The transfer of Christ’s righteousness to us in salvation by faith alone, with nothing else, implies that we are justified solely by faith and have no responsibility for abiding by God’s moral law. Faith alone represents only the condition upon which we may apply Christ’s vicarious sacrifice to our own account. In other words, payment for my sin is ready to be applied to my account, but I must first accept that payment before it will be applied. This is the whole teaching of John 3:16.
This does not mean nothing further is required of me. I realize that this seems to create a conflict with Romans 3:28 or Ephesians 2:8-9. As noted in part 1 of this series, Romans 3 must be read in its proper context. Then, what of Matthew 5:16, Ephesians 2:10, James 2:14-26, or Titus 3:8? Scripture plainly teaches that “good works” are required of us. Does this not mean that failing to do “good works” is a sin? Can a dead faith justify or an individual actively sinning and rebelling against Scripture be rewarded?
Faith alone also means we believe that continued righteousness enabled by the Holy Spirit will lead to eternal life.
It seems that sola fide, despite its intended good, created an extreme pendulum swing in the other direction. All works were rejected as a pathway to salvation, despite the fact that the Bible plainly requires faith to produce works. A walk is to be performed. I must bear fruit consistent with one who has been pardoned before God and accepted by God.
That is, I cannot track the mud of sin into heaven once I have been pardoned. This fruit can only be produced by one who leads a righteous life, righteous compared to God’s moral law. Once having been pardoned by believing in Christ’s atonement for my sin, I am now obligated to comply with God’s moral law. This is righteousness to me.
We do accept that a moral life is not the condition for receiving pardon for sin. However, it is plainly taught in Scripture that a moral life is a condition for maintaining pardon once it is received (the process of sanctification, the new creature, being crucified with Christ, etc.). We also accept that a moral/righteous life is only maintained through the power of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:19-26 That is, I have nothing to boast about if I lead a moral life. It is only made possible through the strength of Christ and the aid of the Holy Spirit.
For an example of continuing obedience and righteousness being required of us, we can look once again to the Old Testament. The first Passover and applying the blood of a substitute was introduced when the people of Israel were on their way out of Egypt toward the promised land. Once in the wilderness, God taught them dependence upon Him through faith by providing manna in the wilderness.
In Exodus 16, we read that the people were required to take only a specific amount of manna each day for that day’s portion of food. Taking more than the allowed amount caused a break in fellowship with God. It was accounted or credited to them as sin. Maintaining faith in God and fellowship with God occurred by taking only the prescribed amount of manna each day. Anything else was sin. Belief (faith) was required here, first, belief that the prescribed amount of manna would be sufficient for survival, and second, that God would continue to provide the manna. Their failure was in unbelief. None of this was works, because it was all based on belief (faith). They were not judged for failing to perform works. They were judged solely for their unbelief.
As their sin added up, so did God’s anger and judgment against them, despite the substitutionary atonement. Has God changed? Surely not!
If sola fide is sound theology, the subsequent disobedience in the wilderness would be of no effect on the initial substitutionary sacrifice. However, we do not find any support for this ideology in the Old Testament. Either God did change, or sola fide and imputed righteousness are incorrect.
The problem with sola fide is that there was a gross misunderstanding of the works required of us. We are to perform the works of righteousness, not because we are saved by them, but because we believe that doing so leads to eternal life. Thus, failing to allow the Holy Spirit to produce righteousness in me is not a rejection of works but unbelief. Unbelief is far worse, and we find sharp rebukes against unbelief throughout Scripture.
As an example, see Matthew 17:14-21. Here, works were required of the disciples, namely, to cast out the demon. However, they could not perform the work on their own. When Jesus rebuked them, He did not rebuke their failure to perform the work. When the disciples asked Jesus why they could not perform the work, His answer was simple, “Because of your unbelief”. This is faith alone. Jesus then states in the next verse that they are required to trust in the power of God through prayer and fasting. The disciples’ failure was not of works but of unbelief.
Thus, our righteousness before God, once initially obtained by grace through faith, continues to be maintained through obedience to God’s moral law. This is the teaching in James 2. It is still all by grace through faith, because we believe and trust that God’s word is true. In other words, I am only advocating the practice of righteousness to maintain the initial salvation because this is what Scripture teaches as the means to obtaining the reward of heaven. Such a belief continues to require faith, and despite anything I do which appears to be righteousness, it is only of God’s grace that He would even consider offering heaven to me. We cannot perform any work of righteousness apart from the Holy Spirit, and to embody any righteousness works, we must have the strength and aid of the Holy Spirit, just like the disciples in Matthew 17.
Here, however, I would point out the legal obligations of God’s promise. John 3:16 plainly teaches that if we believe on Christ we will inherit eternal life. Therefore, God is obligated to fulfill the promise if I believe on Christ through faith and trust in the strength of the Holy Spirit to lead a righteous life. This is the hope we have.
The error of sola fide is that it became an over-reaction to works-based salvation in the Roman Catholic Church. Sola fide, unfortunately, has caused a different set of problems in the church today. Sola fide should not mean we have no obligations to live righteous lives once we are initially justified by faith. This is the basis of eternal security, and it is also rooted in Gnosticism. I firmly believe that Gnostic influences upon sola fide cannot be ignored. If we accept sola fide, then we cannot refute eternal security, which is also unbiblical. Yet I would argue on good grounds that these teachings have found themselves in Wesleyan-Methodist leaning churches today, which is tragically unfortunate.
The plain teaching of Scripture is that our subsequent actions of disobedience and rebellion against Scripture, embodied through our unbelief, are held to our account and do cause breaks in fellowship with God. Our hope rests only in belief! When we believe on Christ and trust in the power of the Holy Spirit, the result will be righteousness. We will go onto perfection as a result of the power of Christ working in and through us, unless we abort the process through disobedience.
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