Sola Fide
Sola Fide (Faith Alone)
This is the teaching on which the church stands or falls.
The First and Chief Article
{21}But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, {22}even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; {23}for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, {24}being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, {25}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, {26}to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. {27}Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. {28}Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. (Rom. 3:21-28)
For Lutherans this teaching of justification by faith alone must be upheld in its entirety, for to lose this one article of our faith is to lose the very foundation upon which all depends in the salvation of man and in the spiritual war against the enemies of the cross of our Lord Jesus.
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For more on this understanding, see how Luther emphasizes this point in the Smalcald Articles, IV, 5.
Careful Distinctions Needed
One Anglican Phillip Cary has written about Martin Luther that while Luther believed in Sola Fide, his view was not quite like what many Protestants think today. And he’s right. For Lutherans today, and as Luther taught about Faith, we understand Sola Fide in this way:
Apart from our own works, we trust in God’s Word of promise alone, that we are received by God for Christ’s sake (because of His obedience).
But sadly, for most Protestants today, the slogan “Faith Alone” has come to mean something quite different. Protestants view faith primarily from the vantage point of adult conversion experiences. Conversion is seen as a change of mind, of being convinced in one’s heart that
I am a sinner.
This is a trustworthy statement of the human condition before God.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
This too is a trustworthy statement confessed by all Christians.
Christ died for my sins on the cross.
While this may not seem controversial to Lutherans and many other Christians, it is a bold truth that some in Christendom are careful to avoid saying in this way:
- Saying that Christ died for “my sins” greatly oversimplifies what many Protestants think today about “Faith Alone,” for the specific teaching about the scope and full extent of those for whom Christ died differs in various theological systems.
- A strict Calvinist, for example, cannot know with certainty (as long as he continues to struggle with sin in his heart and life and simultaneously takes seriously the threat of Divine judgment against such sin) that his sins are covered by the death of Christ, unless he first knows with certain knowledge that he is one of those elected by God for salvation from the foundation of the world (something few people would claim to know). Instead of believing beyond a shadow of a doubt that “Christ died for my sins on the cross,” he can settle on the belief that “Christ died for sinners like me,” but always be left to wonder if “Christ died for me specifically.”
- Why do some Calvinists struggle with such doubt? This is because of the false doctrine of Limited Atonement (or as some like to call it, Particular Redemption), the Calvinist belief that Christ’s death accomplished exactly what it set out to accomplish, and no blood which Christ shed on the cross was shed in vain, so Christ cannot have died for all sinners, since some sinners, as the Scripture teaches, will die in their sins and go to hell.
- On the other hand, a non-Calvinist (e.g., a Lutheran or anyone who rejects the false teaching of Limited Atonement) believes that, based on Apostolic teaching in 1 Tim. 2:4-6, “Christ died for all sinners”; he therefore can believe simply that, in keeping with 1 Tim. 2:4 and 2 Pet. 3:9, “Christ wants me to be saved”; and moreover, since Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost, he can with full assurance believe and confess this truth, having received the witness of the Holy Spirit in these words of Scripture (above) and know full well that “Christ died for my sins (that is, for me in particular) on the cross.”
I trust Christ to save me.
This is the basic confession which all Christians make.
These propositions are all true, and Lutherans agree with Protestants that they are true. But Lutherans are quick to point out that adult conversion is not the best way to think about Faith, especially
- when it leaves the impression that conversion itself is a one-and-done experience or reduces the new birth (spoken of by Jesus in John 3:3) to a decision the sinner makes in his heart (see below on Decisionism),
{47}He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. (John 8:47)
- when it emphasizes man’s ability to choose Christ (John 3:3; 14:16-17; 15:16) and downplays the need for regeneration or being born of God and born of water and Spirit (John 3:3-5; 8:47),
{16}You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:16)
- when it decouples the Sacraments (given by Jesus to sinners) from the Word and Promise of the Gospel (Acts 2:38-39; 1 Pet. 3:18-22) both to connect them to Jesus’ death (Rom. 6:3ff) and to keep them in His Word (John 15:4-5) all the days of their life (John 8:31-32; 6:53-58),
{54}Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. {55}For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. {56}He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:54)
- and when it thus undermines the confidence one has in God’s promise of forgiveness of sins in the Gospel spoken by Christ’s emissaries (John 20:21-23; Matt. 16:17-19; 18:18) to those who confess their sins.
{18}Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matt. 18:18)
Faith as Receiving
Christ’s death for sinners is objective fact, and as such, it is the ground and justification for the ongoing work and ministry of the Gospel in all places and all times.
{14}For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; {15}and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. {16}Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. {17}Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. {18}Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, {19}that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. {20}Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. {21}For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor. 5:14-21)
God has reconciled a world of sinners to Himself by Jesus’ death. Everything changed when Jesus, the Righteous One, suffered for our sins. But how do the benefits of this objective reality come to the individual, since not everyone will be saved? In other words, our reconciliation with God must be shared (by the church) and received (by individual sinners). God committed this word of reconciliation to the apostles, men like Paul, whom He sent.
{16}For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (Rom. 1:16)
This Word of the Gospel spoken by Christ brings with it all the power of God to save sinners. This ministry of reconciliation is given to the apostles, and so the power of Christ’s Word through that ministry must be emphasized. This work comes from outside the sinner. It is God’s work alone. Man simply receives it.
