Thomas Aquinas on the nature of saving faith

1225 – 1274 · SCHOLASTIC

STANDARD SCHOLARLY ACCOUNTAFFIRMS°

STANCE

Assent to revealed truth, made saving by love

THE POSITION

Faith is assent of the intellect to revealed truth, moved by the will. Unformed faith is real but not saving; faith formed by charity (fides formata caritate) justifies — precisely the account Luther rejected.

SCRIPTURE

GALATIANS 5:6 · BSB

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.

NOBODY ELSE HOLDS THIS

Knowledge + assent + trust; all three requiredJOSH HOWERTON · SECOND LONDON BAPTIST CONFESSION · PHILIP MELANCHTHON · CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON · WESTMINSTER CONFESSION

Essentially trust that grasps ChristAUGUSTINE · CALVIN · JONATHAN EDWARDS · M. HEISER · LUTHER · JOHN MACARTHUR · JOHN OWEN · R.C. SPROUL · WESLEY · ZWINGLI

See all 20 figures on the nature of saving faith →

ABOUT THIS FIGURE

Dominican friar, author of the Summa Theologiae. Synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian doctrine; the reference point for later Catholic theology.

1 OF 13 POSITIONS QUOTED

Everything Aquinas holds →

Cite this page

"Thomas Aquinas on the nature of saving faith", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/aquinas/saving-faith (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/aquinas/saving-faith).

How citation works here