Treating faith as mental assent or a verbal creed creates “formal professors,” as the Puritans called them. These people can explain the gospel. They agree with it. They have said a prayer. They might have been moved emotionally when they did. But they don’t know Jesus or lean on his promises, as revealed in their lives, relationships, and character. As John says, for instance, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen