Jesus....It is nothing less than the almighty work of God in the human heart that produces faith in Christ. Our faith is due to the same Divine omnipotence that raised Christ from the dead. (842-843)

The Holy Spirit of God works faith in the heart in the new birth, or regeneration....Without the regenerating work of the Spirit of God from heaven, no one is able to understand, appreciate, or give assent to the reality and saving power
of the kingdom of God, because of the blindness and death of the sinner’s condition....Without the purifying, regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in
the heart, no one is able to enter the kingdom of God, which is salvation, which entrance is made by repentance and faith. (843-844)

The point John is making is this: believing in Jesus is the consequence, not the cause of the new birth. Faith in Jesus Christ is the effect of regeneration. (844)

What does the Holy Spirit do in the work of regeneration enabling a person to believe in Jesus?...God works faith in the sinner by changing his heart, by removing the hard heart full of hostility and rebellion toward God, replacing it with a heart that is soft and responsive to God, full of love for Him and the desire to please
Him, and by filling that new heart with His own Holy Spirit who is in the regenerate a constant source of divine power enabling and motivating him to do whatever pleases God. (845)

In creating faith in the heart the Holy Spirit of God uses the Word of God....It is Christ’s powerful voice heard in the preached Word that produces faith. Faith is born hearing the voice of the resurrected Christ in His written Word preached. (847)

(1) The Bible is full of commands and invitations encouraging sinners to come to Him for salvation. ...
(2) Faith is a giving up, or an entrusting, of ourselves to Christ to be entirely and eternally His. The Word of God sets forth Christ as having a right to our total commitment, having purchased us for Himself with His own blood. ...
(3) Faith looks to Christ alone for forgiveness of sins. The Word of God presents Christ to us as having made full satisfaction for our sins in His own obedience and death, as the propitiation for our sins, turning away God’s anger, satisfying God’s justice and reconciling us to God, by being our substitute, bearing the curse of our
sins in Himself for us. ...
(4) Faith is a trusting in and resting on Christ alone for salvation. The Word of God presents Him to us as an all-sufficient Savior, “able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him” (Heb. 7:25). Faith trusts Him to fulfill all His promises, because the Word tells us that He has engaged Himself to make good all the
promises of God to all who believe, because “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” (2 Cor. 1:20). 
(847-848)

The Catechism tells us that justifying faith receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness (LC, Q. 72). The Bible is unequivocal: the One on whom faith rests for salvation is the God of Grace, God our Redeemer in the Lord Jesus Christ. “This one object of saving faith never varies from the beginning to the end of the scriptural
revelation.”209. Warfield, Biblical and Theological Studies, 423. (849)

The point is that justifying faith is a faith that BELIEVES IN GOD, and therefore BELIEVES GOD. Faith in God in Christ and faith in the Word of God are inseparable in justifying faith. (851)

      Racheal

      Racheal