virtus fidei – actus fidei

I recently came to a more nuanced way of thinking of faith. In Forming Intentional Disciples, Sherry Weddell points to a way of expressing the relationship between faith and works, that controversial duo that has been a bone of contention among Christians for centuries. She speaks of this in relation to the graces received through the sacraments, but it clarifies thinking when it is used in the relationship between faith and works.

Virtus fedei, the virtue of faith, is what is freely given to us at baptism through the grace of God. It is the “capacity to believe”.  Actus fedei, a personal act of faith, is what transforms that capacity to believe into true belief, a personal explicit faith.

Quoting Ms. Weddell, “The Church’s understanding of saving faith is that it is not merely the passive capacity for grace …. Neither can true faith exist without charity. Intellectual assent alone, without charity and good works is what the Church calls fides informis”, and it is a dead faith that does not save.