Sola Fide

In Romans Paul argues that all have sinned and are under the wrath of God. He states that the wages of sin is death and all must therefore die. Yet God has in his grace accomplished salvation for sinners through the substitutionary death of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. In our previous studies we discovered that in Jesus Christ there is righteousness, redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation for us. In him we have salvation accomplished by his own self-offering. But how can we receive this salvation, full and free? We can do nothing to merit it, for we are dying sinners, wilting under God’s wrath. There is total moral inability in us. How, then, can we be saved?

The answer is that we are saved by faith alone without any works of our own. That is what sola fide means.

What Is Faith?

The word “faith” (Gk., pistis) appears eight times in this passage and the verb “believe” (Gk., pisteuô) appears once (Rom. 3:22). For the first time in this epistle, Paul is telling us in whom we must trust. Romans 3:22 says we must have faith “in Jesus Christ.” John speaks of believing “into Jesus Christ.” So faith speaks of moving out of ourselves and laying hold of the object of our faith, Jesus Christ. To this purpose John wrote his gospel: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

Faith is self-renouncing and Jesus-trusting. When the Bible says Abraham believed God, it means Abraham put the entire weight of his life-his past, present, and future-upon a firm foundation that will never crumble or give way. Abraham believed in God’s promises because God is truth and cannot lie. He trusted in the One who raises the dead and calls into existence things that do not exist.

The words for “believe” in the Old Testament speak of stability, security, and taking refuge in God from all our troubles. We can be secure in God even in the face of death itself. The God we trust in is not life and death, light and darkness, but life and light. The Bible, therefore, speaks about faith that knows truth, believes truth, and obeys truth. Such faith rests in God’s promises, thanks God for his grace, and works for God’s glory. Faith is trust.

Faith can also mean the body of truth that we must believe in (see Jude 3; Gal. 1:23, 1 Tim. 4:1-6). We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who became incarnate and lived a sinless life. We believe that this One who created the universe died for our sins and was raised for our justification. We believe that Jesus Christ alone is Lord, that he makes intercession for us as our great sympathizing high priest, and that he is coming again to make everything new and judge the living and the dead. We believe the gospel as articulated by Paul (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

Our faith rests on the gospel, not on a self-authenticating, mystical experience or dream. God can give us dreams to guide us, but they will not save us. We either receive God’s testimony concerning his Son, or we reject it by unbelief. John writes, “The man who has accepted [the testimony of God] has certified that God is truthful” (John 3:33). When we believe the gospel, we are certifying the truthful nature of God. But what happens when we reject the gospel? “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son” (1 John 5:10).

The fundamental ingredient of saving faith is orthodoxy; we must believe the gospel. Therefore, churches that do not preach the gospel are not true churches, but entertainment centers, or clubs that entertain people into damnation. They are, in reality, synagogues of Satan, and what they preach cannot save anyone. The gospel alone points to the person and work of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The object of our faith is Jesus, God’s eternal Son whom the Father delivered over to death to save his people from their sins; Jesus, who is the way and the truth and the life; Jesus, in whom alone the salvation of the whole world is found; Jesus, in whom is the redemption (Rom. 3:24).

In What Does Our Faith Rest?

According to the Bible, this faith is to rest in God (Mark 11:22); in Christ (Rom. 3:22); in the name of Jesus (Acts 3:16); in Christ’s blood (Rom. 3:25); in the gospel (Phil. 1:27).

Faith Is the Instrumental Cause

This faith is not the foundation, or basis, of our salvation. In other words, it is not the efficient cause of justification, redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation. The ground of our salvation is the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. What, then, is faith? Faith is the instrumental cause only. It is the means by which we receive salvation from God as a free gift.

This faith we exercise in Jesus Christ is therefore non-meritorious. Someone said, “Faith is the eye that looks to him, the hand that receives his free gift, the mouth that drinks the living water.” B. B. Warfield of Princeton had this to say: “It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ. . . . It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith.”¹ This faith that trusts is the faith of an infant who trusts his mother and sucks her milk freely.

We are saved, not by looking within ourselves, or looking to the world around us, but by looking up to Jesus Christ, the object of our faith. Faith is looking up to the crucified Christ and coming to him because he invites us to come. Faith is receiving Christ and calling on his name. It is not resting on anything done in us or by us, but on what is done for us by Jesus Christ. It is not our contribution to our own salvation.

Faith Is a Gift

We cannot manufacture saving faith; it is a gift granted to us by God. We must believe to be saved, yet this faith does not originate in ourselves. It is a supernatural gift.

How can we who are dead in trespasses and sins believe? God must regenerate us and raise us up spiritually. When God saves us, we experience a spiritual resurrection; faith is an effect of this spiritual resurrection. Natural man is incapable of believing the gospel. Faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29; Acts 16:14).

