The fact that salvation is by grace alone (Sola Gratia), through faith alone (Sola Fide), is one of the most obvious and indisputable facts of Scripture. In fact, it would be wholly impractical to so much as attempt to gather every verse that says as much. If you were to attempt, you might as well leave out the commentary and just copy and paste the Bible. Rather than doing that, I have selected a handful of what I consider to be the "best" examples, assembled them in canonical order, and I will expound upon them in this article.
The first example I have chosen is Genesis 15:6, which says "And he (Abraham) believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Brackets mine). I have chosen this verse for two reasons. The first is because I thought I needed one from the Old Testament, demonstrating that salvation has always been by grace through faith. More importantly, however, is the fact that the New Testament does the same. Genesis 15:6 is cited 3 times in the New Testament (Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23), each time reminding us that Abraham's belief, not any particular work, is what was credited to him for righteousness. It is worth noting that opponents of Sola Fide will actually misquote James 2, especially verse 24, in order to attack the doctrine. However, looking at this chapter as a whole, we see that James is, in fact, arguing for consistency in the faith, suggesting that real faith produces works (more on that later), and so if you're not working, it's probably because your faith is dead. And of course, unless you're a Relativist or a Universalist, nobody believes dead faith saves.
Moving on to the New Testament, we have the famous John 3:16, which tells us "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." It almost seems cliché to cite John 3:16, especially since it is probably the most famous verse in the entire Bible. It also happens to be the most clear. In John 3, Jesus lays out His purpose to Nicodemus, an enquiring and sincere Pharisee. After explaining to Nicodemus that one must be born again to enter Heaven, He further explains that He has come specifically so that the world, through Him, might be saved. But how does one receive this salvation? "...whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." To really drive the point home, verse 15 likewise states that believers have eternal life, and verse 18 reiterates "He that believeth on him is not condemned..." That's 3 very clear statements that believing (i.e. having faith) will save you.
Moving on into Acts, we read an account of when Paul and Silas effectively prayed their way out of prison, as the Lord sent a great earthquake to clear them a path. Yet, for sake of the prison keeper, they did not leave. Instead, they waited for him, and he spoke to them, asking them "...Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." (Acts 16:30-31). If the prison keeper needed anything else to be saved, this would be a good time to say it. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, be baptised, give 10% of your income to the Church as a tithe, and be a member of this specific denomination until Kingdom come". No, all they said was believe, because that is quite literally all one will ever need in order to be saved.
The book of Romans is an absolute boon for Sola Fide (and indeed for a lot of other Christian doctrines). The book is absolutely flooded with verses like Romans 4:4-5, which tells us "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Much like we are told Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness, here we are told that those who have true faith, but not works, still have righteousness credited to them.
This is contrasted with those who do work. Notice, to he who works, the reward is not counted as grace. Rather, it is counted as a wage. If you're working for salvation, God isn't showing you grace, He's simply giving you what He owes you. Now of course, He is speaking hypothetically; only one man's works have ever been good enough for God. For the rest of us, who have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), even our righteous deeds are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Nevertheless, Paul tells us that if we earn salvation, it is not by grace by definition.
But Scripture tells us we, as sinners, did not, and indeed could not, earn salvation. He tells us plainly "...the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23). You cannot earn salvation. What you earned is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. Now tell me, what is a gift? I want you to think of a gift you may have given recently. Perhaps you're reading this just after Christmas, or a friend's birthday. Or heck, maybe you've just spontaneously bought your girlfriend some flowers. Whoever you gave that gift to, imagine they start taking credit for the gift.
Obviously, there are scenarios in which this is true. Maybe you're thinking of a mug you gave your mom with money she gave you. But usually, when we give gifts, the person receiving it did nothing to receive it other than accept it. So it is with salvation. Salvation is not something we contribute to with our own works, it is a gift directly from our Creator.
And it is so very easy to claim. Romans 10:9 gives us a simple formula: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." I'll say that again, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Confess and believe Jesus. Once again, no "after all we can do", no Mary as a second mediator, no abstain from all kinds of sin or you've lost it forever. Faith is the sole criteria.
Continuing on, we have Romans 11:6, in which Paul basically defines his terms by saying "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace." This verse expressly separates grace and works as being the antithesis of each other. Grace, once you add works to it, is no longer grace. But without works, the only way one could have any effect on the outcome of their eternity is through faith, just as the rest of Scripture clearly tells us.
Earlier in this article, I said I would return to the idea that true faith produces good works. A good place to start in order to establish this point is 2 Corinthians 7:10, which says "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow
of the world worketh death." This is one of many places that tells us the heart has to be in the right place. Here, Paul describes two kinds of sorrow for sin: Godly sorrow, which produces repentance, and worldly sorrow, which does not. This is effectively the difference between being sorry you sinned and being sorry you got caught. The former attitude recognises the error of the sin, producing genuine remorse and the will to do better. By contrast, the latter attitude laments the possibility of punishment, but would repeat the same sin in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose. There is no change of heart when it comes to worldly sorrow, but Godly sorrow causes repentance, which in turn leads to salvation.
By far the most well known, and most effective verse for proving that salvation is by grace, through faith, as the gift of God, and not of works, is Ephesians 2:8-9, which literally tells us "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." There it is, as clear as God could possibly have been without inventing new words. You don't need me to expound upon it, and I'm not even going to try, because there is literally no better way to say it than that. But one thing far too many Christians (sadly including my past self) leave out is the oh so critical verse 10, which adds "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." This rather strongly tells us that as a result of salvation, we end up doing good works that God ordained for us beforehand. We don't do good works to get saved, we do them because we are saved. Good works are the purpose, not the method of salvation.
The final verse I would like to deal with in this article is 1 John 5:31. Not quite at the end of his epistle, but as a part of his concluding remarks, John writes "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
Once again, faith is shown as the sole criteria for salvation, but the reason I am particularly fond of 1 John 5:31 is that John adds an element of confidence. Those who believe on the name of the Son of God may know that we have eternal life. This stands in stark contrast to false denominations, who steal away every guarantee by either claiming you must earn salvation, or work to keep it. Works based gospels, which are no gospels at all, mean that you cannot know, at any given moment, if you are saved. But the true Gospel, which is based entirely on the finished work of Christ on the cross, means you can absolutely know, at every given moment, that you have eternal life. Not just might have, have. You're not even dead yet, yet you have the promise that you will be raised to life with Christ in whom you put your hope.
And so you see even in this tiny selection of verses that salvation is absolutely by faith alone. Time would fail me to analyse Galatians and show that Paul almost considers them apostate for daring to add works to the Gospel. I would break my keyboard if I continued to point to the penitent thief, who literally could not work, yet was saved by a single confession of faith. I dare not do more than give a passing glance to Matthew 7:21-23, where the dead confess Jesus as Lord, only to brag of their good works, and receive condemnation as evildoers. A time may come when I dedicate whole articles to each individual proof text, but for now I feel I have made my point. Those who deny Sola Fide are either not studying their Bibles well enough to know the basics of salvation, or are so severely dishonest that they may as well call Satan their king. But those who understand that they are saved by a righteousness that is not their own will receive the full reward for Christ's good works.