We cannot overemphasize the Word and power of Christ in this Gospel. Christ’s effective Word comes to the individual directly in holy Baptism, because it is Jesus’ own words spoken over the individual that makes the Divine Promise of salvation particular to the person receiving Baptism, and this Promise of Christ makes all the difference in the world:
"[I] baptize [you] in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).
It is a distraction, if not outright perversion, to speak of Saving Faith as anything other than receiving. Yes, there is a content to what we believe, and through ongoing teaching and catechesis, following baptism, with a focus on the Word and teaching of Christ (Matt. 28:18-20), that content will be covered, but quintessentially, and first and foremost, Faith is receiving.
Faith should therefore not be turned into faith in faith, or what Cary (above) calls “reflective faith,” for faith in faith is not Gospel (or biblical) faith. Rather, saving faith is that faith which
“receives this grace [of God] and merit [of Christ] in the gospel’s promise, through which Christ’s righteousness is reckoned to us” (Formula of Concord, SD III, 25).
Faith’s focus is the merit of Jesus (see Christ Alone). Faith itself
“does not make people righteous because it is such a good work or such a fine virtue, but because it lays hold of and accepts the merit of Christ in the promise of the holy gospel” (Formula of Concord, SD III, 13).
Thus, faith in Christ is receiving Christ’s righteousness as a free gift (justification).
- The sinner receives the gift of forgiveness of sins.
- The sinner believes in Christ.
- The sinner trusts in God’s promise in the Gospel (Word and sacraments).
- The sinner is baptized into Christ’s death and given birth from above, birth by water and Spirit.
- The sinner (along with other sinners) is baptized into one body by one Spirit
All of the above statements essentially hold the same meaning in the sense that the sinner cannot work for or earn salvation through works. God (the active party) does the work of saving. Man (the passive party) merely receives the benefit (is saved by God through faith), and as we shall see, even this receiving is the result of God’s work, not man’s.
Faith as God’s Work of Regenerating/Converting the Sinner
Because the sinner is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), even faith in Christ itself is a gift (Eph. 2:8-10). One cannot believe in Christ, receive the gift of forgiveness of sins, be baptized into Christ, etc. without divine intervention and thus the miracle of
- being made alive (Eph. 2:1-10),
- being born from above (John 3:3),
- being born of God (John 1:11-13),
- being born of water and Spirit (John 3:5),
- being baptized into Christ [as] putting on Christ (Gal. 3:27),
- being baptized into Christ (Rom. 6:3),
- being baptized into Christ’s death (Rom. 6:3),
- raised with [Christ] through baptism into [His] death (Rom. 6:3),
- cleansed by the washing of water by the Word (Eph. 5:26),
- being baptized into one body [with other sinners, all of whom are made members of Christ’s body] by one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).
Faith is Not a Decision
Understood as receiving, therefore, faith is not a decision made in the mind/intellect. Decision implies choice, and the sinner is unable to choose Christ, any more than a person (prior to their birth) can choose their earthly father and mother (John 1:11-13). The sinner must first be given the gift of birth from above (John 3:3) in order to trust Christ, and this comes to the sinner by the means of grace (John 3:5) which Christ gives through the work of the Holy Spirit.
A false teaching which has become popular in many Protestant churches is what we call Decisionism, which takes Faith as receiving and transforms it into Faith as an act of the will. We reject this false teaching because the Gospel specifically denies such ability to the unregenerate human mind/will. Moreover, Jesus squashes this idea when He says that we must all receive the kingdom of God as a child (even as a baby) receives it, highlighting the supernatural miracle of the new birth (or birth “from above”) as a prerequisite to receiving the kingdom (i.e., having faith).
{15}Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. {16}But Jesus called them to Him and said,
“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. {17}Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” (Luke 18:15-17)
Note that the word “little children” (τὰ παιδία) and “a little child” (παιδίον) are used in verses 16 and 17, and this word (with a diminutive suffix justifying the translation “little”) can refer to a child from infancy to several years of age. However, in the context we know that Jesus is referring to children who are as young as infants because those carrying children to Him are carrying τὰ βρέφη (infants) in verse 15.
Good Works as God’s Work of Sanctifying the Sinner
Receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ is the essence of what we mean when we speak of faith in salvation, and such faith must always be distinguished from good works (including the fruit of the Spirit which includes love), all of which follow faith in Christ, for such works in the Christian life are the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work in the sinner now justified by God’s free grace through faith.
We therefore teach that good works are indeed necessary for the Christian, but they are not necessary for salvation, for as has been said, salvation is freely given to the sinner by God’s rich grace in Christ. Sanctification and justification are both included in God’s work of saving sinful people in the Gospel.
The whole work of Salvation is God’s work:
- Justification God justifies - God declares the sinner to have the righteousness of Christ.
- Sanctification God sanctifies - God sets apart the sinner through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, producing good works in the Christian, who is justified by grace through faith.
- Glorification God glorifies - God completes the work of saving sinners in their physical death, doing away with their body of sin and death, burying the corruptible to be raised incorruptible in the Resurrection.