Justification: Part II - Justification by Faith Alone (Sola Fide)

In the last section it was reasoned that if God were to grant salvation to mankind, the only way he could do it, given his nature, was to send his Son to earth so that he could become a man. On earth he would suffer and die, taking on the sins of the whole world, so that it made satisfaction for man’s affront to God, and by doing so he acquired merit which he gives freely to his people so that they may be redeemed. We have faith that God has done this through what is written in the Scripture concerning the person of Jesus Christ. However, it still remains to be seen how it is that this gift of redemption is given to man that he may be saved from his sinful nature and transformed to the likeness of Christ.

All orthodox Christians (which include Protestant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox) have affirmed that that this gift is given freely by God and, as noticed in the last section, none of man’s works can merit it. Instead, our justification before God comes through our faith. Faith does not simply mean that we believe in Christ although belief in God and His Son is part of this. Faith is us trusting in Christ as our savior and by doing so surrendering ourselves to Him. This is because of when he trust Christ we no longer trust in ourselves and our works but lean entirely upon Christ and what he has achieved on our behalf.

However, while all orthodox Christians have understood that justification comes by faith there has been discussion among the churches as to when a person is justified and what justification means. The Catholics have a very different doctrine of justification than the Protestant Doctrine of Justification; sola fide or “by faith alone.” The Catholic Church holds that a person becomes a Christian by faith and that his justification is a free gift of God. It must be understood here that tale often told by Protestants that Catholics believe in justification by works is false. The Catholic Church condemned this belief which was held by the British monk Pelagius. This is misconception about justification exists in most Protestant circles as well as among many lay Catholics who are not well versed in their theology. What the Catholics do believe is that justification does not follow conversion. A person may come to faith in Christ but they are not automatically justified. This is because Jerome, when he translated the Greek New Testament into Latin in the fourth century choose a poor word for justification; justificare. Justificare carries the connotation of being made righteous.

During the Middle Ages when theologians were attempting to rationally understand the doctrine of justification they used the Latin Vulgate Bible and thus held a view of justification that was erroneous. Since it was clear that upon conversion people were not made righteous, the medieval theologians did not believe that justification followed saving faith but rather follow sanctification. Sanctification (which will be discussed in later sections) is the process by which we conformed to Christ (literally it means setting aside). Since it is sanctification is the processed by which we are made righteous and if the medieval Catholics understood justification to mean to be made righteous, it is quite logically then that they would believe that justification followed a long process of works. Also, since a Christian is not justified until after sanctification, the Christian is not on firm footing and he can “fall off” the process at anytime by committing a carnal sin. Finally, if at death the Christian has cooperated with God in his sanctification but is still not made fully righteous something must be done to finish the process of sanctification because God has promised salvation to all of those who cooperate with his grace. Thus, imperfect Christians entered into Purgatory where the sanctification process is completed.

During the Reformation, however, the true meaning of justification was recovered as greater study was done on languages, especially the Greek New Testament, which was the original New Testament. They understood that the justification that Paul refers to in his epistles does not mean “to be made righteous” but rather means “to be declared righteous.” That is, we are not righteous yet, but God accounts us as righteous before sanctification is completed. This is because God’s promise is given, through the sacrament of baptism, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6). We are adopted as God’s sons before He has actually conformed to Christ because He has promised to do so and God never fails his promises.
Thus in the Protestant Reformation it was understood that justification is by faith alone. Justification directly follows saving faith and it is only this saving faith that is required for us to be justified. Paul nicely proclaims this in his Epistle to the Ephesians:
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9).
We come to faith in Christ and then immediately following we are justified and then adopted as His sons. When we profess our faith in Christ, either as children or converted adults, we are giving the sacrament of baptism as a sign of God’s promise to us so that we can have assurance that God has saved us and continue conform us to Christ. The pouring of water symbolizes our purification before it has occurred.

Luther struggled with assurance. Given a man’s unstable position under the medieval notion of understanding where justification depended on our cooperation with sanctification he could never be sure if enough was being done for his salvation. After reading the book of Romans, Luther understood that salvation was firm and sure. It was given to us and justified after our saving faith so that we may be “sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39).