Gospel Guidebook: Getting and Keeping It Right 
Problems with the Westminster Confession of Faith's Description of Faith
by Robert P. TerryUpdated September 24, 2026
(For an extended version of this article that includes a discussion on Galatians 5:6 and Ephesians 2:10, please see my article Good Works are NOT Evidence of Faith.)
The word translated faith in English Bibles corresponds to the Greek word pistis. The word pistis is the noun cognate of the Greek verb pisteuo, a word that is consistently translated "believe." In fact, pistis and pisteuo are often used together in the same exact context and sometimes in the same exact sentence, especially in the context of justification, thus signifying that these words can mean the same thing, and actually do mean the same thing when the topic in view is justification. Therefore, in salvific contexts (excepting any figures of speech), faith means plain old belief, the doxastic attitude of being persuaded by the evidence for a proposition. This is what faith means in the New Testament, and if it were not for the influence of religion on the meaning of words, this is what faith would mean in every realm of life. However, people are offended by the notion that faith is plain old belief. They don't deny it completely, but they insist that faith is more than belief, and thus, they created a distinction between faith and belief where no such distinction ought to exist. It is quite common to hear them slander plain old belief by pejoratively calling it "mere mental assent" (as if belief were something more than a propositional attitude), "head knowledge," "dead faith," or "the faith of demons." This is a huge problem because if faith is anything more than plain old belief in the propositions of the Gospel, then it is to that extent that the work of Christ was insufficient in justifying sinners. The cruel irony in all of this is that it has been the promoters of Christian religion who have been the biggest enemies of the cross of Christ.
Reformed theologians teach some important Gospel truths, especially in regard to God's glory and the active and passive obedience of Christ. However, it is not enough to confess these truths, and yet at the same time, not believe them (John 5:45-47, 6:64-66). As we will see, the Reformed tradition does not understand the nature of faith, and as a result, it does not believe the things it confesses. Take, for example, the Reformed slogan, "We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone." If the slogan is taken at face value, it is not hard to see that it is a bait and switch. First, it says that salvation is by faith alone, but then it requires this faith to be not alone. In other words, the faith that saves must be accompanied by something that is other than faith. Let's now take a look at the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) and see what it has to say about this.
The WCF says in Chapter 11.2, "Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love." Similar to the slogan above, it says that faith is the alone instrument, but then explicitly says that faith must be accompanied with all other saving graces and love. This is bait and switch, and it is virtually an unintelligible sentence because faith cannot be the alone instrument of justification if it must "ever" be accompanied with other "saving" graces. As another example of inconsistency, the WCF says in Chapter 11.1 that "[justification is] not for any thing wrought in them [i.e., the elect], or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone," but then contradicts this in Chapter 14:1 by saying, "The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts." First the WCF says that justification is not because of anything wrought in the elect, but then just three chapters later says that the elect are saved because the Spirit of Christ works faith in their hearts. So, which is it? It can't be both. Moving on to Chapter 14:2, the WCF says that "the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life." By describing "saving faith" as "accepting, receiving, and resting," the WCF requires faith to be an appropriating act where the appropriator must make true what wasn't true until it was appropriated. This renders the cross of Christ useless until it is "applied" (14:4) through "heart work" (14:1). For the WCF an unapplied Christ is no Christ at all (14:4). Now, if this weren't bad enough, the WCF goes so far as to say that "accepting, receiving, and resting" are only "the principal acts of saving faith." So, what are the non-principal acts of saving faith? The WCF tells us in Chapter 14:2 that they are "acting differently upon that which each particular passage thereof [i.e., the Word of God] contains; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come." So much for justification by faith apart from works! Although Chapter 11:1 described faith as "the act of believing," it is clear from the quotations provided above that the WCF does not understand faith to mean merely the act of believing.