Salvation by Faith Alone

Martin Luther is famous for propagating the dictum of sola fide: that sinners are saved (“justified”) by faith alone (i.e., apart from works). Among the reasons that works supposedly play no causal role in justification is that, according to Luther, justification consists solely in the imputation of the alien righteousness of Jesus Christ, who perfectly fulfilled the righteous demands of the law on our behalf. The person justified by faith in Christ remains intrinsically unrighteous, so that his own works can contribute nothing to his justification (contra Catholicism).It is important to bear in mind throughout the following discussion that according to Catholic theology the principle or root of all good works acceptable to God is the theological virtue of love, which is a gift of grace bestowed by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5). See Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, 27-33. The person is nevertheless “set right” with God through faith alone in Christ’s righteousness alone.Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 3rd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 226-28.

Luther described sola fide as being the article by which the church stands or falls.See Justin Taylor, “Luther’s Saying: Justification Is the Article by Which the Church Stands and Falls”, The Gospel Coalition, August 31, 2011, accessed May 28, 2015, http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/08/31/luthers-saying/. This doctrine came to be known as the “material principle” (i.e., the distinctive and essential doctrinal content) of the Reformation. Sola fide was not simply one among others of Luther’s doctrines—it was paradigmatic for his view of Scripture and therefore the entirety of Christian faith and life.Concerning the doctrine of sola fide as the material principle of the Protestant Reformation, the popular Evangelical Anglican theologian J. I. Packer writes: It has been common since Melanchthon to speak of justification by faith as the material principle of the Reformation, corresponding to biblical authority as its formal principle. That is right. Of all the Reformers’ many biblical elucidations, the rediscovery of justification as a present reality, and of the nature of the faith which secures it, was undoubtedly the most formative and fundamental. For the doctrine of justification by faith is like Atlas. It bears a whole world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of God the Saviour. The doctrines of election, of effectual calling, regeneration, and repentance, of adoption, of prayer, of the Church, the ministry, and the sacraments, are all to be interpreted and understood in the light of justification by faith, for this is how the Bible views them. J. I. Packer, “Sola Fide: The Reformed Doctrine of Justification”, Ligonier Ministries, accessed May 28, 2015, http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/sola-fide-the-reformed-doctrine-of-justification/. As will be shown below, the biblical doctrine of salvation as well as the contents of the Bible itself were at stake—and the doctrine of sola fide (whether true or false) was used by Luther to justify questionable Bible translations, to question the content of the canon of Scripture, and to reject the Church of his day.

Considering the several important facets of the Protestant doctrine of sola fide, sufficient response to this doctrine could easily become an entire book. Such a detailed response is not the purpose of the writing.For an extended response, see Robert Sungenis, ed., Not by Faith Alone: A Biblical Study of the Catholic Doctrine of Justification (Goleta, Cal.: Queenship, 1997). Instead, we will here focus on the relation of sola fide to the other major principle of the Protestant Reformation—namely, sola scriptura.For more on the Protestant principle of sola scriptura, see appendix 3. In this connection, we will consider the following: (1) whether Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone originated from Scripture alone, (2) whether Scripture clearly teaches justification by faith alone, and (3) whether the teaching of Scripture on faith, works, and justification can be successfully harmonized in light of the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Luther and Sola Fide

Martin Luther is often pictured as a champion of biblical theology, a man who brought the Church back under the authority of the Bible. What many do not realize is that Luther rather self-consciously brought Scripture under his own authority, as revealed by his handling of key biblical texts that did not comport with his own theology. Three examples from three key “sola fide” texts are found in the books of James, Romans, and Ephesians.

Luther versus James

James 2:24 is a rather large problem for sola fide adherents. It is the only verse in Scripture that includes the words justified, faith, and alone, and it says a person is “justified by works and not by faith alone.”This is true across translations. See http://biblehub.com/james/2-24.htm. A clearer contradiction of sola fide would be difficult to produce. How did Luther handle this?

Luther was so convinced of his sola fide insight that he called the epistle of James an “epistle of straw” and implied that it was not properly part of Scripture. Luther considered this epistle to be nonapostolic and thought it did not communicate the gospel.