When God sent Paul to Philippi, he preached to a number of women gathered at the river. God opened the heart of Lydia to respond to the gospel, which she did by putting faith in the preached word.

Faith Trusts without Doubt

Saving faith trusts in Christ without wavering. Because God is truth, and his promises are true, we can fully trust in him. The psalmist says, “I have trusted in the LORD without wavering” (Ps. 26:1); “I trust in your word” (Ps. 119:42).

Faith trusts without doubt. Paul writes,

Therefore, the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring-not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham . . . He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed, and so he became the father of many nations, just as it is written, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about one hundred years old-and Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (Rom. 4:16-21)

In Proverbs 3:5 we read, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” We trust in God, not in our own native powers. Sarah trusted in her own mind, and the result was Ishmael and much subsequent trouble. That is what happens when we trust in our own understanding.

Faith Is Essential for Salvation

Faith is the sine qua non of salvation. All must believe in Jesus Christ to be saved. The Old Testament saints were saved by faith like us. The Hebrews writer admonishes, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb. 11:6).

What role does work have in our salvation? Jesus says, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29). To the Athenians Paul declared, “[God] commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). There is no faith without repentance and no repentance without saving faith.

Where there is genuine faith, there shall also be authentic, godly repentance, which is characterized by the following:

1. Deep sorrow for having offended God;
2. full and free confession of sins;
3. detestation of sin;
4. forsaking of sins;
5. making restitution when needed and possible; and
6. doing what God wants us to do (Eph. 4:28)
7. gives God the glory.

This is true repentance and faith.

Faith Is Directed to Christ

This faith is directed to Christ’s person and work. His name is Jesus, “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). There is no salvation in anyone else (Acts 4:12). Paul writes, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst” (1 Tim. 1:15). Our faith is directed to Christ and his finished work of atonement as well as to his continuing work as our high priest who makes always intercession for us. Paul asks, “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died, more than that, who was raised to life. He is at the right hand of God and he is interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34).

Faith is directed to Jesus Christ our Savior who, in the offer of the gospel, is not making possible or granting an opportunity for salvation but offering salvation itself, full and free, to be received by faith. He saves every elect sinner.

A Universal Offer of Salvation

This salvation Jesus Christ accomplished by his death is offered to all. A universal invitation is given to Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, male and female. (PGM) There is no respect of persons; all have sinned and must hear the gospel call.

Paul declares, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16). Elsewhere he writes, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Rom. 3:22). The Lord himself invites us to believe in him: “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other . . . . Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isa. 45:22; 55:1).

Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel. God commands all people everywhere to repent. Jesus Christ shall come when the gospel is preached to all nations.

Faith and God’s Word

Our faith is born, defined, nourished, and sustained by God’s word. Consider how God created faith in Lydia through the preached word. Paul tells us, “Faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). In other words, faith comes by hearing the gospel, the divine testimony, preached with all courage and clarity.

Faith is sustained by God’s word. As Paul bade farewell to the Ephesian elders, he said, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). The word of God is able to build us up. That is why the devil tries to distract people when the gospel is preached.

No true faith can exist, in other words, without the preaching of the gospel, so no true faith exists in churches where the word is not preached. How much of today’s preaching is replaced by entertainment! But faith in Christ is faith in the word. Without the word, we cannot even have little faith.

Since faith comes by hearing of the word, our faith will grow as we grow in our knowledge of the word. Therefore, we must be part of a church that declares the gospel weekly, preaching through the Bible. We must listen carefully to the preached word and read and feed upon the word daily, that we may have great faith. Older Christians should have stronger faith in Jesus Christ, and younger Christians should consult them, that they may also grow in faith.

Faith Produces Good Works

We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone. We believed in Christ that he may save us, and he saves us apart from any merit of our own, as Paul states: “But now a righteousness from God apart from the law has been made known” (Rom. 3:21). We are saved by grace through faith plus nothing.

Yet this faith that saved us also enables us to do good works as evidence of our salvation. Paul writes, “A man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ . . . . For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal. 2:16; 5:6).

Faith without works is a corpse. It is not true saving faith; rather, it is the faith of demons (Jas. 2:19). Demons believe, yet they go to the lake of fire. It is a dead faith, the faith of the second and third soil-hearers of the gospel. It is the faith of Achan, King Saul, Judas, Simon Magus, Ananias, Sapphira, and Demas. Paul declares, “Through [Christ] and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom. 1:5).

Our good works prove our salvation by faith alone apart from works. It is the evidence that we are true people of God. Notice the language Paul uses in his letter to Timothy: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied his faith and he is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). This is also true of a man who does not love his wife. It is a false faith. We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has foreordained that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10; 2 Tim. 3:16; Phil. 2:13). Jesus himself said, “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matt. 7:20).

