Chapters 12: Faith (II)

I. The second sense of faith
    A. Not everyone who believes, in the first sense, has come to believe in the second sense.
    B. The second sense of faith is not comprehensible to those who have not come to it yet.
    C. The second sense of faith arises after
        1. failure at virtue,
        2. recognition that God owns everything,
        3. recognition of personal bankruptcy.
    D. Then a right relationship to God can begin, namely, leaving our failure to God.
II. Trust in God
    A. Faith is trusting that God will instill Christlikeness and make good our deficiencies.
    B. To have faith is to trust that God will make us ‘Sons of God’.
    C. Faith in the second sense means to be transformed by receiving Christ’s free gift.
III. Faith vs. works—an insoluble puzzle
    A. Faith consists in giving in, stop striving, rely on God.
    B. When faith leads to devotion, good works will come.
    C. Two parodies
        1. Do good works to purchase your salvation—Pelagianism, 4th century
        2. Faith guarantees salvation; sin as much as you want—Antinomianism, Rom. 3:8
    D. The true, though paradoxical, situation is given in Phil. 2:12-13.
IV. Through faith, beyond

Discussion Questions: (pp. 144-150)
    1. Where does faith, in the second sense, come from? (p. 149) (Eph. 2:8-9)
    2. Brother Lawrence: He had no qualms; “for,” said he, “when I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, ‘I am used to do so; I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself’. If I fail not, then I give God thanks, acknowledging that the strength comes from Him.” [The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, Second Conversation, p. 13.] Does this express the idea of faith Lewis describes on p. 147?
    3. How is faith of the second kind related to the "becoming" Lewis writes about on pp. 82 & 91?

Note: The two parodies mentioned in the middle of p. 148 are historic as well as current.
    1. Do good works to purchase your salvation—Pelagianism, 4th century, identified as a heresy.
    2. Faith guarantees salvation; sin as much as you want—Antinomianism, condemned by Paul in Rom. 3:8