View 1 — inward assent: Faith's essential reality is heartfelt acceptance.
View 2 — assent plus profession: Both inward assent and verbal declaration occur in the definition.
View 3 — assent, profession, and works: Some scholars give a broader definition that includes obedience by the limbs.
View 4 — profession alone: This view faces the objection from outward hypocrisy.
The mainstream formulations do not imply that duties cease to bind or sins cease to matter. Their technical difference concerns which components enter the definition of faith and which are its conditions, consequences, or perfections.