Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ!
Look at the picture of Luther’s seal on the
cover of your bulletin. You’ll see three Latin phrases: Sola
Scriptura, Sola Gratia, and Sola Fide. Ironic, isn’t it? A movement that resulted in the liturgy
and the Bible in our own language rather than Latin is remembered by Latin phrases.
The Reformation rested upon three fundamental
principles:
1.
Our
salvation is entirely a gift of grace from God and not our own doing.
2.
We
receive that grace through faith and not by any works we might do.
3.
The
sole norm and rule of all doctrine is the Holy Scriptures.
Although the word sola means “alone,” the three solas that follow are never alone! They are interconnected and
woven together. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Scripture alone. To
these solas, many writers have added another:
Solus Christus, “through Christ
alone.”
Many assume that the Reformation was about indulgences,
the authority of the pope, or Martin Luther. But really, the Reformation was
all about Jesus. Specifically, the Reformation was about Jesus Christ’s death
on the cross as our only source of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Luther
said, “The cross alone is our theology” (WA 5.176.32-3).
Salvation through Jesus Christ alone is the heart of the
Reformation. All the practices and doctrines that Luther and the Reformers wanted
to reform were problematic because they got Jesus wrong. They either added to
or took away from His work and replaced Jesus’ works (Gospel) with human works
(law).
In many cases, people were told that they had to do something in
addition to what Jesus had done for them. Whether it was an outward act, such
as indulgences, fasting, or pilgrimages, or an inward disposition, like
repentance, love, or devotion, people were told that the works of Jesus were
not enough, that they had to cooperate with Jesus and do their part to be saved.
Sometimes these acts and dispositions were good in themselves, but the problem was
requiring them as something that needed to be added to what Jesus has already
done.
In other cases, the Lutheran Reformers fought to keep others
from taking away from what Jesus is still doing in His Word and Sacraments.
Some of the more radical reformers taught that Jesus’ body and blood aren’t
given or received in the Lord’s Supper, or that Jesus doesn’t really save
through Holy Baptism. They taught that the Sacraments are about obeying Jesus’
command rather than receiving Jesus’ gifts. Luther insisted that these Sacraments
are Christ’s work alone in giving forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Understanding our salvation as the work of Christ alone helps us
to get the other three solas right. Let’s talk about them now.
First, Sola Gratia. We are saved by grace alone, but this
grace that we receive comes to us through Jesus Christ. “For the law was given through
Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). We receive grace
and blessing from the Father only because of Jesus’ death on the cross in our
place.
Grace is God’s undeserved favor toward sinners. Grace is God’s loving
disposition toward those who have gone astray and are “dead” in sin and “by
nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1,3). Grace, then, is something in God,
not of man. However, God does not declare us righteous and free from guilt in a
vacuum, as if He just ignores our sin. No, we have a great debt we owe God due
to our sin, a debt that must be paid.[i] God’s justice demands it.
Yet this is a debt that none of us can pay. So, God, in His grace, planned for
our salvation. For God’s grace is more than a mere disposition. God’s grace is active—active
in Christ. In His grace, God sent forth His Son to become flesh and pay the
debt we owe Him.[ii]
Christ paid for the sin of the world “with His holy precious blood and with His
innocent suffering and death.” Through God’s grace alone we sinners are
forgiven and justified because of Christ.
This means that there is nothing
in us and nothing we do that moves God to forgive us. God is gracious to us
because of Jesus Christ and because of Him alone. St. Paul writes: “In [Christ]
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). This gives such comfort
to sin-stricken consciences, for God’s grace is not earned by what you do but
is given freely by a generous God.
For this reason, Scripture
constantly speaks of God’s grace as the reason for our salvation in opposition
to our works: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not
your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may
boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Again, St. Paul writes, “But if it is by grace, it is
no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace”
(Romans 11:6). To be saved by grace alone means you do not save yourselves.[iii] Christ does. Christ has.
It is finished! (John 19:30)
In
addition, this grace of God extends to everyone. Scripture teaches that “in
Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses
against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). No one is excluded from God’s grace in
Christ.
God
shows Himself to be gracious to us through specific means—His Word and
Sacraments. Luther sums up what instruments God uses to reveal His grace:
God
is superabundantly generous in His grace: First, through the spoken Word, by
which the forgiveness of sins is preaching in the whole world. This is the
particular office of the Gospel. Second, through Baptism. Third through the
holy Sacrament of the Altar. Fourth, through the Power of the Keys. Also
through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren…. (SA III IV (McCain, Second Ed.,
278).
By
showing Himself gracious to us through the Gospel, God creates faith in our
hearts that clings solely to His grace in Christ.
The second sola is Sola Fide. We are saved by
faith alone, but our faith is merely receiving all the saving works of Jesus as
a gift of God’s grace. In our Epistle, we hear: “But
now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although
the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:21-22a). Faith clings to
Jesus as our only hope in the face of eternal death.
But faith is only as good as its object. This
is the danger of misunderstanding Sola Fide: that we would focus on
faith in and of it itself but forget the object of faith.[iv] We would then spend all
our time talking about our faith, bragging about our faith, and worrying about
the strength of our faith, all the while forgetting about the One in whom we
have faith: Jesus Christ.
Faith in
Christ is bold only because of its object. When the One that you believe in is
the crucified and risen One, Jesus Christ our Lord, the very Son of God,
enthroned at the right hand of the Father, then your faith will be bold. Luther
writes: “Faith is a vital, deliberate trust in God’s grace, so certain that it
would die a thousand times for it” (FC SD IV, 12). Therefore, Sola Fide is a
First Commandment issue, as Luther clearly saw.
