In reading R.C. Sproul, Jr.'s When You Rise Up, I was introduced to the terms, "notitia, assensus, and fiducia"
notitia = knowledge
Before you can have faith in something, you must have some understanding of what you are putting your faith in. This refers to the capacity to understand the object of your faith. Not completely per se, but you have to be able to say what you have faith in in order to have faith in it. This presumes an object of faith and an ability to articulate where you are aiming your faith.
assensus = assent
Once you understand what is being asked, you have to assent to what is being asked. Once you know the object of faith and comprehend the information of who that is, there is this step in the process which intellectually assents to it. This is agreeing with the terms and conditions. Assensus acknowledges it would be a good thing to do what is being asked. It has read and understood the terms and conditions and agrees in principle to them. It does not object to them or seek to qualify them in any capacity.
fiducia = trust
Fiducia is the final piece of the puzzle. It not only agrees that it would be good to obey, it obeys. It insists that you must know what the foundation is and understand where it is located. It agrees that it can hold and will hold whatever is built upon it. But it goes beyond mere assertion, it goes all the way and begins to actually build there. Fiducia is actually placing yourself on the foundation and letting it hold you. It is building upon it and nowhere else. It is moving any other building materials you have to this location and abandoning all other projects. It is placing your trust in this foundation as your only firmness and demonstrating it as such by throwing your everything onto it.
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