“Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ is another essential part of true conversion. Faith is credence or belief. Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ is belief of the gospel of salvation through his name. A real belief of the gospel is necessarily accompanied with a trust or confidence in him for the salvation of our souls. The term believe itself sometimes expresses this idea; particularly in 2 Tim. i. 12, ” I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” This belief, or trust, can never be fairly understood of a mere confidence in his veracity, as to the truth of his doctrine; for if that were all, the ability of Christ would stand for nothing; and we might as well be said to trust in Peter, or John, or Paul, as in Christ, seeing we believe their testimony to be valid as well as his. Believing, it is granted, does not necessarily, and in all cases, involve the idea of truth, for which I here contend; this matter being determined by the nature of the testimony Neither Peter, nor any of the apostles, ever pretended that their blood, though it might be shed in martyrdom, would be the price of the salvation of sinners. We may, therefore, credit their testimony, without trusting in them, or committing any thing, as Paul expresses it, into their hands. But Christ’s blood is testified of as the way, and the only way, of salvation. He is said to be ” the propitiation for our sins;” and “by himself to have purged our sins.”—”Through his blood we have forgiveness.”—” Neither is their salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”—” Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Hence it follows that, to believe his testimony, must of necessity involve in it a trusting in him for the salvation of our souls.”

Excerpt From “The Calvinistic and Socinian Systems Examined and Compared”, 1802

Fuller, Andrew,  The Works of Andrew Fuller. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2007.