You do not understand Sola Fide if...

If you ask any merit monger, the biggest problem with Sola Fide is it allows the forgiveness of any sin for no other reason than that we confess faith. Any sinner - a covetous man, an adulterer, even a murderer - can be saved by faith. So what stops them committing adultery or murder?

The first and most obvious problem with this objection is that, whether or not we agree with the implications, the Bible nevertheless presents the fact that we are saved by faith alone. The easiest place to go to for this specific argument is Romans 4:2-8, where we read "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”"

Here, Paul draws on the example of two men. The first is Abraham. This example is cited three times in the New Testament. Once here, once in Galatians 3:6, and once in James 2:23. The original citation is Genesis 15:6, which says "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." This, it is worth noting, refers to the promise "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them. (...) So shall your descendants be." (Genesis 15:5). Given the context, set by Romans 4, it must also refer to "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." (Genesis 15:1).

All of this was before Isaac was even born, and in fact, given the placement of the "he believed in the Lord" verse, even before Sarah, specifically, was promised to be Isaac's mother. In the next chapter, Abraham actually commits adultery with Hagar, his wife's slave, and gets her pregnant with Ishmael. So, already, having been credited with righteousness by faith, Abraham sinned. Yet, this is never mentioned in Biblical discussions of justification. It never says "Abraham believed God, it was credited to him for righteousness, then later he lost that righteousness by adultery and didn't get it back until he took Isaac to be sacrificed". No, the absolute most you get - and this is indeed the main point I'm trying to get at - is "Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?" (James 2:22).

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Interjection refuted: James 2:20-24

Merit mongers will almost certainly jump on this and point out that the full context of James 2:22 includes verses 20-24. This is actually good practice: One should always read the full context, and it's true that verses 20-24 do provide essential context to verse 22. So, let's look at that: "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only."

Both verse 20 and verse 24 are often cited alone as prooftexts against Sola Fide. If "faith without works is dead", and "man is justified by works, and not by faith only", then Sola Fide is apparently dead in the water. That is, until we consider the context of both James chapter 2 as a whole, and the context of Scripture overall.

You may follow the links in the above paragraph for more details, but in short, James 2 as a whole is a book of practical applications. It's not about how to get saved, or even how to retain salvation. Rather, it is about how to behave once saved, and how that actually genuine, saving faith, from mere intellectual assent. Even demons have the latter.

It's also essential to remember that James will never contradict the rest of Scripture. Therefore, given that the rest of Scripture clearly presents salvation by faith alone, yet James 2 is the only Scripture merit mongers tend to default to, significantly boosts the probability that they are just misinterpreting these 4 verses.

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Just as Abraham's faith justified him despite his adultery, Paul goes on to discuss David. Specifically, he quotes Psalm 32:1-2, which, in the original, reads "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit."

While it's not certain, Psalm 32 is believed to have been written specifically about the time David, upon seeing Bathsheba bathing, coveted her, had her called to him, slept with her, got her pregnant, then had her husband, Uriah, sent out to battle to die. This does fit the context of the Psalm. He kept these sins silent, as verse 3 states. He received forgiveness upon confessing, as verse 5 states. Furthermore, 1 Kings 15:4-5 says David didn't turn aside from anything the Lord commanded him except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. So, more than likely, Psalm 32 is about this issue. But even if we do not accept this, that first of all makes David's salvation even more grand. See, David did do these things, and yet it is abundantly clear that God forgave him of all of it (2 Samuel 12:13). So, the two options are:

1. Psalm 32 is about the Bathsheba and Uriah episode, meaning David was forgiven for coveting a man's wife, committing adultery with her, and murdering him, thereby showing God forgives even covetous, adulterous murderers.

2. Psalm 32 is not specifically about the Bathsheba and Uriah episode, multiplying the sins for which David is forgiven.

Whichever way you cut that particular pie, you're still left with the fact that the only works involved here are the works that made salvation necessary in the first place. To repeat what Paul says in Romans 4, "But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works".

So how is righteousness imputed to us by God? By faith, apart from works. Which is exactly what the rest of Scripture points out! So, technically, yes, while we absolutely hate the implications, one can be saved despite being a murderer. But here's the question: why do we hate it?

The first possibility, quite frankly, is pride. Let's read Ephesians 2:8-10. This is by far the most popular prooftext for Sola Fide, and for good reason, because it says "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Emphasis added).

What do we see here? Well, first, again, we see salvation by faith, and very explicitly not of works. So again, this conclusion is utterly inescapable. But the reason cited is "lest anyone should boast". This concept of boasting is seen all throughout Scripture. We even see it in Romans 4:2, which we cited at the beginning. But even before this, we go back a single chapter and find "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law." (Romans 3:21-28).

Again! Again we see salvation by grace, through faith, apart from works! Again we see that we are imputed righteousness by believing on Him, not by anything we do. By why? Well look what it says: "there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". What we need to understand is that God doesn't look at sin the way we do. We tend to rank sins, and assume God has that same system. We see murder as unforgivable, we assume God does too. We see lying as "no big deal", we assume God does too. But God's word actually says "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10).