The tension between Luther’s theology and James’ letter is evidenced by Luther’s Preface to James, where he says, “It is flatly against Saint Paul and all the rest of Scripture in ascribing justification to works.” As German-educated Protestant theologian and Church historian Philip Schaff notes in his History of the Christian Church, Luther “brought Paul into direct verbal conflict with James, who says (James 2:24), ‘by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.’. . . It is well known that Luther deemed it impossible to harmonize the two apostles in this article, and characterized the Epistle of James as an ‘epistle of straw,’ because it had no Evangelical character.”Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910), posted at Bible Research, accessed May 28, 2015, http://www.bible-researcher.com/luther02.html; emphasis in the original.

Thus, Luther’s understanding of salvation became such an overriding factor that it affected his belief in the canon of Scripture itself.

Luther versus Paul

Another means of avoiding the fact that no verse of Scripture teaches sola fide is reflected in one of Luther’s more infamous moves: his deliberate addition of the word alone (German: allein) to Romans 3:28. When Luther translated the Bible into German, he made this verse say, “So now we hold, that man is justified without the help of the works of the law, alone through faith.” Concerning this addition, Schaff writes, “The most important example of dogmatic influence in Luther’s version is the famous interpolation of the word alone in Rom. 3:28, by which he intended to emphasize his sola fide doctrine of justification, on the plea that the German idiom required the insertion for the sake of clearness.”Ibid.

This is not just Schaff’s attempt to explain what seems to be a mistranslation—it reflects Luther’s own explanation. In An Open Letter on Translating, Luther defends his addition of alone to the text:

I know very well that in Romans 3 the word solum is not in the Greek or Latin text—the papists did not have to teach me that. It is fact that the letters s-o-l-a are not there. And these blockheads stare at them like cows at a new gate, while at the same time they do not recognize that it conveys the sense of the text—if the translation is to be clear and vigorous, it belongs there.Martin Luther, “An Open Letter on Translating”, Bible Research, accessed May 28, 2015, http://www.bible-researcher.com/luther01.html.

Now, there are other Protestant German Bibles, such as the Elber-felder and the Hoffnung fur Alle, that do not insert the word allein in Romans 3:28, so it would seem that the German translation does not actually require the addition of that word to make sense.Note that Romans 3:28 lacks the word for alone in both the Latin translation Luther used (i.e., sola) and the original Greek manuscripts (i.e., μόνον; cf. Jas 2:24). But Luther continues:

I was not depending upon or following the nature of the languages alone when I inserted the word solum in Romans 3. The text itself, and Saint Paul’s meaning, urgently require and demand it. For in that passage he is dealing with the main point of Christian doctrine, namely, that we are justified by faith in Christ without any works of the Law.Luther, “An Open Letter on Translating”.

Luther has also been accused of making other textual changes to fit his theology.See Bob Thiel, PhD, “Sola Scriptura or Prima Luther? What Did Martin Luther Really Believe about the Bible?”, Cogwriter, accessed May 28, 2015, http://www.cogwriter.com/luther.htm. Now, although it is certainly a feature of translation that sometimes words must be added for clarity, what is clear here is that it is Luther’s theology that is being inserted into the text.This type of argument is rejected by Evangelical Protestants when it is used to counter their theology. See, for example, James White, “Germans, JW’s and John 1:1”, Alpha and Omega Ministries, accessed May 28, 2015, http://vintage.aomin.org/GERM_JWS.html; or “Is the New World Translation a Valid Version of the Bible?” GotQuestions.org, accessed May 28, 2015, http://www.gotquestions.org/New-World-Translation.html. Luther’s understanding of salvation was such an overriding factor that it led not only to his subtraction of entire books but to his addition of words to the text. This is certainly not what one would expect from someone claiming to uphold sola scriptura!

Luther versus Works

A major issue for Luther’s theology is that he excludes all works from the conditions for salvation based on verses that mention only qualified works. For instance, he uses verses that speak of works of the law to argue against any works. This move by Luther reflects a classic logical fallacy: simply because all works of the law are works, that does not mean that all works are works of the law.This is known as the fallacy of converting a universal affirmative statement.

