Sola Fide, by Faith Alone, is Part 3 in our series on the Five Solas. So far we have learned that Sola Scriptura-Scripture Alone, provides the truth of our salvation, that Sola Christus-Christ Alone, has the power to redeem mankind and now, Sola Fide, by Faith Alone we are justified or made righteous in Christ.
Faith is defined as complete trust or confidence in something or someone. In the case of our faith in Christ, we can now begin to see how the foundations of Scripture and Jesus Christ provide the security for our faith. Scripture Alone reveals Christ. Christ Alone can save. And, it is through our Faith Alone that we are saved. To put it another way, Donald Miller writes “the authority of the Bible is the authority of the gospel. And the authority of the gospel has behind it the authority of Jesus Christ. And this authority must be accepted by faith.”^[1]
In 2 Corinthians 5:21, the Bible teaches that those who trust Jesus Christ for justification by faith alone are imputed with His righteousness, therefore, they are saved. Paul makes it clear in Galatians and Romans especially, that we are justified by faith in Christ and not by observing rules, works, or the law. This was the battle cry of the Reformation, that faith empowers righteousness NOT they other way around where righteous works empower faith. Our hope, our eternal salvation, our restoration with God is all given to us through our faith in Jesus, nothing else carries us to God. The Westminster Confession of Faith reminds us that “Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.” That’s a lot of words to say that God’s saving love for us is realized in us through Faith Alone.
As the doctrines of the Five Solas continue to build on each other, it is important to highlight the magnitude of justification by Faith Alone. Luther said it is the “the article with and by which the church stands.” And Donald Bloesch similarly wrote that “Justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. This is the article by which the church stands or falls.”^[2]
God’s grace is given to us throught the vehicle of faith. Nothing more. Not some combination of faith and works, not good deeds, or earning it, …we are saved by grace, through Faith Alone, for God’s glory.
^[1] Donald G. Miller, “The Biblical Background of Preaching,” ed. Ralph G. Turnbull, Baker’s Dictionary of Practical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1967), 4.
^[2] Donald G. Bloesch, The Church: Sacraments, Worship, Ministry, Mission (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 291.