Sola Fide
Midweek Advent 2
December 7, 2016
Zion Lutheran Church T Nampa, ID
Last week we discussed how we are saved by grace alone. Which is all fine and good, but grace of God freely given doesn’t do anyone any good unless it is received. How does God get His grace, His forgiveness, His life and salvation to people? He delivers to us by His means of grace – Word and Sacrament – and it is received by a person, then, by faith and faith alone.
Only faith apprehends the promise of, believes the assurance God gives, and extends the hands to accept what God is offering. Faith is unceasing and constant looking which turns the eyes upon nothing but Christ alone, the victor over sin and death and the giver of righteousness, salvation, and life eternal.
It is no wonder therefore why the very first commandment deals with faith: You shall have no other gods before Me. Faith is the basis of God’s Law, and the reception of God’s Gospel. The basic and fundamental article of doctrine that we are justified before God by faith alone apart from works of the Law. And this is the way it has always been from the very beginning of time. God has always only saved men by declaring them righteous through faith alone. So it was with Adam and Eve. And so it was with Abraham, “And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
When talking about faith, we talk about two different things: the faith that is believed, and the faith that believes. The faith that is believed is the Christian doctrine, the revelation of God to His creation through Scripture. This is expressed most clearly through the Creeds, “I believe in God the Father…. God the Son… God the Holy Spirit…”
The next thing is the faith that believes. Faith is simply this, to fear, love and trust in God above all things. One who has faith in Christ is simply one who hears and knows the voice of the Good Shepherd. Faith is not mere knowledge. This is the hiccup for so many. A common complaint against infant baptism is that a baby can’t believe because he can’t make a decision, one based on knowledge of Christ. The answer to that is, “You’re right, a baby can’t make a cognitive decision to follow Jesus. Faith is not knowledge, and it is not a work that a person does. It doesn’t do anything but receive, take hold of, what is delivered to it. Faith itself is a gift of God, it is the work of God. It is not something that you do, but it a divine work in us that changes us and regenerates us of God. This is how we can say that faith alone justifies, because faith is a work of God, not of man. Faith alone justifies because it receives the grace of God shown in Christ on the cross.
Now, the question inevitably arises then, what about those who don’t know of Jesus, who never hears the Gospel? St Paul informs us in Romans 10 that faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. That faith itself is a gift that God delivers to people by the means of His grace, through the proclamation of the Word. All that God tells us is this: “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” If you’re worried that someone may not have heard about the Gospel, may not have had the chance to receive faith through the proclamation of God’s Word, then go tell them about Jesus.
Which brings me to my next point about faith. We are saved by faith alone, but faith is never alone. All too often Lutherans get criticized for being heavy on justification, being declared righteous before God for the sake of Christ, and weak on sanctification, the living out of the justified life. And sometimes this is so, but it should not be. Because faith, by definition, produces good works, as the Holy Spirit works sanctification in us, working through faith as His instrument.
The issue here is not whether we should do good works as Christians. Good works are necessary, though not necessary to earn salvation. Good works then are always a result of faith, a product of faith. It is never the other way around. When the person is justified, he is also renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. From this renewal and sanctification the fruit of good works then follow. The Gospel is the source of Good Works in us, faith taking those things that God has to give and then using them in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to the glory of God for the benefit of our neighbor. But the Law of God also plays a role here. For it instructs us in what those good works ought to look like. The motivation comes from the Gospel, but the instruction comes from the Law. Faith, then, is the mother and source of works that are good and pleasing to God, which God will reward in this world and in the world to come.
So in summary, when we say we are saved by faith alone, we mean that there is no salvation outside of the reception of God’s grace for the sake of Christ. A person does not draw near to God on his own, but is and remains a blind, dead, enemy of God until he is converted, becomes a believer, is endowed with faith, and is regenerated and renewed. This happens by the Holy Spirit’s power through the Word when it is preached and heard, out of pure grace, without any cooperation by us.