Thus, the addition of alone to Romans 3:28 is not only erroneous as a translation; it is also an interpretive error based on an unjustified conflation of “works” with certain “works of the law”. This can be seen when Luther points out Paul’s example of Abraham’s faith. Notice how Luther moves from “works of the law” to an unqualified use of “works”:

Paul excludes all works so completely as to say that the works of the law, though it is God’s law and word, do not aid us in justification. . . All works are so completely rejected—which must mean faith alone justifies—whoever would speak plainly and clearly about this rejection of works will have to say, ‘Faith alone justifies and not works.’ The matter itself and the nature of language require it.Martin Luther, “An Open Letter on Translating”.

Luther’s own cross-reference to Galatians 2:16 in Romans 3:28 makes it clear that works there should be qualified, for there Paul writes, “yet [we] know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus” (emphasis added).

Paul uses Abraham’s faith as an example in Galatians as well as Romans—but note which works of “the law” Paul is speaking of: “the law, which came four hundred and thirty years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God” (Gal 3:17; emphasis added). Here, works of the law clearly refers to the law of Moses (cf. Ex 25 and Heb 8:13-9:1)—not to works of the law of Christ (cf. Gal 6:2; Mk 12:28-33).

When Paul contrasts faith and works, he qualifies “works” in the text. For example, he speaks of “works of the law” (Gal 2:16; 3:2, 5, 10; Rom 3:20, 28), “works of darkness” (Rom 13:12; Eph 5:11), and “works of the flesh” (Gal 5:19). Even when there is not a direct verbal qualifier, context makes clear what kinds of works Paul means (e.g., works done for illegitimate boasting [Rom 3:27; 4:2; cf. Gal 6:4]). To ignore these important qualifications would bring Paul not only into conflict with James but with himself—for throughout his writings Paul commanded Christians to do good works (see the next section).

Luther versus Sola Scriptura

We have seen that sola fide was used by Luther both to mistranslate the content and to question the canon of Scripture—the very Scripture he claimed to stand upon against the Church of his day. It seems Luther himself was guilty of doing the very thing he accused the Catholic Church of doing: elevating theology above the Bible. Luther’s doctrine had huge implications for his life as well.

The other major “sola” to drive the Reformation was sola scriptura—the belief that the Bible alone was the final court of appeal in doctrinal matters. It was to this “formal principle” that Luther and other Reformers appealed when they came into conflict with Catholic teachings.For more on the distinction between material and formal principles, see Douglas Beaumont, “The Bible and Legos”, Douglas Beaumont, April 20, 2015, accessed May 28, 2015, http://douglasbeaumont.com/2015/04/20/the-bible-and-legos/. In 1521, Luther was called to defend his doctrinal views at the Diet of Worms. In his defense he is said to have made this famous statement: “I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen.”Elesha Coffman, “What Luther Said”, Christianity Today, August 8, 2008, accessed May 28, 2015, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/news/2002/apr12.html.

Now, Luther’s translation of the Bible was made shortly after he spoke these words. One wonders if he had them in mind while adding the word alone to Romans 3:28. What is to be made of sola scriptura or Luther’s “captivity to the Word of God” if he adds his own theology to the Scriptures? Although Luther at times sounds like (and has been portrayed as) a simple, pious expositor and disciple of Scripture, it seems that at times he was simply captive to his own mind. So confident was Luther in his views that he once claimed, “I for my part am certain that the words I speak are not mine, but Christ’s. Then my mouth also must be his whose words it speaks.”Martin Luther, “A Sincere Admonition by Martin Luther to All Christians to Guard against All Insurrection and Rebellion”, in Works 3:174, http://media.sabda.org/alkitab-8/library/lut_wrk3.pdf.

