Posted on 06/04/2017 12:29:15 PM PDT by ealgeone
Question: "Why is sola fide important?"
Answer: Sola fide which means "faith alone" is important because it is one of the distinguishing characteristics or key points that separate the true biblical Gospel from false gospels. At stake is the very Gospel itself and it is therefore a matter of eternal life or death. Getting the Gospel right is of such importance that the Apostle Paul would write in Galatians 1:9, “As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” Paul was addressing the same question that sola fide addresses—on what basis is man declared by God to be justified? Is it by faith alone or by faith combined with works? Paul makes it clear in Galatians and Romans that man is “justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law” (Galatians 2:16), and the rest of the Bible concurs.
Sola fide is one of the five solas that came to define and summarize the key issues of the Protestant Reformation. Each of these Latin phrases represents a key area of doctrine that was an issue of contention between the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church, and today they still serve to summarize key doctrines essential to the Gospel and to Christian life and practice. The Latin word sola means “alone” or “only” and the essential Christian doctrines represented by these five Latin phrases accurately summarize the biblical teaching on these crucial subjects: sola scriptura—Scripture alone, sola fide—faith alone, sola gratia—grace alone, sola Christus—Christ alone, and sola Deo gloria—for the glory of God alone. Each one is vitally important, and they are all closely tied together. Deviation from one will lead to error in another essential doctrine, and the result will almost always be a false gospel which is powerless to save.
Sola fide or faith alone is a key point of difference between not only Protestants and Catholics but between biblical Christianity and almost all other religions and teachings. The teaching that we are declared righteous by God (justified) on the basis of our faith alone and not by works is a key doctrine of the Bible and a line that divides most cults from biblical Christianity. While most religions and cults teach men what works they must do to be saved, the Bible teaches that we are not saved by works, but by God’s grace through His gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Biblical Christianity is distinct from every other religion in that it is centered on what God has accomplished through Christ’s finished work, while all other religions are based on human achievement. If we abandon the doctrine of justification by faith, we abandon the only way of salvation. “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness" (Romans 4:4-5). The Bible teaches that those that trust Jesus Christ for justification by faith alone are imputed with His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21), while those who try to establish their own righteousness or mix faith with works will receive the punishment due to all who fall short of God’s perfect standard.
Sola fide—the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works—is simply recognizing what is taught over and over in Scripture—that at some point in time God declares ungodly sinners righteous by imputing Christ’s righteousness to them (Romans 4:5, 5:8, 5:19). This happens apart from any works and before the individual actually begins to become righteous. This is an important distinction between Catholic theology that teaches righteous works are meritorious towards salvation and Protestant theology that affirms the biblical teaching that righteous works are the result and evidence of a born-again person who has been justified by God and regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit.
How important is sola fide? It is so important to the Gospel message and a biblical understanding of salvation that Martin Luther described it as being “the article with and by which the church stands.” Those who reject sola fide reject the only Gospel that can save them and by necessity embrace a false gospel. That is why Paul so adamantly denounces those who taught law-keeping or other works of righteousness in Galatians 1:9 and other passages. Yet today this important biblical doctrine is once again under attack. Too often sola fide is relegated to secondary importance instead of being recognized as an essential doctrine of Christianity, which it certainly is.
“Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’ Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Galatians 3:6-11).
He also said, as I have demonstrated, that we will be judged by our actions. It is not either/or but both/and. To deny or ignore what our Lord is clearly saying is glossing over it.
But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Galatians 3:1-29 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.
To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Are you claiming that I eat food sacrificed to to idols or engage in sexual immorality? Or are you saying that these are the only sins that are forbidden. I do not see murder or theft on the list. Are these OK then? And if one were to engage in sexual immorality does that negate his faith?
The letter in Acts was addressing the controversy in Antioch on the question of whether the Gentile converts had to be circumcised and obey the Mosaic Law. The answer was no. To expand this to be a summation of the entire faith is foolishness.
The process of sanctification is an on-going effort, and no one, except Christ, will be sinless for even a day this side of Glory.
A Christian can and does sin, but will not live habitually in sin, will grieve over his sin, and will confess his sins to God. Otherwise, regardless of how he identifies himself, he is not a Christian.
Romans 7:7-25 (NASB)
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”
But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.
I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;
and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;
for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
1 John 1:5-10 (NASB)
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
Perhaps it is an understanding of what is meant by faith.
