Faith is the act of trust by which one being, a sinner, commits himself to another being, a Saviour.
We are not saved by nations or by churches or by families, but as individuals, through a personal interest in a personal Saviour.
There are three acts of faith, assent, acceptance, and assurance.
The act of the soul, in surrendering itself into the hands of Christ, forms a connecting bond between Him as the Vine and the soul as the branches, which communicates life, strength, nourishment, and beauty. In a word, with a just view of the character, and a supreme attachment to the person of Christ, the believer yields himself into His hands as a full and complete Saviour. Him he receives; upon Him he rests, and rests for time and eternity.
When there is a clear reception of truth as revealed, declared, or testified to, the soul believes in that truth. There is here the idea of transfer. The truth has been received through or from an accredited witness. "It is revealed from faith to faith." When the soul, conscious of weakness or want, looks to, trusts in, or waits upon, another for help and strength, this is resting on, relying on, acting faith on, that other for the desired blessing. And when the soul believes or acts faith into another, there is an entire self-surrender to the authority and sovereign will of that other to rule. There is here the idea of the soul going out to rest on the power, and to be subordinate to, the authority of another. Thus the Israelites "were all baptized unto or into Moses in the cloud and in the sea."
