Sola Fide: Faith Alone

And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.  Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?  And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved… (Acts 16:29-31)

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (Romans 4:1-8)

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.  Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?  Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed.  So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.  Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for The righteous shall live by faith.  But the law is not of faith, rather The one who does them shall live by them.  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:1-14)

Of all the issues raised by Luther, and the other reformers, it is the truth of justification (for simplicity’s sake, being acceptable to God) by faith without the aid or contribution of good works that aroused the anger of the powers that were.  It is precisely the recovery of this Biblical truth that injected a newfound vitality, zeal and fervency into the churches that were influenced by the reformers and their prodigies.

Exactly what is Sola Fide, or faith alone.  It is simply this, as seen in the scriptures above: one gains entrance into eternal bliss in God’s presence by being justified (a declaration of righteousness) on the basis of faith without merit.  This justification is not earned, it is a gift of God’s grace, and one is connected to that grace solely by faith.  It is Christ’ righteousness that justifies us and faith connects us with that Christ.

I have cited three texts from the New Testament that testify to this.  In the first one, from Acts 16, Paul and Silas has been imprisoned for their preaching of the gospel.  An earthquake had come and destroyed the prison, yet the duo did not attempt to escape.  The jailer had heard them singing and praising God while they were imprisoned.  After discovering that they had not escaped, the jailer asked the two, “What shall I do to be saved?”  Paul did not respond with “confess to a Priest”, “do this and do that”, “walk forward when the pastor makes the altar call”, or “pray this little prayer”.  He responded with “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and all your household.”  It was simply on the basis of faith that this man would be saved.

In the second scripture, the apostle (under divine inspiration) shows us that this doctrine is not anything new to the New Testament era.  Abraham “believed God and it was credited to Him into righteousness”.  This event that Paul is referring to is found in Genesis 15.  God gave Abraham a promise, he believed that promise, and God called him righteous because of that.  This was before he was circumcised or did any good work.  It was not a wage, but a gift.   It is the same with us.  God will regard us as righteous, because of His son, solely on the grounds of faith

In the third instance, from Galatians, Paul makes it clear why it can only be by faith, particularly in vv. 10-14.  You see, if you rely on the law (your own efforts to merit God’s favor and to be accepted by Him) you are under a curse, because for you to do this, you must never, never, never fail at even the smallest point.  No amount of penance, good works or sacrifice can undo failure in one point.  God is infinitely holy so even a “finite” offense is infinite in light of that.  As we saw yesterday, this is not something we can do–we are sinners who sin and need someone outside of ourselves to bring us life and rescue us.  That curse, the curse of being under God’s wrath, was absorbed by Christ Jesus such that all who look to Him by faith shall enjoy this freedom.  He became a substitute for all who would look unto Him.  To declare that I can add to what Christ did by my own efforts or merits not only downplays the glory of His voluntary sacrifice, but is downright blasphemous as it says, in essence, that we can do better than God.

What is this faith?  Well, God gave Abraham a promise, and because he believed it, be placed his confidence not in himself, but in God who saves.  That is faith, it is placing our confidence and hope in Him and not ourselves, and even that faith is a gift that comes from God.  William Carey summed it up on his gravestone, “A wretched, poor and helpless worm, on Thy kind arms I fall”.

As evangelicals, we are guilty, in some ways, of denying this great truth.  Often, one is not regarded as “saved” until they have performed some sort of act, such as a “sinner’s prayer”, going forward after the sermon and such.  In fact, in some places–especially here in the Bible belt–these acts are almost rites of coming of age and not a looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ.  Requiring such things of people to be saved is a salvation by works.  While one might express their faith in such a way, such things must never, never, never be preached as required for one to be saved.  All one must do is place confidence in Him, and cease striving, and then he (or she of course) shall be given eternal life, righteousness, sanctification, glorification and be called an heir of God in Christ–a son of God.  It’s true, it offends the pride of mankind as we “want to make our own way”, but that is one reason it sounds as foolishness.  We must not be ashamed of that foolishness, but embrace it, for the foolishness of God is far greater than the wisdom of the wisest man.    Justification by faith apart from works is not something that is optional, for without it, we shall fall as our confidence will be in ourselves.

I leave you with the thoughts from the Cambridge Declaration:

We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice.

We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ’s righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.