Sola Fide: Salvation by Faith Alone
Martin Luther
Those words would change the world.
A whole new branch of Christianity would rest their hope
on those words.
Sola fide. Faith alone.
Outside of the margin of Martin Luther's Bible and
outside of the translation that he made of the New Testament, are those words
actually in the Bible?
Have you ever wondered?
Of course not. Like me, you knew those words had to occur
several places in the New Testament. Why, that's what the New Testament is all
about.
They're there once. Well, almost there. In James 2:24.
"Non Sola Tantum"
Not by faith only.
The only occurrence of the phrase "faith alone"
in the Bible:
… not by faith only. (James 2:24)
Sola Fide the Bible way
People don't understand sola fide today. The Reformation
ruined it for them by applying sola fide to everything and every area of our
Christian walk.
The Bible does say "faith apart from works,"
and that is sola fide. However, the Bible also says "not by faith
alone," and that's true, too.
Church Overseers
Nowadays we use the word "bishop" to refer to
early church leaders. It comes from the Greek word episkopos, which means
overseer or supervisor.
Paul and Peter's churches were led by several elders, all
of whom were called episkopoi. John's churches also had several elders, but
only the head elder was the episkopos. We don't know how the other apostles set
up church leadership.
By the mid or late 2nd century, all churches were
following John's pattern.
Christian used to understand that. Polycarp, for example,
a church overseer appointed by the apostle John wrote:
By grace are ye saved, not of works, but by the will of
God through Jesus Christ. (Letter to the Philippians 1)
But he also wrote:
He who raised [Christ] up from the dead will raise us up
also, if we do his will and walk in his commandments. (ibid., ch. 2)
No, Polycarp wasn't confused, we are.
Our Confusion About Sola Fide
The "whole new branch of Christianity" spawned
by sola fide is not the Lutherans. It is the evangelicals, a word that applies
to most Protestant denominations, Lutheran or otherwise.
"Evangelicals" is a somewhat undefined word.
One book I read spent a whole chapter trying to define it. There are, however,
doctrines that mark believers as evangelical. Sola Fide is one of them. At the
very least, conservative evangelicals would hold to it.
Another doctrine held by evangelicals is Sola Scriptura,
the Scriptures as sole authority. For the most part, evangelical denominations
hold to Sola Scriptura in word only. In practice, they are relatively unmoved
by what the Scriptures say unless they verify the denomination's traditions.
This is especially true in the area of sola fide.
The Bible makes many statements that are contrary to
salvation by faith alone. In the more fundamental Evangelical churches you will
find yourself in disfavor if you make a habit of quoting them.
Do you want some examples?
1. You can't be
a Christian unless you forsake everything you have.
2. God will give
eternal life to those who pursue it by patiently continuing to do good.
3. Those who
don't get tired of doing good will eventually reap eternal life, as long as
they don't lose heart.
4. Be afraid
your whole life, because God will judge you by your works.
5. Immoral,
unclean, and covetous people will not have any inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ or of God.
I could list many more. Do you recognize any of the ones
I just listed?
1. Luke 14:33
2. Romans 2:6-7
3. Galatians 6:9
4. 1 Peter 1:17
5. Ephesians 5:5
I took most of these from Martin Luther's favorite
letters: Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians!
Let's look at the one I paraphrased the most, 1 Peter
1:17. It reads:
If you call on the Father, who impartiality judges
according to each one's work, pass the time of your travel here with fear.
Is it not fair to say that this tells you to fear your
whole life because you will be judged by your work?
I'm not suggesting that we should tremble in fear every
moment of our life. I am suggesting—because this verse commands it—that
whenever you are tempted, the knowledge that you will be judged by your works ought
to frighten and restrain you.
Here's the point. It doesn't frighten us!
Evangelicals—those that push the doctrine of sola fide—ignore, avoid, and water
down these verses. (I'm pushing this evangelical issue because I am one! I want
us to believe what the apostles taught and what the Bible says.)
They insist that verses like 1 Peter 1:17 have nothing to
do with salvation. "You'll just lose rewards," they say.
This isn't true.
Eternal Life in Paul's Letters
Anyone who has had any evangelism training in an
evangelical church knows that Christians already have eternal life. They don't
have to wait for it at the judgment.
"He who believes has [note the present tense]
eternal life," says Jesus in John 6:47.
That's John. Paul never uses eternal life in this way. In
the few places where it's clear, Paul always refers to eternal life as a future
reward (Rom. 2:7; 6:22; Gal. 6:8; 1 Tim. 6:19; Tit. 1:2; 3:7; the other 4 uses
are unclear).
On some issues it's important to distinguish between
authors, as we'll see below when we look at sola fide in James.
How Can Faith Only and Not Faith Only Both Be True?
Ah, finally. To the point.
Paul divides salvation into two stages.
