Faith

"Nowhere is there a perfect faith, and therefore it follows that we are partly unbelievers.  Yet in His kindness God pardons us and reckons us as believers on account of our small portion of faith.  Meanwhile it is for us to shake off carefully the remnants of unbelief that remain within us, and fight against them and ask the Lord to correct them; and so often as we toil in this struggle we must flee to Him for succor.  If we consider aright what is given to each man, it will be very clear that those who excel in faith are rarest, those with a middling faith are few, and the most are endowed with only a small measure."

-John Calvin, Institute

"We are not saved because we have a strong subjective faith.  That is to focus the matter on us, and besides our faith is not strong.  It is weak and vacillating.  We are saved because of the promises of God made known to us in the pages of the Bible.  In other words, Christian faith is a Bible-based faith.  Or, to put it in still other words, we are saved not because of our faith but because of God's word.  Faith is merely receiving God's promises and believing them on the basis of God's character."

-James M. Boice, Two Cities, Two Loves