The Five Solas: Faith Alone

FAITH ALONE?

One of the pillars of the Reformation was the belief that we are saved by faith alone. The cry sola fide declared that we come to salvation, not through any righteousness of our own, but solely through the work and person of Jesus Christ.

What does faith alone mean? This is the doctrine of justification. Here are some of the questions the Reformers sought to answer:

• Are we saved by faith alone or faith plus works?
• Does Christ’s righteousness only clean our slate of past sins (before salvation)?
• Does Christ’s righteousness wholly replace our own?

Sola fide declares that we are saved by faith alone and all of Christ’s righteousness is credited to our account. There is nothing more we can or need to do to achieve our salvation. If there were remaining work on our end, then salvation would be in our hands, not God’s.

DOES IT MATTER?

While this may have been an important question for the Reformers, does it still matter 500 years later? The answer is a resounding yes! Throughout history the question has not changed: How can a person be made right with God? We all must confront this question, and sola fide gives us our answer. This doctrine reminds us of the grace of God and his gospel. We can testify that God is good because he is the one who ultimately and completely accomplishes our salvation. He loves us so much that he did all the work. How we are justified and able to stand before God is one of the key components of the gospel, and one that is worth fighting for.

When this doctrine is rightly understood, you can join Christian rapper Shai Linne in saying, “It feels so good to be justified!”

LEARN MORE

To learn more about the doctrine of faith alone check out Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification by Thomas Schreiner and the rest of the Five Solas Series.