At face value, these do not sound like the words of a man who has set aside “the traditions of men” in favor of the sole authority of the written Word of God, but rather of someone who has tacitly appointed himself the Magisterium of the Church. Although Luther says the same of “every man. . . who speaks the word of Christ”, his handling of the biblical canon, his translation of the Bible, and his other writings seem to confirm this suspicion. In the same place he wrote the above statement, Luther added, “I ask that men make no reference to my name, and call themselves not Lutherans, but Christians. What is Luther? My doctrine, I am sure, is not mine (John 7:16).”Luther, “A Sincere Admonition”, in Works 3:176.

Scripture and Sola Fide

Many of those who follow the tradition of Luther regarding justification by faith alone maintain that the teaching of Scripture is so clear on this point that anyone who simply reads the relevant texts without bias and using common sense will see the truth of the doctrine of sola fide. On this view, no extrinsic or self-appropriated religious authority is needed to justify taking a stance like Luther’s. This is essentially the claim that Scripture is “perspicuous” on matters pertaining to salvation, which further refines Luther’s application of the material principle to the formal principle of the Reformation—some things in Scripture are hard to understand, but anything you need to know in order to be saved is easy to understand.

Of course, one of the reasons the Protestant Reformation became a movement apart from the Catholic Church is that Luther and the Church could not agree on the interpretation of the Bible concerning matters pertaining to salvation. Not only that, but to this day conservative Protestants disagree among themselves on the interpretation of the Bible regarding matters that they mutually agree pertain to salvation in a vital way. Although it is theoretically possible that all persons on the wrong side of the disputed soteriological questions are either so stupid that they cannot understand the plain meaning of Scripture, or so immoral that they refuse to accept the plain meaning of Scripture, or just so addled by their own tradition as to be rendered nonculpably confused about the plain meaning of Scripture, it is also possible that the meaning of Scripture as a whole on matters pertaining to salvation is not plain or “perspicuous” in the sense that all persons of goodwill using common sense and seeking to understand the Bible on its own terms will come to the same conclusions.

Private Interpretation

A little experience among people with other views is sufficient to dispel the notion that everyone with whom one disagrees about matters pertaining to salvation is either stupid, ignorant, or immoral. Rather, it seems to be the case that even among those who accept the formal principle of the Reformation—sola scriptura—theological paradigms invariably inform Bible interpretation. When a Bible verse seems to teach something that someone does not agree with, that verse gets relegated to the category of “unclear” and is then “explained” by referring to a different “clear” verse (namely, one that sounds like the interpreter’s view).

The trouble is that many verses deemed unclear have the same form as those that are considered clear. One verse says, “Salvation is by X”, and another says, “Salvation is by Y.” Yet, one is seen as clear and the other unclear. Nothing in the text seems to blame for this distinction, though. The alleged unclear verses often end up being simply those that seem to teach most strongly against one’s theology.

Nor is this only a problem for nonsalvific passages. In fact, the problem is especially evident when it comes to salvation verses. Someone new to Christianity and the Bible, who knew no theology or specialized theological terminology, could do a Bible search on the words salvation and saved and discover a long and varied list of “clear” requirements to be saved. Cross-referencing words such as faith, belief, grace, works, repent, endure, and others that pop up regularly in these salvation passages would generate a “salvation summary” twenty pages long! See the partial summary of one such search at the end of this essay. Grammatically speaking, few of these would seem unclear—they would become difficult only if the new Christian was later taught what not to believe: Women saved by childbirth? Having to endure to the end? How can persecution save?

What makes one verse clear and another unclear seems to have more to do with one’s prior theological position than with biblical wording, and of course theologians are at odds with one another. To one who believes in baptismal regeneration, verses such as Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, and 1 Peter 3:21 seem quite clear. To those who believe repentance must be part of faith, a host of verses from the Gospels are considered the “main, plain” ones. Those who believe that faith saves apart from good works find passages such as Luke 7:50, Romans 3, Ephesians 2:8-9, and Galatians 2 obvious. Those who think works must accompany faith can point to Matthew 5, Ephesians 2:10, James 2, and Revelation 14.