Many people claim to have faith but it’s only intellectual assent, not genuine trust that’s saving faith.
There are two ways of looking at the question.
One is that one persists in wantonly sinning as if nothing at all had happened in their conversion. And perhaps that’s what he was thinking of when he answered the question.
The other is that that we all do persist in our sins, although not wantonly. Yes, then faith still does save that person.
But I expounded on that some because we all sin all the time so in a sense, we are all persisting in our sins.
When we are born again, we are given a new sinless nature and yet the old sinful nature still resides in the flesh we inhabit. The new nature does not sin and hates sin. The old nature sins and loves it.
When we are weak, we tend to give in to the old nature more readily and hence, we sin. That grieves the new nature and sets up in us the stress that Paul described in Romans 7.
And even though we continue in sin and some people struggle mightily, the fact is, they struggle because they hate the sin.
If someone sins without the conscience being disturbed, they are not saved.
So, yes, we can and do persist in sin and are still saved.
But from another perspective, no, we cannot persist in wanton sin without the internal struggle and think we’re saved.
It is not both/and; it is cause/effect. One does the good works of God because he is saved, he does not do the good works to be saved.
As John said, "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19, KJV)
I said no such thing. Or I intended to say no such thing. I refused to answer the question because it was a gotcha question.
Believe it or not, what you have written is not far from what Catholics believe. Within Catholic theology, when we speak of faith we merely mean intellectual assent. Thus the importance we place on charity (love) and works, which are only made possible by faith. This is why I ask questions to try to get behind the vocabulary and understand what others actually believe.
Yes, we all do sin from time to time but if we turn back to God with sorrow for our sins and a sincere purpose of amendment (no matter how imperfect we know our actual efforts will be) then through faith our sins will be forgiven.
I am sure we will still disagree on how the sacraments of Baptism and Confession work in the scheme of things but there is no reason to invent disagreements where none exist.
I refuse to join you in sin. To deny God to put the Blessed Virgin Mary, or anyone else for that matter, dead or alive, ANYWHERE HE WANTS THEM, is to DENY that He is God and to DENY so many of His works as they are proclaimed in the Bible that it makes a person a heretic! Repent, confess, and amend your life before God does.
Ah, from your comment, it appears that you believe in predestination, because that is exactly what you described.
I think that you misunderstand the Catholic teaching on faith and works. Good works are indeed an effect of faith but faith (intellectual assent) can exist without the effect of good works. This is what James condemned.
Despite constantly being so charged, Catholics do not believe that one does good works to be saved. This is a pure grace that comes from faith. The value of good works comes after salvation in the continual effort of sanctification.
I agree with your post 516. On the question of whether or not there’s a paradox between James 2 and Ephesians 2, though, I hate to say anything that reminds us of Bill Clinton’s bad conduct here, but that just may depend on what definition of “paradox” one uses. I always heard in school that a paradox was something that seemed to be contradictory, but wasn’t, and that was what made it distinct from a contradiction. If there isn’t a word that means that, there should be, because many things can seem to be contradictory, but actually aren’t. I agree that’s the case between James 2 and Ephesians 2. And maybe the apparent contradiction between the two could be called a paradox because a paradox is actually more than one thing, according to Merriam-Webster, and those things aren’t really consistent, which is pretty odd:
Definition of paradox
1: a tenet contrary to received opinion
2a : a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true
b : a self-contradictory statement that at first seems true
c : an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises
3: one (such as a person, situation, or action) having seemingly contradictory qualities or phases
It sounds to me like 2a and 3 might describe the situation between Ephesians 2 and James 2.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paradox
I just copy and pasted your response from you post #553. It was not a gotcha question but a sincere attempt to understand what you believe so that I can give an honest response.
Stay safe out there!
No; Victim; it HAS been applied to BOTH Catholic and Protestants over the years that I have been on FR.
Joseph Smith made up a rule and applied it only to his ‘oppressors’.
The paradox exist if you look at them out of context, and do not take into account what the authors are trying to address. In context, there is no paradox. Ephesians 2:10 clearly states we were saved by faith for good works. James 2 says that works show faith. It is cause and effect, not faith plus works.
But; if he gets BANNED; he has TREMENDOUS street cred in SLC!!
Them nasty Mackeral snappers and Prots are PERSECUTING us MORMONS on FR!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.