Sola Fide (Faith Alone): The Past, Present, and Future Hope of the Gospel (Part II/II)
by Kevin L. Hester
This is part two of two. See part one here.
Implications of Sola Fide
The distinct understanding of salvation embodied in Sola fide continues today in those committed to their reformation heritage. The history of this thought is an interesting story surrounding a particular reading of Scripture which led to an event that would usher in the modern world. But that was 500 years ago. What relevance does it have for one’s relationship with Christ now? Does it still matter? As you would likely expect coming from a professor of historical theology and someone interested enough to write this article, I think the answer to this question is “yes.”
Below I offer three reasons why I think this doctrine is still important. No doubt, many could be added and several others have been referenced in the material we have seen above. I believe this doctrine is essential to the gospel. It ties us to the incarnation of Christ and His saving work. It outlines the human experience of salvation in an eschatological “already/not yet” that teaches us that though good works can never merit our salvation they will naturally flow from our experience of faith. Finally, our hope rests in Christ, and we can therefore have confidence that “he who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it” (Phil. 1:6).
The principle of sola fide is central to the preservation of the gospel.
In his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, Martin Luther calls justification by faith alone “the principal article of all Christian doctrine.”[1] Thus, for Luther and for Protestants, the reformation was primarily concerned with the retrieval and proclamation of the gospel. The doctrine that faith alone justifies the sinner insures that no one can add to the Biblical requirements of salvation (Rev. 22:19) and that no one can take away from us the hope we have in Christ (Jn. 10:28-29).
This is a lesson that the Church must continually relearn. Augustine partially corrected Pelagius, and Luther was responding in his day to a church that taught that receiving its works (sacraments) and doing good works would result in salvation. But such works-based-righteousness is not confined to Roman Catholicism.
It is a human fault based upon our tendency to judge the exterior by visible signs and our inability to judge the heart. It was not in the Catholic Church that legalistic Fundamentalism arose. Likewise, a number of Protestant churches in contradiction to this doctrine have continued to proclaim the necessity of baptism for salvation. The church must continue to resist such teachings to preserve the gospel. Any gospel that asserts works as a means to salvation runs counter to the Word of God and the principle of justification by faith alone and is therefore a false gospel to be resisted by all means possible (Gal. 1:8-9).
The principle of sola fide, provides the present assurance of our salvation.
One of the reasons that legalism is so tempting is because humans often seek external means by which to verify their internal spiritual condition. While some religious persons boast in their works, Scripture makes clear that our works are never performed without the taint of sin and could therefore never be acceptable to God (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:10). The vanity of human works in comparison with the perfection of justice is what drove Luther to despair in his salvation. He recognized that he could never be righteous enough to satisfy God. But then he realized that he did not have to. Our salvation rests not in works but in the righteousness of our perfect Lord and Redeemer. By virtue of our union with Christ in faith, His righteousness becomes ours as He takes our sins upon Himself.
We need not trust this provision only at the beginning of salvation. Salvation by faith alone means that even in the midst of our sinfulness, before and after conversion, the ground of our salvation is in Christ alone and continues to be appropriated by faith alone. Luther spoke often on the present assurance of salvation for the believer in Christ (a new concept). He described the believer in Christ as simul iustus et peccator (at the same time justified and a sinner). Timothy George explains, “with respect to our fallen human condition we are, and always will be in this life, sinners. . . . We have already been before God’s judgment seat and have been acquitted—on account of Christ. Hence we are also always righteous.”[2]
The believer is thus loosed from the bondage of defining his or her faith by works and can live a life of freedom in Christ. This life of freedom, far from antinomianism,[3] will manifest itself in holiness and good works done out of thanksgiving rather than slavish expectation. “Since we no longer carry the intolerable burden of self-justification, we are free ‘to be Christ’s unto one another,’ to expend ourselves on behalf of one another, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us.”[4]
The principle of sola fide bears the eschatological promise of our future salvation.
Because of the testimony of Scripture and the Spirit that the believer is united to Christ and His benefits, the principle of justification by faith alone allows the believer an assurance of salvation in the present. It also means that the believer can rest in his future salvation as long as true faith continues to manifest itself in his or her life.[5]
Despite the withering corruption of this world, despite the depravity of the human heart and the teetering psychological security of the fallen mind, the doctrine of salvation by faith alone rests our salvation upon the very bedrock of the Christian faith and the God of all creation. Not without purpose does the Apostle’s Creed join belief in the resurrection of the flesh and eternal life together with Christ’s work in redemption and the covenantal designs of the Almighty Creator. As John Calvin says, “The salvation of all the elect is as certain as God’s power is invincible.”[6] We trust our salvation to this great God and to Him alone. Soli Deo Gloria.
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About the Author: Kevin Hester is the Dean of the School of Theology at Welch College and member of the Free Will Baptist Commission for Theological Integrity.
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[1] Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (Cambridge: Hames Clarke, 1953), 143.
[2] George, 71.
[3] Largely out of a fear of antinomianism did Zwingli and the other Zurich reformers remain relatively silent on the issue of justification by faith alone (see McGrath, Reformation Thought, 111-12).
[4] George, 73.
[5] This connection between faith and the promise of God’s covenant of redemption with humanity are made clear by John Calvin: “Now we shall have a right definition of faith if we say that it is a steady and certain knowledge of the divine benevolence toward us, which is founded upon the truth of the gracious promise of God in Christ, and is both revealed to our minds and sealed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.2.7).
[6] John Calvin, Commentary on John 10:28; quoted in George, 227.
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