Free Republic

Sola Scriptura Needs Sola Fide, and How to Refute Both At the suggestion of Father Dave Nix, I recently read the short work by Joel Peters entitled “Scripture Alone? 21 Reasons to Reject Sola Scriptura.” It is a fast read and probably the most crushing blow to Protestantism I have ever read. You simply cannot argue with Peters’s logic and the historical facts he presents (it is well sourced), not to mention all of the Scripture he cites. Having been a Protestant before converting to the Catholic Church, I was not shocked by anything I read, but I was delighted...

Some time ago, I read the short book Are We Together? A Protestant Analyzes Catholicism written by the late Reformed preacher R.C. Sproul. It was a good read; I thought that Sproul treated this controversy with a degree of fairness and accuracy that was not present in other books that I have read on this subject. He basically laid the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Westminster Confession side-by-side as he worked through the major differences. Sure, there were some snarky comments here and there but I overlooked these since it was clear that the book was being targeted...

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...

Lines from the Lord's Prayer, in various languages. From the Eucharist Door at the Glory Facade of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. It's Lent in Rome. That means it's time for one of the great Roman traditions: station churches. Each morning, English-speaking pilgrims walk to a different church for Mass. This morning, on the way to St. Anastasia's, I was once again struck by a line in the Our Father: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” That's a hard thing to pray, It doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room. Even the Catechism...

Faith is not alone, Scripture is not alone, Grace is not alone. We ought not separate what God has joined. By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere are a lot of “solos” sung by our Protestant brethren: Sola Fide (saved by faith alone), Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone is the rule of faith), and sola gratia (grace alone). (See the Protestant logo to the right.) Generally, one ought to be suspicious and careful of claims that things work “alone.” It is our usual experience that many things work together in harmony, that things are interrelated. Very seldom is anyone or anything “alone.”The problem of...

In June of this year, the largest Presbyterian denomination in America voted to allow their clergy to perform same-sex “marriages” within the church, thus joining the ranks of other Protestant denominations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Episcopalian Church, and United Church of Christ.This “evolution” of theology and “modernizing” of church doctrine is a trend that I predict we’ll continue to see in non-Catholic Christian circles for years to come, and not just with marriage. Today, nearly all Protestant denominations support and even advocate the use of artificial birth control, and many allow at least some level of support for...

"Grace is not a reward for faith; faith is the result of grace." - John Blanchard "Saving faith is not a native product of the human heart, but is a spiritual grace communicated from on High." - A.W. Pink, http://bit.ly/drXWnO "It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ.... It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively, not int he act of faith or the attitude of faith or in the nature of faith, but in the object of faith." - B. B. Warfield...

In the letters of the apostle Paul, the doctrine of justification is that wonderful biblical teaching that God accepts us as righteous in Christ and forgives our sins when we receive him by faith alone. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states this teaching quite succinctly and accurately when it says, "Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone" (Q. 33). Paul's Teaching The apostle Paul refutes those who erroneously think that God saves...

“All you gotta do is say this prayer.” Really? If you just say these magic words you’re saved? Think again or, actually, read again…read the Gospels again, the book of Acts again and the Epistles again and guess what you’ll find? Not once does Jesus or any of his followers ever lead one person through “the sinner’s prayer” for salvation! Saying a prayer never saved anybody. It’s faith alone in Christ alone based on his finished work on the cross that regenerates the lost soul, nothing else. I was once on a national radio show where a guy called in...

Jesus' Perspective on Sola Fida by John MacArthur Many who have embraced "the New Perspective on Paul" are also proposing a different slant on the doctrine of justification by faith. When the text of Scripture is interpreted in the new light, they say, Pauline support for the principle of sola fide [faith alone], the doctrine of imputation, and the distinction between law and gospel doesn't seem quite so strong. We say that's nonsense. We reject the historical and hermeneutical revisionism of the New Perspective, but regardless of how one interprets the apostle Paul, it is quite clear that Jesus...

We dance around this topic each time on the RF of FR, so let's have a focused discussion on this Is sola fide scriptural or unscriptural? Let's take a few verses from scripture in context: Matthew 25:31-46 - 31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand,...

What does it mean when we say that the gospel is historical? Dr. Tim Keller explains: The gospel is historical . . . The word “gospel” shows up twice [1 Peter 1:1-12, 1:22-2:12]. Gospel actually means “good news.” You see it spelled out a little bit when it says “he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”. Why do we say that the gospel is good news? Some years ago, I heard a tape series I am sure was never put into print by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. It was an...

CANON 6. If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock, but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will, or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he...

There are many who press that we are saved by “faith alone,” yet it is surprising that most of them will not defend such teaching in an open forum. When we look at the Bible’s teaching on salvation, it should be evident that we agree on at least two principles. First, we must accept only what the Bible says on the subject. Second, we must accept all that the Bible says on the subject. It is clear that, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8)....

Justification by Faith Alone(The Forensic Nature of Justification) In the popular jargon of religion the word "forensic" is used infrequently. The term is not foreign to ordinary language, however, as it is used regularly in newspaper and other media reports, particularly with reference to criminal investigations and trials. The work of criminal pathologists and coroners often touch on what is called forensic medicine and/or forensic evidence. Here the term "forensic" refers to matters that concern the judicial system and judicial proceedings. A second manner in which the term "forensic" is used in ordinary language has to do with public speaking....

A Triumph and a Tragedy by James Akin I broke off a piece of the popsicle in my hand and placed it carefully in the mouth of my dying wife. Renee lay on her back, restless in the hospital bed, suffering from an advanced case of colon cancer which we had discovered a little more than a month before. She ate several more pieces of popsicle as I broke them off for her, then said she could eat no more, so I let her rest. When our parish priest arrived he and I went into a conference room down the...