Faith Alone (12)
All, therefore, were glorified and magnified, not through themselves or their own works or the righteous actions which they did, but through his will. And so we, having been called through his will in Christ Jesus, are not justified through ourselves or through our wisdom or understanding or piety or works, which we have done in holiness of heart, but through faith, by which the almighty God has justified all who have existed from the beginning, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.1 Clement 32:3-4
It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone: just as the heat alone of the sun which warms the earth, and yet in the sun it is not alone, because it is constantly conjoined with light.
By faith alone one is freely forgiven of all sins and the believer is no longer burdened by the Law for meriting good works. Our works, however, are demonstrative of our faith and will determine whether we are ultimately justified.
Canon IX contains these thunderous words, "If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious 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." On the one hand, these words reflect a misunderstanding of the Protestant view, as if the latter claimed that good words were unnecessary. On the other hand, the language of preparation reflects the theology of Gabriel Biel and a view of grace that differs sharply from the Reformers, who taught there is nothing we can do to prepare ourselves to receive God's grace.Faith Alone by Thomas Schreiner Copyright ©2015 by Schreiner. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com, 65
It is true that faith alone justifies, without works; but I am speaking about genuine faith, which after it has justified, will not go to sleep but is active through love.
Because faith alone justifies... publicans and prostitutes will be the first in the kingdom of heaven.
It is not of our own accord that we have believed... and even when we had come to believe, He did not require of us purity of life, but approving mere faith, God bestowed on us forgiveness of sins.
we cannot expect the earliest Christians to have the same clarity on the issue of sola fide as the Reformers. The emphasis we find among them on topics like good works and merit lacks the clarity of the later discussions, but a sympathetic reading doesn't posit a contradiction between them and the Reformers. True faith results in good works, and the term "merit" in the early fathers may designate the reward given instead of being interpreted to say that one earns salvation.Sola Fide, 23
Justification by faith alone isn't the product of rigid and brittle orthodoxy. It speaks to the minds and hearts of people all throughout history because it tackles one of the fundamental questions of our human condition: How can a person be right with God?Faith Alone by Thomas Schreiner Copyright ©2015 by Schreiner. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com, 15
sola fide! These words declared that salvation does not come from looking at our own works of righteousness, but from looking outside ourselves to another, to the person and work of Jesus Christ.Faith Alone by Thomas Schreiner Copyright ©2015 by Schreiner. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com, 15
Justification is by faith alone, but it isn't a faith that is alone, for true faith produces good works. Still, good works are not the ground or cause of salvation; they are the fruit of one's faith. The perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed to believers, so that their righteousness is not inherent but is theirs because they are united to Jesus Christ. At the final judgment God will declare publicly what was already the case in the lives of believers, i.e., that they are righteous by faith, and their works will verify (but will not be the foundation of) that declaration.
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