How do we understand faith in relation to salvation?

Faith is fundamentally the act of receiving Jesus Christ, as articulated in John 6:53-54, where Jesus emphasizes the necessity of partaking of Him for spiritual life. Just as one consumes bread and water to sustain physical life, faith nourishes the believer's soul by receiving the life-giving power of Christ. This act of faith is not a human accomplishment; rather, it is a divine gift that comes through the new birth, enabling the believer to trust in Christ's finished work on the cross. The relationship between faith, repentance, and the new birth is pivotal; faith can only exist after a person has been regenerated, thus illustrating God’s sovereign grace in salvation.