Sola Fide! This is a Latin phrase that is meant to convey the Biblical doctrine that teaches that we are justified by faith alone.
Martin Luther said that this is the “doctrine by which the church stands for falls.” If Luther is right, then we seriously need to understand what it means to be justified by faith alone. Before we look at the Scriptures that teach us this very important doctrine or the reformation history and controversy surrounding it, let’s break it down in laymen’s terms.
JUSTIFICATION
Take a quick look at the root word of this theological and Biblical term. If you see the root word as “TIFICATE” then you’re way off base already (a little humor there). Of course you will all see that the root word of JUSTIFICATION is JUST. The idea behind justification is that it is a legal declaration from God that we are just, perfect, righteous, sinless, totally holy and blameless. So imagine standing before the just Judge of the universe and He looks down at you and declares to you from a legal standpoint, “You are not guilty. In fact, you are perfectly righteous.” That might sound as if God is lying. Doesn’t it? After all, you and I are sinners by nature. Having inherited our sin nature from Adam, we sin regularly. Scripture declares it. Experience proves it. So how in the world can God legally declare me righteous or justified, if in fact I am not righteous or just? That leads us to another doctrine that we must first discuss.
IMPUTATIONI love this word. It is marvelous and full of gospel realities. You need to love it and understand it, too. The book of Philemon is a great example of what this doctrine looks like. In this little letter (just 25 verses), we find the Apostle Paul writing to a man named Philemon. Philemon was sort of a wealthy guy and was able to open up his home as the meeting place for a local church of which he is a member. Well, Philemon has a servant who runs away from him. And from the implications of the letter, it appears that this servant stole something from Philemon. This servants name is Onesimus. In the course of time, Onesimus runs into the Apostle Paul, hears the preaching of the gospel, repents of his sin, puts his faith in Christ and then becomes a useful brother to Paul. For whatever reason, Paul decides to send Onesimus back to Philemon. I can only imagine the fear that Onesimus must have felt. He wronged his master. He committed a crime. He could have suffered tremendously for the injustice he committed. And so this letter was sent on ahead to Philemon so that when Onesimus arrived, Philemon would receive him as a brother in Christ, not as a runaway thieving slave.
Now when you read verse 17-18 you will see the doctrine of double-imputation. Paul says this to Philemon: “So if you consider me your partner, receive him [Onesimus] as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.” And there you have a tangible instance of what the doctrine of imputation means and looks like. Philemon loved Paul and Paul was elderly and in prison for preaching the gospel. And in essence, what Paul said was this: “Philemon, you treat Onesimus as you would treat me.” But that’s not all Paul says. He goes on to say, “Philemon, whatever wrong Onesimus has done to you, I’ll bear the penalty for it. You treat me as if I were your runaway thieving slave.” The good standing that Paul had with Philemon was to be credited to Onesimus so that Philemon would treat Onesimus as if Paul were standing before him. Even though Onesimus was guilty of sinning against his master, he would be treated as if he were the beloved Paul. Conversely, Paul offered to take on the debt that Onesimus owed Philemon, so that Paul would be treated as if he actually did was Onesimus had done, even though he had not. The bad standing that Onesimus had with Philemon was to be credited to Paul. Paul arranged for all of this. Onesimus would simply be the recipient of Paul’s gracious actions.
Paul’s taking on of the debt of Onesimus AND Onesimus’ taking on the right (just) standing of Paul is a picture of the gospel. Paul represents Christ, Onesimus depicts sinners and Philemon portrays the Father. What happens to us when we are justified? When we are justified, Christ takes upon Himself my sin so that He is treated as if He had lived my wicked, wretched and sinful life. Conversely, when we are justified, we take upon ourselves the gift of Christ’s righteousness so that God will treat us as if we lived the perfect life of Christ. And Christ looks to the Father and says, “Father, receive this runaway sheep as you would receive Me—the perfect Lamb of God! And treat Me as if I had done wrong to You.” Brothers and sisters, this is what our Savior has done for us. He has given us His righteousness and has taken upon Himself our sin. There has been a great exchange. He has arranged all of this. You and I are simply the recipients of Christ’s grace.
You and I live eternally and have been saved because we have an “alien” righteousness—a righteousness that comes from without, not from within….a righteousness that comes from Christ. It is only when this transfer takes place that we can actually be called “justified” by God Almighty. Although we are not righteous, we are called righteous because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
When does this transfer take place? That’s where the FIDE is Sola Fide comes into play. Remember that FIDE means faith. We are justified the moment we place faith in Christ. And we are justified by faith alone. We are not called just because we lived good lives and tried to be just or righteous…because we’ve already proved that we’re not righteous. Rather, we are justified by faith and faith alone. In other words, the moment we put faith in Christ, is the moment that the great exchange is applied to us--imputation. No faith in Christ = no justification. Faith is the gift of God through which we receive the righteousness of Christ.
