Sola fide


Sola fide, meaning "faith alone," is a Protestant Christian doctrine that teaches sinners are forgiven and declared “not guilty” through faith—apart from good works or religious deeds. Protestants traditionally believe that this doctrine of salvation is the cornerstone of Christianity, the very teaching "upon which the church stands or falls".
In classical Protestant theologies, works are the natural evidence of faith, but they do not determine salvation. Confessional Lutheranism sees justification as free forgiveness, received only through faith. Without faith, God's forgiveness is rejected and its benefits are forfeited. Methodism affirms the doctrine of justification by faith alone, but holds that holy living with the goal of Christian perfection is essential for salvation; maintenance of sanctification is contingent on continual faith in and obedience to God.
Anabaptist theology categorically rejects the Lutheran and Reformed doctrine of sola fide, and instead emphasizes a "faith that works"; Anabaptists teach that "justification a dynamic process by which the believer partook of the nature of Christ and was so enabled to live increasingly like Jesus."
Unlike the Protestant teaching of faith apart from works, Catholicism teaches that salvation is by faith and works, holding to the concept of fides formata — faith formed by charity. Catholic theology emphasizes that faith must be accompanied by personal "merit" and the "observance of the commandments." Eastern Orthodoxy shares a similar view, teaching that salvation requires both faith and the sinner’s active cooperation.

Origin of the term

Although modern Catholic scholars are against Luther's use of the word "only", Catholic sources before the Reformation had done the same. In 1916, Lutheran scholar Theodore Engelder published an article titled "The Three Principles of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fides".

Martin Luther

elevated sola fide to the principal cause of the Protestant Reformation, the rallying cry of the Lutheran cause, and the chief distinction of the Lutheran and Reformed branches of Christianity from Roman Catholicism.
Luther added the word allein to Romans controversially so that it read: "So now we hold, that man is justified without the help of the works of the law, alone through faith". The word "alone" does not appear in the Greek manuscripts and Luther acknowledged this fact, but he defended his translation by maintaining that the adverb "alone" was required by idiomatic German:
Luther further claimed that sola was used in theological traditions before him and this adverb makes Paul's intended meaning clearer:

Translations

Historically, the Sola fide expression has appeared in several Catholic Bible translations
  • The Nuremberg Bible, translates a phrase in Galatians as "nur durch den glauben".
  • Italian translations from 1476, 1538, and 1546 render it as "solo per la fede" or "per la sola fede".
  • La Sacra Bibbia, an Italian translation of 1943, translates Galatians 2:16: "solo per la fede di Gesù Cristo".
  • The Jerusalem Bible, a French edition of 1956, translates Galatians 2:16: "seulement par la foi en Jésus Christ".
  • Dios Habla Hoy, a Spanish translation approved by the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council in 1979, translates Galatians 2:16: "únicamente por creer en Jesucristo".
  • Good News Translation Catholic Edition translates Romans 3:28 and Galatians 2:16 respectively "we conclude that a person is put right with God only through faith" and "Yet we know that a person is put right with God only through faith in Jesus Christ".
  • The Catholic Bible published in 1974 and 2008 by the Italian Episcopal Conference renders Galatians 2:16 with the phrase: "soltanto per mezzo della fede".
  • Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition translates Romans 11:20, in the section God's Universal Salvation, as: "That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith."
  • Both New Revised Standard Version — Anglicised Catholic Edition and New Revised Standard Version — Catholic Edition translate Romans 11:20, on The Salvation of the Gentiles, as "That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith."
The "faith alone" expression also appears in at least nine modern English Bible translations:
  • Amplified Bible
  • Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
  • God's Word Translation
  • Good News Translation
  • Living Bible
  • The Message
  • Names of God Bible
  • The Voice
  • ''Weymouth New Testament''

    History

Early Church

Clement of Rome

According to Protestant historian Philip Schaff faith alone was not clearly taught by most church fathers, except for Clement of Rome. In contrast, the Catholic Encyclopedia indicates that Clement of Rome held works to be meritorious and holding works to be a part of justification.
According to Baptist theologian Thomas Schreiner sola fide can be found in some apostolic fathers. He contends that Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch and the Epistle to Diognetus viewed salvation as being God's work granted to those who exercise faith, which then causes works. Clement's view on justification has caused much scholarly discussion, because Clement asserted: "we are not justified through ourselves, but through faith", but still emphasizing God's judgement upon wickedness. Some see Clement as believing in faith alone but that faith will lead into doing good works, while some others have argued that Clement held synergist views.