1. One, we are
delivered from the world and from our bondage to sin. We are born again, and
made into new creatures in Christ. That happens by faith, apart from works.
2. Two, we live
our lives as Christians. The grace of God enables us to overcome sin (Rom.
6:14). The Spirit of God enables us to put our flesh to death (Rom. 8:13). Then
we die, and we are judged …
… by works apart from faith.
Does Paul really distinguish like that?
Consistently.
But let's look at the place where he most clearly
distinguishes between our salvation from the world and our entrance into
eternal life:
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall
be saved by his life. (Rom. 5:9-10)
Faith and works are not specifically mentioned here.
We'll look at those in a moment.
But look at how much is mentioned:
past tense: In
the past tense, Paul says we were reconciled and justified. He also says that
this was done by Jesus' death and by his blood.
future tense:
In the future tense, Paul says that we will be saved from wrath. This will
happen by his life, rather than by his death.
Jesus' death and blood are tied to our justification and
our reconciliation to God in the past. Similar words are used to refer to the
rest of our salvation experience in the past. We die to our old life, and in
baptism we are buried with Christ. Our salvation, in the sense of our entrance
into Christ, happens purely by faith, apart from works. We can never work
ourselves into being born again or into becoming new creatures.
Once that happens, however, we are told not to grow weary
in doing good (Gal. 6:9). We are told that we must live by the Spirit and put
to death the deeds of body (Rom. 8:13). This happens by Christ's life rather
than by his death. While the power belongs to Christ, the choice belongs to us.
If we live according to the flesh, we will die, we are told, but if we put to
death the deeds of the body, then we will live.
We can only put the deeds of the body to death by the
Spirit. We do not have the power otherwise. But the choice to live by the
Spirit is ours, and we are commanded repeatedly (especially in Rom. 8 and Gal.
5) to do so.
As Paul says, if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds
of the body, then (and only then) we will live. In Galatians 6:8-9, Paul ties
this to good works ("doing good"). If we don't grow weary in doing
good, then we will reap. The context makes it clear he is talking about reaping
eternal life at the judgment.
We Have Been Saved by Faith, and We Shall Be Saved by the
Good Works
(Which Are a Product of That Faith)
This is important, you should not miss it.
Paul does say that salvation is by faith apart from works
(sola fide), but he also often mentions works. Whenever he says salvation is by
faith, he is speaking in the past tense of our deliverance from sin and our new
birth in Jesus.
In contrast, whenever he says salvation is by works, he
is talking about the judgment and going to heaven.
This is absolutely consistent.
Let's use the letter to Titus as an example.
In chapter one, Paul writes, "They profess that they
know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit
for any good work" (v. 16).
Here, he is discussing currently living for Christ, and
he says that those without good works are not just unfit, but abominable. First
John uses the same sort of very direct talk. If there's no good works, then
there's no righteousness, imputed or otherwise (1 Jn. 3:7).
That is not sola fide!
But in chapter three, Paul talks about salvation in the
past tense, and he writes, "Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but by his mercy he has saved us" (v.5).
Again, it's what's happened to us in the past—our
deliverance from our old nature—that is sola fide. Once we are delivered, we
need to prove by our works that this is so.
I know how frightening it is for an Evangelical to say
that we have something to prove by our works. However, the Bible talks about
proving ourselves by our works repeatedly.
They profess to
know God, but in works they deny him. (Tit. 1:16)
… in all
things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works. (Tit. 2:7)
A man may say,
"You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your
works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:18)
Who is a wise
man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show by his behavior his works
in the meekness of wisdom. (James 3:13)
[Jesus
speaking] "Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, for I have
not found your works perfect before God… . You have a few names, even in
Sardis, who have not defiled their garments, and they will walk with me in
white, for they are worthy." (Rev. 3:2,4)
We need to understand that sola fide, faith alone,
applies only to being created anew—born again—by Jesus. For Christians, that is
something that happened in the past.
Now, though, as Paul says, "Affirm [these things]
constantly, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to maintain
good works" (Tit. 3:8).
What About Other Writers?
The other New Testament authors are not Paul. Paul is the
consummate theologian. He carefully explains sola fide and explains where it
applies.
The other New Testament writers do not. They tie all of
salvation together, and they talk about faith and works together, slipping
easily from one to the other.
Thank God for Paul. He explains things and breaks things
down for us. On the other hand, his long and careful explanations can be
difficult to follow.
So thank God for the other authors, too. They don't
explain things as precisely, but they're much easier to understand.
We evangelicals overemphasize precise explanations and
doctrinal accuracy on side issues.
James, for example, is extremely easy to understand. We
evangelicals like to say that James 2:14-26, his passage on faith and works, is
difficult, but we only say that because we don't agree with it. Really, it's
very simple. If you have faith and not works, you won't be saved. How hard is
that to understand?
The problem is that we've developed a theology, sola
fide, that doesn't allow us to believe it.