Look at these verses that tell us how we ARE NOT justified:
Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Galatians 3:10-11 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”These are but just a few of the prominent verses in Scripture that clearly tell us that we ARE NOT justified because we attempt to live JUST lives. Our attempts to perfectly keep God’s Law does not make us just or righteous. That would be the essence of self-righteousness. Indeed that is what a self-righteous person truly is—one who thinks that they are just, good and holy on their own efforts. Just ask any unbeliever if they think that they are a good person and they will almost unanimously declare, “YES!” So if you rely on your efforts to keep God’s Law so that one day God can look at you and declare you righteous, then I have bad news for you: You are under a curse. You will surely be declared guilty (unjust) because any breaking of any of God’s Laws means that you’ve broken God’s Law.
Now look at these verses that tell us how we ARE justified:
Romans 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Galatians 3:11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”Scripture makes it emphatically clear that we are justified by faith and by faith alone. Not faith plus your deeds. Not faith plus anything, but faith alone. Faith is the vehicle through which righteousness is delivered to us and even FAITH is a gift so that we cannot consider it a good work. Brothers and sisters, that is why it is so important to understand that when we call sinners to turn away from Christ that we call them to believe in Christ—to have faith in Him. The Biblical response to the gospel has always been, “Turn from your sin and trust in Christ’s finished work to save you.” In the name of evangelism, we have asked people to do all sorts of things in order to be justified. We’ve pleaded with people to walk the aisle, to pray a sinner’s prayer, to sign a commitment card, to jump off a plank, to ask Jesus in their heart, etc., etc. But the Biblical response to the gospel has been that of repentance and faith in Christ. We must call people to believe in Jesus and what He has done because it is through this gift of faith/belief that we receive His righteousness.
In the 1500’s, Martin Luther came out swinging against the Catholic Church’s understanding of justification. In their understanding of justification, when a person believes in Christ they are then infused with the life of God so that they can be transformed to look more and more like God in an experiential and daily way. They teach that God does this SO THAT we can eventually get to the point where our lives look so much like God’s that we are finally declared righteous because we have achieved a day-to-day experience of righteousness. It might seem like a small deal and small difference, but I assure you that such is not the case.
In the mid-1500’s the Catholic Church convened in order to try and put a stop to the Reformers and their teachings which included the doctrine of Sola Fide. This meeting was called the Council of Trent and in Canon 9 they said this:
CANON 9: "If any one says, that by Faith Alone the sinner is Justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema (damned forever)."
A Catholic's understanding of justification has everything to do with what God gives us, THEN what we do with what God gives us. We have to live in a way that produces righteousness in us so that God can finally declare us just. We in essence would have to earn our justification by completing what God started in us. The Reformation and Protestant understanding of justification is that nothing we do makes us just. We are called just because of what Christ has done—He has been perfect for us. One teaching relies completely on Christ’s work. The other relies on Christ’s work plus what we do. If there is anything clear about the Scriptures above, it is that we are not justified by anything we do, but what Christ has perfectly done.
Let me say that when we are justified that the Bible teaches us that we do grow in holiness. That gradual and certain growth is called SANCTIFICATION—to be set apart from sin. This does happen in the life of a believer--but sanctification is not the basis for our being called perfect. Justification and sanctification are entirely different but radically connected. Those whom God has justified will be gradually sanctified as the Spirit applies the Word to our hearts and minds. Catholic doctrine confuses the two and actually teaches that once you are fully sanctified THEN you can be justified. They reverse the order of justification and sanctification and confuse the definitions. Catholics would say that we are not justified until we can actually lives just and holy lives. Christians would say that we are considered righteous by God because of what Christ has given us, not by our trusting in Christ plus our keeping of the Law. This is what essentially divides Catholics and Christians and creates a host of other errors on the part of the Catholic.
This doctrine of justification by faith alone is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls. This much is true: the Catholic Church affirms justification by faith. But they do not affirm justification by Faith Alone. Reread Canon 9 in case you missed it or if that was unclear the first time. If the church declares that we are justified by anything other than faith alone in Christ alone then we would eventually have no true believers in the future…the church would fall completely. But thanks be to God that faithful Christians have contended for Sola Fide throughout the centuries and that many are justified because they have trusted in Christ alone.
Thank You, Lord, that You have called us to salvation and that we are now justified by your gracious and saving gift of faith. When we sin this week, let us not rely on our self-efforts and attempts of righteousness to be righteous and acceptable before You. Let us rest on Christ alone by faith alone. Then send us out into the world to live a life of worship that displays Your righteousness and glory for the world to see. Help us to proclaim to the world the wonderful news that peace with God is possible only when we are justified by faith in Christ. This we pray in the great name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 