A
god is that which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every
time of need. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe him
with our whole heart. As I have often said, the trust and faith of the
heart alone make both God and an idol (LC I, 2).
The question is not whether you have enough
faith or not; the question is if your faith in in the right thing.[v] You can have the “strongest”
faith a person could have, but if the
thing that you believe in is uncertain or untrue, then your faith is worthless.
It is not faith that saves, but faith in Christ crucified and risen that saves.
Under the banner of Sola Fide,
Martin Luther could take his stand before the emperor in Worms, just as the princes
of Germany could stand before the emperor at Augsburg.[vi] Knowing the object of our
faith makes us bold to say with the psalmist, “What can man do to me?” (Psalm
56:11) and with the apostles, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
Under the banner of Sola Fide, you can stand amid persecutions and
threats, sufferings and disease. You can even face death, for it is not the
strength of your faith that saves you, it is the object of your faith. And the
object of your faith has destroyed death and hell by dying and rising again for
you. Just as nothing can now conquer Christ, so nothing can conquer you, for
you are connected to Christ by faith.
Faith in Christ then does good
works. Luther’s famous words quoted by the Formula of Concord, describe the
vital connection between faith and good works:
“Faith
is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, so that it is impossible for it not to
be constantly doing what is good. Likewise, faith does not ask if good works
are to be done, but before one can ask, faith has already done them and is
constantly active” (FC SD IV, 10).
The
debate of the Reformation, a debate that brought forth the bold declaration ‘Sola
Fide,’
was not between good works on the one hand, and faith on the other, but it
was a debate over what relationship faith has to good works. Namely, do good
works have any place in our justification before God? The Augsburg
Confession gave the definitive answer:
Our
churches also 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 on account of Christ, who by His death made satisfaction for our
sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight (AC IV).
Sola Fide puts all things in their proper
order. Good works follow, but they never precede; believers are exhorted
to good works, but not for salvation. Sola Fide is
created by the proclamation of Sola Scriptura, and
its object is Sola Christus, and this is only
because of Sola Gratia.[vii] Sola Fide means that
faith is never alone: it always has its object, and when the object of faith is Sola
Christus, then no works are needed, for Christ has done it all, for
you!
The third sola is Sola Scriptura.
Our theology flows from Scripture alone, but Scripture is trustworthy because
it is about Christ from beginning to end. Jesus told His disciples: “These are
My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything
written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be
fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). In the Scriptures we hear Jesus speaking to us about
Himself and His work of salvation.
Many mistakenly
think the Bible is too hard to understand on their own. In fact, a
prominent scholar of Luther’s day, Erasmus of Rotterdam, called the Bible a
“Corycian Cavern.” This is a dark cave; without artificial light you can’t
see more than one hundred meters into the chilly, forbidding cavern.[viii] So
how does one traverse this dark cave? Erasmus’ solution was the light of
authority, like tradition and the Church fathers. Pope Leo XIII echoed that
thought, condemning all those who “relying on private judgment and repudiating
the divine traditions and teaching office of the Church, hold the Scriptures to
be the one source of revelation and the final appeal in matters of Faith.”[ix]
But this isn’t what the Bible teaches
about itself. The Scriptures are not a dark cave which needs illumination. The
Bible is light: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm
119:105). Everywhere, the Bible takes it for granted that it is the absolute
truth. Jesus Himself, when quoting Psalm 82:6, stopped every argument by
saying, “The Scripture cannot be broken.” And again, Jesus said, “Heaven and
earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Luke 21:33). If
the Bible, the Word of God, is an illumination, if it is absolute truth, and if
it can never be broken or torn down, then there is no need for any other source
of theology. In the Scriptures, we have a standard which pours out Christ’s light
in our minds and in our hearts, so we no longer walk in the darkness of
ignorance and sin. In the Scriptures, we have a standard which can never err.
The truth of the Bible does not change because God cannot change. And finally,
the Bible will endure forever. Therefore, there is no appeal beyond the Bible.
Like light shining through stained glass, the
source of the light of the Reformation was and always ought to be seen as the
Lord. By grace alone (sola gratia), not because of our deserving, He has
redeemed us by His cross and resurrection. By faith alone (sola fide),
not by our work, have we received what He has accomplished. By Scripture alone
(sola Scriptura), not by our own human reason, do we speak of the things
of God. The Lord’s light of His Word, in Law and Gospel, continues to shine
today!
Go in the peace of the Lord and
serve your neighbor with joy! In Christ alone (Solus Christus), you are forgiven
for all your sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English
Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[i] Sola Gratia -
Lutheran Reformation,
https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/sola-gratia/.
[ii] Sola Gratia -
Lutheran Reformation,
https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/sola-gratia/.
[iii] Sola Gratia -
Lutheran Reformation, https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/sola-gratia/.
[iv] Sola Fide - Lutheran
Reformation, https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/sola-fide/.
[v] Sola Fide - Lutheran
Reformation, https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/sola-fide/.
[vi] Sola Fide - Lutheran
Reformation,
https://diologix.com/?_=%2Ftheology%2Fsola-fide%2F%237rmTrU4DUXYslhiuQXIpVOHlBHIWIPTjTmeF%2B0Bstw%3D%3D.
[vii] Sola Fide - Lutheran
Reformation, https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/sola-fide/.
[viii] Sola Scriptura -
Lutheran Reformation,
https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/sola-scriptura/.
[ix] Sola Scriptura -
Lutheran Reformation, https://lutheranreformation.org/theology/sola-scriptura/.
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