We are saved by faith and live by faith. We do not come to Jesus by faith first and then abandon faith and live by sight. We live always by faith in God. Faith unites us to Christ, and by faith we abide in Christ, who is wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Elements of Faith

This faith has three constitutive elements: knowledge (L., notitia); agreement, (L.,assensus); and trust, (L., fiducia). Knowledge of the gospel leads us to conviction, that is, agreement to the truth, and this conviction leads us to personal trust in Jesus Christ.

The first element of faith is knowledge. Christian faith is not pious ignorance. Faith is not trusting in oneself, trusting in positive thinking, or trusting in one’s church. Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ that we may be saved. Therefore, we need knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Without knowledge we cannot have faith because faith is born, defined, and nourished by the word. Faith comes by hearing the gospel facts preached by one sent and commissioned by Christ.

The church of Rome demands implicit faith in the church, saying biblical knowledge is not necessary as long as one trusts implicitly in the Roman church. Such people would say, “You trust the church and the church will relate to Christ on your behalf.” But we say, “We trust in Christ directly.”

Therefore, we must have information. That is why churches which do not preach the gospel are not giving knowledge that will lead people to faith. James M. Boice tells a story:

A man was being interviewed by a group of church officers before being taken into membership. They asked him what he believed about salvation, and he replied that he believed what the church believed. “But what does the church believe?” they probed. “The church believes what I believe,” he answered . . . They tried again: “Just what do you and the church believe?” The man thought this over for a moment and then replied, “We believe the same thing.”²

Christianity is a reasonable faith based on knowledge. It is not a leap in the dark into irrationality. It is based on God’s revelation, on God’s great and precious promises. It is based on what God has done in Jesus Christ.

We can liken this first element of faith to the first stage in dating. When you begin to date a person, you want to collect information. Who is this person? Who are his father and mother? What type of job history does he have? Does he have any money in the bank? Does he have any spiritual character? This is the time for the primacy of the intellect. You are merely gathering information.

The second element is agreement, assensus. Our knowledge of the facts of the gospel now moves us to conviction, which means we agree the gospel is true-that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord, that Jesus died for our sins, and that we can be saved by trusting in him. This is similar to the second stage in dating; it is a movement of the heart. At this point a man will agree that this girl is beautiful, intelligent, of excellent character, healthy, hardworking, and without debt. He comes to the conclusion that this person can be an excellent wife for him and he can live with her all of his life in great joy.

But assensus is not trust. Conviction must move to trust – fiducia. Otherwise, it is dead faith, the faith of Judas, the devil’s faith. The devil is orthodox. He believes in the Scriptures. He has knowledge of God and even agrees with this knowledge. That is why the third aspect of faith is so important. Faith in its essence is commitment to Christ that we may be saved. We must trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation, entrusting ourselves to him now and forever. We do not trust in ourselves or any human or angelic resources, but in Jesus Christ alone as Savior and submit to him as Lord, that we may be saved. We trust in Jesus as an infant trusts in his mother. We declare, “Jesus is my Savior, my Lord, my Shepherd, my Healer.” This speaks of the third stage in dating: making a lifetime commitment to your spouse in marriage. That is what has happened to us (Eph. 5:22-33; Rev. 19:6-9). Jesus is our bridegroom and we are his beloved bride. By faith we are united with him. All his assets are ours; all our liabilities are his.

Do You Live by Faith Alone?

God has accomplished salvation by the sacrifice of his Son. A great feast has been made ready for all dying sinners. All the fitness God requires is for us to see our need of Christ, for Jesus saves only sinners. We must come by faith; no merit is required.

Heed the words of John Owen:

This is somewhat of the word which he now speaks unto you: Why will ye die? why will ye perish? why will ye not have compassion on your own souls? Can your hearts endure, or can your hands be strong, in the day of wrath that is approaching? . . . Look unto me, and be saved; come unto me, and I will ease you of all sins, sorrows, fears, burdens, and give rest unto your souls. Come, I entreat you; lay aside all procrastinations, all delays; put me off no more; eternity lies at the door . . . do not so hate me as that you would rather perish than accept of deliverance by me.

These and the like things doth the Lord Christ continually declare, proclaim, plead, and urge on the souls of sinners. . . . He doth it in the preaching of the word, as if he were present with you, stood amongst you, and spake personally to every one of you. . . . He hath appointed the ministers of the gospel to appear before you, and to deal with you in his stead, avowing as his own the invitations that are given you in his name.”³

What must you do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. May God save his people today.

¹ Quoted by John Murray, Collected Writings, Vol. 2: Systematic Theology(Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1977), 260.

² James M. Boice, Romans, Vol. 1: Justification by Faith: Romans 1-4 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991), 389.

³ Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), 712.