Now, these interpretive difficulties are all resolvable, but the resolutions are inevitably theological and not merely exegetical, precisely because some verses are hermeneutically prioritized as being “clear” from the start. That is, theology is doing the grouping, categorizing, and explaining of the biblical data. The end result is that the “clear” verses are held both “theologically” and “biblically” (i.e., taken at face value), whereas the “unclear” verses are held only “theologically” (i.e., as carefully qualified). But using theology to explain the “unclear” verses easily results in a circular argument for one’s position.

There are in fact “clear” verses for almost every understanding of salvation, and similar results are produced in other areas as well. Good, smart, faithful people disagree over nearly every theological position imaginable—and all attempt to gain support from the Bible and more or less successfully harmonize the biblical data. The idea that these various conflicting theologies can be concluded by appealing to the “clear, main, plain” verses is therefore simply an invitation to beg the question.

Authoritative Interpretation

The reality is that most people learn Christianity in a particular theological context and simply absorb whatever they are taught until they are able to do their own study. By then, their default theology is often so ingrained that they forget they are still interpreting the Bible they are reading. Verses that seem to teach their views clearly are trotted out as proof texts, while contrary passages are labeled “unclear” and then understood by the “clear” ones.This idea that “Scripture interprets Scripture” is often erroneously referred to as the analogia fide—the “analogy of faith”, which originally referred to the rule of faith (regula fidei)—the core set of Christian teachings that determine orthodoxy. See Daniel H. Williams, Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influence of the Early Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005). Unless a theological paradigm shift occurs, this will likely remain the case—and disagreements will often be seen as signs of ignorance or even sin.

This problem is not limited to Protestants, which is why Catholics read Scripture in light of the tradition of the Church and her living Magisterium as a matter of principle. Catholics do not subject the teaching authority of the Church to the rule of private interpretation of Scripture, such that they “submit” to the former only when it agrees with the latter, which is the Protestant modus operandi (i.e., sola scriptura). From a Catholic point of view, to contradict or disregard these authorities when interpreting the Bible would be to take the Bible out of context, whereas submitting to and learning from them is to read Scripture for what it is in reality: the Word of God given by inspiration to, through, and for the Church.

For Catholics, the Bible does not exist in a theological vacuum apart from interpretive authority. Instead, the meaning of Scripture is made clear by the teaching of the Church, so that various disputes can be and have been definitively settled by the Church’s God-given authority (cf. Mt 16:18-19). Thus, orthodoxy is established and believers are given an interpretive key, the genuine tradition, by which to perceive and discover further the authentic harmony of Sacred Scripture.

Catholics and Sola Fide

Catholics believe that by means of good works rooted in love we can grow in the righteousness of God and in this sense be justified by works as well as by faith. Thus, we are justified by faith because faith is the beginning of justification, but justification is not by faith alone because dead faith does not justify; rather, justifying faith is faith animated by love (Rom 2:6-16; Jas 2:14-26). The difficulty is that it is also stated several times in the New Testament that we are not justified by works (e.g., Gal 3:11 and Eph 2:8-9). All interpreters of Scripture must find a way to harmonize these teachings. We saw above how Luther attempted to do it and why it is problematic. The Catholic position on justification does not depend on there being only one possible way to harmonize the biblical data, but it is helpful to see how the biblical data can be harmonized in a manner consistent with the Catholic doctrine of justification.Because no amount of dogma can exhaust the depths of the Word of God, Catholics can and do explore various ways of harmonizing the biblical data in keeping with the Church’s tradition. Such exegetical efforts are spiritually rewarding in themselves, and they can also serve as an indirect confirmation of the Church’s dogma.

The most famous of these seeming discrepancies in the biblical data on justification is between James and Paul. The alleged contradiction between their views on faith and works is exemplified by the following statements:

James: “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas 2:24).

Paul: “For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom 3:28).

In these two verses we come very close to finding a contradiction in the Bible. James and Paul use the same words (justified, faith, works) in the same context (salvation) and even using the same illustration (Abraham’s righteousness; cf. Rom 4:3 and Jas 2:21-23) to make seemingly conflicting points.

