Four important approaches must be distinguished:
1. Deeds included in faith: If obedience forms part of faith's definition, more obedience means more faith.
2. Decisive assent: If faith's essence is indivisible certainty, that essence does not rise and fall.
3. Strength of conviction: Some allow greater or lesser strength within assent itself.
4. General and detailed assent: The foundational commitment may be one, while the number of separately known and affirmed matters grows.
Each claim depends on its own sense of “faith.” A terminological distinction should not be mistaken for one simple shared assertion.