Sola Fide

'The Reformers called the doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide) the “material principle” of all theology because it involves the very matter, substance, or heart of what any man or woman must understand and believe to be saved." In Romans 3 Paul establishes the fact that we are all sinners and have no hope of saving ourselves. Then he writes:

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood (Rom. 3:31-25).

Here Paul teaches us of redemption (our salvation purchased), propitiation (a sacrifice of atonement), and justification (our freedom from sin’s guilt declared). Literally, this word justified means to be “declared righteous.” This is what caused Martin Luther problems: how could God declare me righteous unless I am righteous? The Catholic church thus teaches that you are made righteous through the sacraments and, if needed, purgatory until you fully work off your guilt and achieve intrinsic righteousness.

Finally, Luther discovered that little word “declared” that makes all the difference. When God declares us righteous we aren’t righteous in deeds, but we have had the righteousness of Christ’s life imputed to our “spiritual account.” By God’s grace based on Christ’s works God declares sinners righteous when they put their faith in Christ alone. That is sola fide.

The righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Rom. 3:22).

"When those who have been made alive by God turn from attempts to establish and please God by their own righteousness, which can only condemn them, and instead embrace the Lord Jesus Christ alone, by faith alone, rejoicing in the grace of God alone, God declares their sins to have been atoned for by the death of his beloved Son, and he justifies them solely by his own perfect righteousness applied to their account. This is Christianity. This is the gospel, and to believe it and commit oneself to Jesus Christ is salvation." (quotes by James Montgomery Boice, Whatever Happened To the Gospel of Grace?)

This "material principle" is under attack again within the Protestant church. This new wave of armchair theologians and postmodern bloggers are embracing sacramentalism. From giving Catholic doctrines a pass to the EC's monastic communities, it is the same ol' attack against sola fide. John Calvin said, "Let it therefore remain settled that this proposition is exclusive, that we are justified in no other way than by faith … by faith alone." (The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, page 39).