Sola Fide

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also 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 no one will be justified.     (Galatians 2:15-16)

     Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
     For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.     (Galatians 3:7-14)

     The Phrase "Sola Fide" literally means, "Faith Alone", or "By Faith Alone". It represents the scriptural truth that God's people are justified by faith in Jesus Christ's merits, and His merits alone.

     As I have been preaching through the book of Galatians over the past two months, God has revealed truths to me about the mechanisms of salvation by faith alone. Paul connects salvation through faith to the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 15. In this covenant, God agreed to bless Abraham (who was then Abram) with a son, a large posterity, an inheritance of land, and an offspring.  God also promised to bless the nations through this offspring (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:8). The Bible says, "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:6).

     Paul also says that all who rely on the Old Testament law to save them will be cursed. Why? Because no one is righteous (Romans 3:10) and all have fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). Jesus preached during His ministry if a man sinned against God in his heart, he was guilty (Matt. 5:21-30). Because of our sinfulness, God's Holy standard is not reachable by any human being, therefore we can't be saved by moral efforts. We cannot live by the whole law, and the Bible says to fail in one area of the law is to be guilty of all the law (James 2:10). In summary, to strive to save yourself by any moral standard is disobedience to God.

     But Paul tells us, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). Jesus Christ's mission in coming to this world was to fulfill the law (Matt. 5), stand in the place of those that the Father had given Him, and satisfy the debt of God's wrath against them. Christ also gives us His perfect law-fulfilling obedience when we take Him at His Word, just like Abraham did when he, "believed God and it was counted to Him for righteousness." God asked Abraham to believe some illogical things. For example, He told Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son when she was well passed childbearing age. God told him to sacrifice his son Isaac, but Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness! God also asks us to believe some illogical things: the authority of the Bible, the virgin birth, and the resurrection just to name a few. But by following in Abraham's footsteps of faith, through Christ's substitution for us on the cross, we are justified before God.

     I would like to ask you a question. In whom do you trust? Are you trusting in God's Grace through Christ's perfect righteousness to save you from eternal punishment, or are you hoping your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds enough for you to "make it" to heaven? If you believe the latter, you are deceiving yourself! You might fool others into thinking you believe in Christ, but what do you believe in your heart? Justin Martyr wrote to those who would persecute the church, "You can kill us, but you can't harm us." He knew that there was a life after this one, and while someone could take away his life on earth, no one could change his eternal destination. He trusted that Jesus Christ's merits and sacrifice on the cross were sufficient to give him access into God's presence forever. Do you have the same foundation that Martyr had? Would you be willing to say with him, "Take my life, you can't change my eternity"?