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Examined Doctrine

Josh Howerton on the nature of saving faith

LIVING · EVANGELICAL / BAPTIST-ADJACENT
READ IN A PRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°
STANCE

Knowledge + assent + trust; all three required

THE POSITION

Saving faith requires notitia (knowledge), assensus (agreement), and fiducia (trust). Demons have the first two and lack the third. Once all three are present, what secures a person is the object of faith rather than its strength.

WHY THERE IS NO QUOTATIONTwo sources of unequal strength. Eleven doctrinally dense episodes of the Live Free podcast — 989,088 characters of auto-caption transcript — carry all thirteen positions; Howerton hosts that show with Carlos Erazo and Paul Cunningham, captions do not label speakers, and those transcripts were not retained, so a claim is attributed to him personally only where the surrounding text made the speaker unmistakable, and no quotation from them can be reopened. Positions drawn from the show rather than from him by name are the show's. Against that, one solo sermon has been transcribed and retained with its video id and timestamps — 4 Ways to KILL the Spirit of Fear, 16 Aug 2026 — and the two positions it bears on now carry a quotation any reader can open at the second it was said. Eleven positions still carry none, which is the unrepaired half of this figure and not a principle: the remaining 164 sermons are unread. Automatic captioning mangles proper nouns and technical theological terms throughout; corrections are bracketed.

SCRIPTURE
JAMES 2:19 · BSB

19 You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

4 OTHERS HOLD THIS

Second London Baptist ConfessionPhilip MelanchthonCharles Haddon SpurgeonWestminster Confession
Essentially trust that grasps ChristAUGUSTINE · CALVIN · JONATHAN EDWARDS · M. HEISER · LUTHER · JOHN MACARTHUR · JOHN OWEN · R.C. SPROUL · WESLEY · ZWINGLI
Assent to revealed truth, made saving by loveAQUINAS
See all 20 figures on the nature of saving faith →

ABOUT THIS FIGURE

Senior pastor of Lakepointe Church, Dallas–Fort Worth, and host of the Live Free podcast. Researched from primary-source transcripts — see the Live Free Podcast folder.

2 OF 13 POSITIONS QUOTED
Everything Josh Howerton holds →
Cite this page

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

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