What is the solution? It might be that Paul and James are using the word faith differently. Thus, while Paul is talking about the kind of faith that saves (genuine faith), James is talking about the kind of faith that does not save (spurious or merely nominal faith). Usually the difference is reckoned to be that the former faith has works as its product (“fruit”), whereas the latter does not (we are saved by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone).

On the other hand, it might be that Paul and James are using the word justification differently. That is, whereas Paul is equating justification with salvation itself, James means something like proof of one’s salvation. Sometimes it is said that Paul is speaking of justification before God (a one-time act whereby God declares a person to be just), and James is speaking of justification before men (i.e., one’s faith being proved genuine to others).

A better possibility is that the difference between James and Paul on this point comes down to an equivocation on the word works. This solution is established by the actual wording of the texts in question and not a theological retooling of their definitions.

Works of Law

The term legalism is given to views of salvation in which salvation relies on works. It is a view rejected by both sola fide Protestants and faithful Catholics—but for different reasons.See Joe Heschmeyer, “The Catholic View on Justification (and Sanctification)”, Shameless Popery, November 9, 2010, accessed May 28, 2015, http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2010/11/catholic-view-on-justification-and.html. One of these reasons is that Catholics recognize distinctions among works in the Bible that Protestants often conflate.

When Paul is discussing things such as faith, works, and law, he nearly always qualifies his terms. For example, he speaks positively of following the “law of the Spirit of life” (Rom 8:2) and “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6) but speaks negatively of “works of the law” (Gal 2:16; 3:2, 5, 10; Rom 3:20, 28), “works of darkness” (Rom 13:12; Eph 5:11), and “works of the flesh” (Gal 5:19). Even when there is not a direct qualification, context indicates what Paul means, such as with works done for illegitimate boasting (Rom 3:27, 4:2; cf. Gal 6:4).

James differs from Paul in that his letter does not include negative references to either works or the law. When James references obedience to the law, he refers to the “law of liberty”. This is established in the very first chapter:

For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (Jas 1:23-25)

James defines this “law of liberty” (which he also refers to as the “royal law”) in chapter 2: it is the great commandment of Jesus (cf. Mt 22:37; cf. Deut 6:5):

If you really fulfil the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” said also, “Do not kill.” If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. (Jas 2:8-13)

James is speaking of the law of love to those who will be judged under the law of liberty. James, then, is affirming something that Paul affirms—namely, the spiritual law that sets us free for good works by which we are justified. Thus, James is not contradicting Paul by affirming that anyone will be justified by works apart from grace and the Spirit. Paul, in fact, parallels James’ words when he writes:

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love. . . . For you were called to freedom, brethren. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal 5:6, 13-14)

This harmony also helps explain why Paul connects faith, hope, and love more than he contrasts faith and works.For example, in Gal 5:6 Paul says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love.” But if circumcision is a work, then how could “faith working” be the only thing that “is of any avail”? Galatians is one of the go-to books of the New Testament for showing the antithesis of faith and works, but note that in this section Paul again qualifies the works he is railing against: they are “works of the law” (e.g., Gal 2:16; 3:2, 5, 10; emphasis added), not just any good work—and especially not faithful works done in love. This joining of faith and love also occurs early in Romans—another favorite book for sola fide adherents. Yet again, though, Paul qualifies the works he is referring to as “works of the law” (e.g., Rom 3:20, 28; 9:32 [implied]; emphasis added). He also mentions boasting about one’s works as being a problem—not simply doing them. Although not a heavyweight in the antiworks sections of the New Testament, the book of Ephesians provides the most single famous sola fide proof text: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph 2:8-9). Here we have Paul clearly distinguishing between grace (by which we are saved), faith (through which we are saved), and works (by which we are not saved). Interestingly, though, if we read to the end of the passage—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10)—works are mentioned again (as that for which we are saved—cf. 1 Thess 1:3 and 2 Thess 1:11). When we consider that Paul (in his negative statements about salvation by works and the law) and James (in his positive statements about salvation by works and the law) speak of different senses of the word works, the perceived contradiction disappears, and the objective textual harmony that results is neither legalistic nor licentious (even if it is not Protestant).

