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Examined Doctrine
Salvation

The nature of saving faith

What is faith, such that some belief saves and some does not?

5
10
1
4
Knowledge + assent + trustEssentially trust that grasps ChristAssent to revealed truthNo stance
20 FIGURES · 15 QUOTED · 4 WITHOUT A STANCE

Knowledge + assent + trust

Knowledge + assent + trust; all three required

Philip Melanchthon1497 – 1560AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDSecond London Baptist Confession1689AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDWestminster Confession1646AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDCharles Haddon Spurgeon1834 – 1892AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDJosh HowertonlivingAFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE

Essentially trust that grasps Christ

Essentially trust that grasps Christ

Augustine of Hippo354 – 430AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDHuldrych Zwingli1484 – 1531AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDJohn Calvin1509 – 1564AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDMartin Luther1483 – 1546AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDJohn Owen1616 – 1683AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDJonathan Edwards1703 – 1758AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDJohn Wesley1703 – 1791AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDJohn MacArthur1939 – 2025AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDMichael S. Heiser1963 – 2023AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTEDR.C. Sproul1939 – 2017AFFIRMS°PRIMARY SOURCE❝ QUOTED

Assent to revealed truth

Assent to revealed truth, made saving by love

Thomas Aquinas1225 – 1274AFFIRMS°STANDARD ACCOUNT

Figures who hold no stance here

These are not gaps in the table. Each group below says which kind of blank it is — searched and not found, held open on purpose, never framed in these terms, or deliberately unassigned because no stance fits.

NO STANCE FITS1 FIGURE

Researched, and deliberately unassigned — every available stance would misdescribe the figure.

NO POSITION FOUND3 FIGURES

Searched and not located. An honest gap in the corpus.

How to read a cell — sourcing tiers, blanks, and why some figures are never quoted
PRIMARY SOURCEread in a primary source
STANDARD ACCOUNTstandard scholarly account
DISPUTED READINGdisputed among scholars
NOT LOCATEDnot located in a source

A cell marked quoted carries the figure's own words — 285 of 402of them, about 71%. Where there is no quotation the claim is still sourced, and the tier says how far. 4 figures carry no quotation at all, for reasons that differ: a living author cannot be quoted at length under copyright where Calvin can, and a figure at the standard account tier has simply had no primary-source pass yet. 4 of them state their own reason on their page.

A state label ending in ° was read from the stance, tier and note rather than stated by the corpus. See themethodology.