The term Sola Fide has been thrown around by many different sects within Christendom. What does it mean to be justified by faith alone? As the Augsburg Confession outlines:
Also they teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4.
AC IV
This doctrine however, has been misunderstood and misrepresented by both Protestants and Roman Catholics alike. Since it is Reformation Sunday, I thought it would be fitting to take a look at what the Lutheran Confessions have to say about Sola Fide. To this end, we turn to the Apology of the Augsburg Confession.
Righteousness of the Law
Human reason naturally understands that to be favoured by God or attain salvation, one has to do so by meeting the standards of the Law in some sense. This is a universal theme in all religions, as the Law is divinely written in the hearts of men (Romans 2:14-15). The Apology of the Augsburg Confession points out that the natural law agrees with the law of Moses (i.e. the Ten Commandments). In the Ten Commandments, God does not demand only ‘outward civil works’ from the second table of the law, but also to fear, love, and trust in God ‘in death and in all afflictions’ (Ap IV 7).
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37-40
While it is possible for us to do outward civil works required by the law, we are unable to do the entire work as perfectly and completely as it demands. Moreover, we are unable to love God without the Holy Spirit. As a result, it is impossible to be righteous before God by our own strength as He also judges the heart, and anything not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). The virtuous works done outside of faith are thus nullified, since they are done with a wicked heart.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God
Romans 3:23
All men are under sin and are thus subject to eternal wrath and condemnation, and cannot be freed from this by their own strength. How will anyone be saved and justified before God?
The Righteousness of Faith
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:24-26
Justification is thereby obtained by the free promise in Christ, which is apprehended by faith (Ap IV 43). Christ is set as our ‘Mediator and Propitiator’ against God’s Wrath, without any merit or worthiness on our part (AC IV 46). This justifies the believer and brings about the remission of sins, reconciling him to God. As a result, it regenerates him and bring about the Holy Spirit, by which he is able to fulfill the law by truly loving God and mortifying the flesh (Ap IV 45).
What is faith?
Many Protestants today, together with the Roman Catholics, see faith as a mere intellectual assent to historical knowledge of Christ. This is how Roman Catholics are able to teach that faith can coexist with mortal sin and why Baptists are opposed to baptizing children. It was also the underlying assumption that would spark the Easy Believism vs Lordship Salvation debate (Both positions are wrong, by the way).
Melanchthon points out that faith cannot be just a historical assent as even the demons have historical knowledge of Christ.
…but it is to assent to the promise of God, in which, for Christ’s sake, the remission of sins and justification are freely offered. It is the certainty or the certain trust in the heart, when, with my whole heart, I regard the promises of God as certain and true, through which there are offered me, without my merit, the forgiveness of sins, grace, and all salvation, through Christ the Mediator. And that no one may suppose that it is mere knowledge, we will add further: it is to wish and to receive the offered promise of the remission of sins and of justification. Faith is that my whole heart takes to itself this treasure. It is not my doing, not my presenting or giving, not my work or preparation, but that a heart comforts itself, and is perfectly confident with respect to this, namely, that God makes a present and gift to us, and not we to Him, that He sheds upon us every treasure of grace in Christ.
Ap IV 48
Hence, we are to take note that when speaking of justifying faith, 3 things concur (Ap IV 53):
- The promise
- Grace
- Christ’s merits as the price and propitiation
When a promise is made by God, we receive it by faith. This is by the grace of God and is only offered to us by His mercy, thereby excluding merits of our own. This is paid for with the merits earned by Christ on the cross as propitiation for our sins is necessary. Faith is thus not a work that merits anything in itself, but that it receives the promise of the forgiveness of sins that Christ earns for us on the cross by the grace of God.
Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
Romans 4:16
Drawing from Romans 4:16, Melanchthon demonstrates that St. Paul has connected faith and the promise of God together, making it necessary for a promise to be made in order for faith to apprehend it.
What about James?
Roman Catholic apologists commonly cite James 2:24 as the verse that contradicts Sola Fide. I would often hear them say “the only place where faith alone is mentioned in the Bible is when James says that man is justified by works and not faith alone”.
This is not a new argument as Melanchthon has addressed it in the Apology as well. He argues (Ap V 128) that in this James is speaking against ‘idle and secure minds’ who think they have faith when they do not, as he makes a distinction between a dead and living faith (v. 20). A dead faith does not bring forth good works or the fruits of the spirit that St. Paul mentions in Galatians 5:22-23, while a living faith brings forth good works. Moreover, James had already spoken about how regeneration occurs through the Gospel:
Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
James 1:8
Hence, James does not think that we are born again by our works, but that faith and love go together in the Christian life.
Conclusion
Justification is the doctrine on which the Church stands or falls. These days when churches claim to believe in Sola Fide they do not necessarily believe the same thing as I have explained here. They might have a different definition of faith and consequently cannot understand how baptismal regeneration ties in with this. We did not manage to cover it in depth in this blog, but Sola Fide is not a new doctrine and Melanchthon does cite the testimony of the Church Fathers in the apology. I suggest reading the full document for yourself.