In that sense, we are following in Martin Luther's
footsteps. He believed Romans 3:28 and James 2:24 could never be reconciled. So
in his introduction to the New Testament, he calls James "an epistle of
straw" that has "nothing of the nature of the Gospel about it."
Now that's a novel way to reconcile Bible passages!
Sola Fide: The True and the Mythical
Even though the Bible never directly says sola fide, or
faith alone, except to deny it in James 2:24, sola fide is clearly biblical.
For example, Paul writes:
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
(Eph. 2:8)
This is definitely sola fide, faith completely apart from
works.
However, this is not Paul's only word on the matter.
Works are obviously important to him because in the same letter he warns the
Christians of Ephesus that immoral, unclean, and covetous people do not have
any inheritance in God's kingdom (5:5). We cannot say works don't matter.
There's some other things that we should stop saying.
It's common for Evangelicals to say, "It's faith
plus nothing. You can't add anything to faith."
In the past tense, if you're talking about how we entered
Christ, then it's true that it's faith plus nothing. However, once that happens
you not only can, but must, add to faith. It's a direct Biblical command!
Add to your faith virtue … (2 Pet. 1:5, NKJV)
Virtue's not the only thing we're supposed to add to
faith. We're also supposed to add knowledge, self-control, perseverance,
godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.
If we don't, and if we don't do so diligently, we won't
enter Jesus' everlasting Kingdom.
That's what 2 Peter 1:5-11 says, anyway.
A Little Help with the Shock
I know the things written on this page may be shocking.
Let me try to help.
First, what I'm telling you is what everyone in the
apostles' churches believed. Do you remember me telling you about Polycarp, the
bishop of Smyrna appointed by the apostle John? He said that we're saved by
grace and not works, but then turned around and also said that God would raise
us up with Christ only if we keep his commandments and do his will.
Polycarp's words fit Paul's pattern perfectly. When he
speaks in the past tense of our salvation, he says it's by grace and not works.
When he speaks of our resurrection and entrance into the Kingdom in the future,
he talks about works only.
Absolutely consistent.
Second, though it's breathtaking to think we might be
wrong on such an important issue—and evangelicals generally assume they're
right on everything—we've really just applied a truth too widely. Sola fide is
true. We simply haven't understood that it's true about being born again only.
It's not true when applied to the judgment.
A Little Story
Keith Green—the famous Christian singer who died in
1982—has a live album out with his song about the sheep and the goats of
Matthew 25 on it. When Keith gets done singing it on the album, he bangs on the
piano and says, "The only difference between the sheep and the goats is
what they did … and didn't … DO!"
The first time I heard that, I was shocked. In fact, I
was offended. He couldn't say that! It's a complete violation of sola fide.
As I thought about it over the years I got over my
offense. How could I be offended? He was correct!
Nearly a decade later I was driving through Tyler, Texas
listening to Christian radio. The station was making appeals for donations to a
food bank for the poor.
As the two hosts talked, one of them brought up the
judgment of the sheep and the goats. It was a natural fit because it focuses on
things like feeding the hungry. As they talked, one of them mentioned that the
only difference between those that go to heaven and those that go to hell—at least
in Matthew 25—is their works.
Once it came out of his mouth, there was silence. He had
suddenly realized what he had said, and he was horrified.
He stammered and fumbled around trying to take it back. I
laughed as I listened. "You'll never be able to take it back, my
friend," I said to my radio. "It's true, and God won't let us miss
it."
A Final Word: Grace
Think of this section as a sort of appendix. I have to
mention grace.
Grace is often used today as a synonym for mercy. We
think that because salvation is by grace, then we don't have to do good works.
We are completely misunderstanding grace!
There's an excellent description of grace in the letter
to Titus:
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to
all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. (2:11-12)
That's clear, isn't it?
Paul adds that sin won't have power over us because of
grace (Rom. 6:14). The writer of Hebrews tells us that grace helps us in time
of need (4:16).
Grace is different than mercy. Mercy is wonderful on its
own. Thank God for mercy. We don't need another word for it. We need grace to
be what it is.
Grace is a power from God that teaches us, that gives us
power over sin, that helps us in time of need, and that equips us with
spiritual gifts to do God's work (1 Pet. 4:10).
Think of that when next you quote Ephesians 2:8. It may
not be the sweet (but false) thought that God will simply overlook sin if we're
born again, but it's a much better thought. Picture the power inherent in these
verses when you actually understand what grace is:
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has
ordained in advance for us to walk in. (Eph. 2:8-10)
It's by grace you are saved. That wonderful power from God
breaks sin's power over us and allows us to be created in Christ Jesus for good
works. The very purpose of grace is to produce a people for Christ that are
zealous for good works (Tit. 2:11-14).
We should think of these things the next time we use grace
as an excuse for our worldliness.
https://www.christian-history.org/sola-fide.html