Early literature

The Epistle to Diognetus talks much about the human inability to merit justification themselves by their own good works.
The Shepherd of Hermas has a clear rejection of the faith alone doctrine, instead holding works to have merit. The Didache also appears to see works as meritorious, though not unambiguously.
Thomas R. Schreiner argued that the Odes of Solomon taught that works do not justify a person, but instead faith, he also argued that the book supports imputed righteousness.

Patristic statements

Thomas Schreiner asserted that because justification wasn't a big issue in the patristic period, "thus the theology isn’t always integrated or consistent", however Schreiner argued that people such as John Chrysostom, and Ambrosiaster had similarities to the views of justification as the reformers did:
"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"
—Ambrosiaster

Schreiner observes that Augustine of Hippo differs from the reformers as he understood the word "justify" to mean make righteous and not declare righteous, and thus he denied imputed righteousness. He also saw salvation as a process, despite that he still held very grace-oriented views of salvation, having similarities to the views reformers later would believe. Jovinian, who is often seen as a heretic by Catholics and as a forerunner by Protestants, has been argued to have been a very early witness to a Protestant view of justification. It has been argued that Marius Victorinus and Hilary of Poitiers taught faith alone. Marius Victorinus wrote that our own merits do not justify us and that we are justified by faith alone, however works should follow from that faith. Hilary of Poitiers seemed to have believed grace oriented views of salvation, which is by faith: as he declared "salvation is entirely by faith", Hilary often contrasts salvific faith and salvation by works, which leads to unbelief. He also believed salvation to be by grace in the Old Testament and he saw Abraham as a model for the Jews, who was justified by faith.
Schreiner wrote that some statements made by Origen are consistent with the doctrine of faith alone, claiming that faith is the foundation of justification, but that he is not very clear on his view of justification.
Clement of Alexandria taught that faith was the basis of salvation, however he also believed that faith was also the basis of "gnosis" which for him mean spiritual and mystical knowledge.
Because Polycarp does not make enough statements on salvation, he could have been either believed sola fide or that both works and faith are needed, but it is unclear which one he believed from his few statements.
Catholic Answers wrote that Origen, Cyprian, Aphraates, Gregory of Nyssa, Clement of Alexandria, Gregory the Great and Jerome held that both faith and works are part of the process of salvation.
Whoever dies in his sins, even if he profess to believe in Christ, does not truly believe in him; and even if that which exists without works be called faith, such faith is dead in itself, as we read in the epistle bearing the name of James” – Origen
Paul, joining righteousness to faith and weaving them together, constructs of them the breastplates for the infantryman, armoring the soldier properly and safely on both sides. A soldier cannot be considered safely armored when either shield is disjoined from the other. Faith without works of justice is not sufficient for salvation; neither is righteous living secure in itself of salvation, if it is disjoined from faith – Gregory of Nyssa
Neither faith without works nor works without faith is of any avail, except, perhaps, that works may go towards the reception of faith, just as Cornelius, before he had become one of the faithful, merited to be heard on account of his good works. From this it can be gathered that his performance of good works furthered his reception of faith” – Gregory the Great
When we hear, ‘Your faith has saved you,’ we do not understand the Lord to say simply that they will be saved who have believed in whatever manner, even if works have not followed. To begin with, it was to the Jews alone that he spoke this phrase, who had lived in accord with the law and blamelessly and who had lacked only faith in the Lord – Clement of Alexandria
According to Ken Wilson, Augustine criticized unnamed individuals who held to a stronger view of faith alone as espoused by Free Grace theologians. The individuals Augustine criticized held that one is saved by faith alone and that God's future judgement for Christians only consisted of temporal punishment and reward; hell was out of question. Thus, they held that deeds such as repentance and good works were not necessary to enter heaven.