Works of Love

One of the most important doctrinal implications of this way of harmonizing the texts on faith, works, and justification is that faith and charity (love), although they are different theological virtues, are necessarily joined together in justification. Faith can exist without love, but justifying faith is always faith formed by love—that is to say, living faith.This principle is dogmatically defined by Trent, session 6, chaps. 7 and 8, http://www.americancatholictruthsociety.com/docs/trent/trent6.htm. Thus, when Saint Paul speaks of justification by faith, he is referring to living faith. Living faith is not opposed to Spirit-enabled good works as a cooperating cause of justification (Jas 2:22), because what makes faith alive is love, which is the principle of all good works.

Sample Bible search on the words “saved”, “repent”, and “salvation”:

     Mt 3:2 (cf. Mt 4:17)—“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

     Mt 5:3 (Sermon on the Mount; cf. Lk 6:20)—“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

     Mt 5:10—“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

     Mt 5:20—“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

     Mt 6:33—“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.”

     Mt 7:21—“Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

     Mt 10:22 (Mt 24:13; Mk 13:13)—“But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

     Mk 1:15—“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”

     Mk 2:5—“And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Child, your sins are forgiven.’ ”

     Mk 8:35 (Mt 16:25; Lk 9:24)—“[W]hoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

     Mk 16:16—“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

     Lk 3:3—“And he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

     Lk 7:50—“And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’ ”

     Lk 8:12—“[B]elieve and be saved.”

     Lk 13:3 (Lk 13:5)—“I tell you, No; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

     Lk 15:7, 10—“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. . . . Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

     Lk 24:47—“and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem”.

     Jn 5:24—“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life.”

     Jn 6:29—“Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ ”

     Jn 6:35—“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.’ ”

     Jn 6:40—“[E]very one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

     Jn 6:47—“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”

     Jn 8:24—“I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”

     Acts 2:21—“And it shall be that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

     Acts 2:38, 40—“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. . . . Save yourselves.”

     Acts 3:19—“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.”

     Acts 5:31—“God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

     Acts 8:22—“Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.”

     Acts 15:11—“But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

     Acts 16:31—“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

     Rom 5:9—“Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

     Rom 10:9—“[I]f you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

     1 Cor 1:18, 21—“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. . . . For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”

     1 Cor 3:15—“If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

     1 Cor 5:5—“[Y]ou are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

     1 Cor 7:16—“Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?”

     1 Cor 15:2—“by which you are saved, if you hold it fast—unless you believed in vain”.

     2 Cor 7:10—“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings regret, but worldly grief produces death.”

     Rom 3:25-28—“whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteousness and that justifies him who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith. For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

     Gal 2:16—“yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we 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 shall no flesh be justified”.

     Gal 3:11—“Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’ ”

     Eph 2:5—“even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”.

     Eph 2:8-10—“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

     Phil 2:12—“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

     2 Thess 2:10—“those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved”.

     2 Thess 2:13—“But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”

     1 Tim 2:15—“Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.”

     1 Tim 4:7-10—“Have nothing to do with godless and silly myths. Train yourself in godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.”

     1 Tim 4:16—“Take heed of yourself and of your teaching; hold to that, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

     2 Tim 1:9—“who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago”.

     Titus 3:5—“[H]e saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

     Heb 5:9—“[A]nd being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”

     Heb 7:25—“Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

     Heb 9:28—“[S]o Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

     Jas 1:21—“Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

     Jas 2:14, 17-18, 20-22, 24-26—“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can that faith save him?. . . So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. . . But some one will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. . . . Do you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. . . . You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.”

     Jas 5:15—“And the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

     1 Pet 2:2—“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation.”

     1 Pet 3:21—“Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

     2 Pet 2:20—“For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first.”

     1 Jn 3:23—“And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”

     1 Jn 4:16—“So we know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

     1 Jn 5:1—“Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the one begotten by him.”

     1 Jn 5:5—“Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

     1 Jn 5:13—“I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”

     Jude 5—“Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully informed, that he who saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.”

     Jude 23—“save some by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh”.

     Rev 2:19—“I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.”

     Rev 14:12—“Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”