Beth-El Baptist Church

08/23/2009

Greg Tomlinson


Is the principle of Sola Fide Biblical?


One of Martin Luther's theological views of understanding that caused him to depart from the Roman Catholic Church is what is called “Sola Fide”. The Roman Catholic Church adamantly opposes the view of “Sola Fide” and as men of God seeking truth, we need to understand what is right and what is true.


  1. What does Sola Fide mean?

Literally, “Sola Fide” means “Faith alone”. In practice, “Sola Fide” means that a man is saved by God for eternal salvation on the basis of his faith, or belief in Christ alone and that the works of a man do nothing in order to make him acceptable before God for eternal life.


  1. Why might Sola Fide be false?

James 2:14, 18-26 1 Corinthians 13:13

1 John 3:23-24; 5:2-3 Matthew 7:21-23

Acts 10:34-36 2 Corinthians 5:9-11


James is very strong in his dealings with the necessity for works. In particular, James says “see then how that by works is a man justified, and not by faith only”. According to this passage, James specifically states that a man is NOT justified by faith only. Add to this “now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love”. A rightful question to be raised is why would love be greater or more important than faith? Since a key identifying mark of a believer is one who is keeping or obeying the commandments, then it must be true that salvation is to be associated with works.


  1. Why might Sola Fide be true?

Galatians 2:15-21; 3:10-12, 21-25; 5:2-6 Romans 3:26-28; 4:3-5; 10:1-5; 8-11

Acts 13:38-39 Hebrews 3:15-19; 6:4-6; 10:29

John 10:25-29


The scriptures continually refer to belief and faith that leads to salvation. It is only those who hear the voice of Christ that are saved and those who seek to work in order to be saved ultimately mar the grace of God through Christ. As Hebrews state, they trample the Son of God under foot.


  1. What is the role of works in the salvation process?

Ephesians 2:8-10 James 2:14-26

Galatians 5:2 1 John 5:1-4

John 14:15 Romans 5:20-6:2


Works are to be the results of faith and does not participate in salvation itself. It is legitimate to raise the question concerning the validity of one's salvation if they do not have any signs of Christian work being demonstrated. It is easy for someone to lay claim to being a man of faith but true faith is a working faith. God created us for the purpose of carrying out good works and as a result works ought to manifest itself in our life.


The real debate over Sola Fide and the difficulty of many in understanding it is that in a sense the relationship between faith and works are like two sides of the same coin. Faith and works are expected to go hand in hand. The debate is whether works merit salvation or works are the result of salvation. The doctrine of Sola Fide views that works exist as a result of salvation. As was shown in the scriptures, it is our faith in Christ that saves us and our good works do not function to merit our salvation but demonstrate that we have salvation. A salvation claim that has no demonstration of creating a change in the individual is no salvation at all.