So if you're looking at naughty things on the internet, if you swiped $20 from your mother's purse, if you cussed out your father for refusing to let you borrow the car, you might think it's nothing serious. But in God's eyes, sin is sin. And the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

So if you believe salvation is by works, that's actually a particularly bad work called "pride". You erroneously boast against those who - in your imagination - aren't "good enough" to make it, or against those whom you believe you're not quite as bad as. But upon whose merits will you be judged? Your "evil" neighbor's, or your own? And if God judges you by your own merits, what will be done with you?

Far better, then, to be judged by His merits. As Jesus said, "No one is good but One, that is, God." (Matthew 19:17; Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19). If you're not good, how can you expect God to accept you by the filthy rags that are your good works (Isaiah 64:6)?

But then, doesn't that make our good works practically worthless, both to God, but even to us? If our works don't save us, why not just sin so that grace may abound? This brings us to the second reason we may be offended by such a notion. This time, rightly. See, because Paul does teach Sola Fide, he not only anticipates this objection, but answers it in the exact way a modern Christian would:

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin." (Romans 6:1-7).

Notice, then, not free to sin. Academically speaking, for one who has genuine faith, that is technically possible. Paul has already established "...where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:20-21). But he has specifically cut off the idea that this will play out that way in a saved individual. How, he asks, can we who have died to sin live any longer in it?

This is the reason Christians find it so offensive that salvation enables sin. It's not that Sola Fide is false. It cannot possibly be, we have seen several times throughout this article that it is an inescapable conclusion from Scripture. But we are not free to sin, we are free from sin. The very thing that separates us from our God no longer does. So in what universe would we return to it? Is that faith? Is that... love?

And so I like to put it this way: If you believed in Sola Fide, would you sin more, less, or about the same? If they answer "more", that's actually a real problem. Not for Sola Fide, but for the believer in question. If you would sin more if you suddenly lost the fear of condemnation for it, your motives are skewed. You are not, as the atheists say, a good person, but a "bad person on a leash".

I strongly doubt anyone would ever say "less", though for goodness sake, if Sola Fide would encourage you to sin less, you've not only proven the point, you've shown that you need Sola Fide!

But if anyone admits "about the same", they have been very honest. First, they have confessed their human nature. Sin sucks, but in the flesh, it seems almost inevitable. Not actually inevitable. 1 Corinthians 10:13 makes it very clear, there is never a time when you will be tempted beyond your abilities, and God Himself will provide a way out. But we're still human. We're still stuck in the flesh, and the flesh has desires. It will absolutely prompt you to follow those desires. As Christians, we are urged not to indulge those desires, walking instead in the Spirit.

But the latter is our desire. When we sin, it is a casualty of war. We fight our fleshly desires. Why? Because we desire God more. We obey Him out of love, not out of fear. Christianity is not a relationship between helpless slave and brutal master. Our God is our Holy Father, who, because of His Great love, sent His Son to die for us. Doesn't that very thought motivate you to do everything in your power to love Him in return?

Let me put it this way. On Earth, my relationship with my mother is very strong. I love her deeply, and so even in spite of our differences, I show that love through my works. Whatever she wants, great or small, I try to do or get for her. Now, if I refuse those requests, will I cease to be her son? Will I be cast out into the streets, homeless and without hope? Of course not. So, why do I do good for my mother? Because I love her. Now, if that is how I am with my mother, as I'm sure all of my readers will be with at least one significant person in their lives, how much more do we, who love God, seek to honor Him in obedience, only out of love?

You see, then, that Sola Fide does not excuse a lack of works. It doesn't enable us to do greater evil, nor even excuse a lack of good. Frankly, if a Christian does even the bare minimum, I would question their salvation, not because I believe one needs works to be saved, but because they aren't showing their faith by their works (James 2:18). They are showing themselves to be religious, sure. So did the Pharisees, and they did many great works, not for God, but to be seen by men (Matthew 23:5). And even false prophets, who will call Jesus "Lord", boast of the grand works they did in Jesus' name, only to be cast out at the judgement (Matthew 7:15-23).

But a believer will do good, not as an attempt to pay off his own unpayable debt, but as an outpouring of his faith. Salvation does not change the fact that we do works, but our motivations. A merit monger will do good works to earn salvation, and will be sorely disappointed when they find out, if they ask Jesus to judge them by their works, He will. That is when they will hear those dreaded words, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" But to those who will instead utter "God, be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:9-14), salvation is given as a beautiful gift, straight from the kind heart of the Lord, our God. In pure gratitude, therefore, we obey. We repent of that which destroyed the relationship, and walk in a manner suitable for He who restored it. Not what restored it. Who. Because our salvation is found in Jesus. It is He who presents us blameless, though we are to be blamed, because He took the blame. All the lies, all the lusts, all the violence, He took it all. In this life, we will never be able to imitate Him perfectly. But because of who He is, because of what He has done, the act of trying is our pitiful attempt to show gratitude.

Now you tell me, dear reader, which is more suitable for the Christian faith: Obeying out of love, or obeying out of fear?

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