Sola Fide: What is Saving Faith?
Sola Fide Faith as the work of God Faith as the gift of God Persistent partaking of Jesus as an image of saving faith
Scripture Text: John 6:22-40
Even though they had seen him feed five thousand, this was another day, and their stomachs were not full any more. They remembered that in the wilderness Moses gave God’s manna every day. They didn’t just have miracle bread one day. But every day, for forty years. So Jesus, if you want us to see and believe, keep on working. Keep on doing your signs.
this verse has defined two massive realities in my life. One is the object of my hunger and thirst. And the other is the nature of saving faith.
Jesus—Jesus himself and all that God is for me in him—is what I hunger for and thirst for. He has been merciful to me—and to most of you—to reveal himself as the supreme Treasure of our lives. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” That doesn’t mean hunger and thirst in our souls does not rise up every day. It means now we know what it’s for. Now we know where to turn. Now we know what to drink and what to eat. We drink down Jesus. We swallow the glory of Jesus. And there is a never-ending supply. This is what we were made for. All other treasures, all other pleasures point to this. Jesus is the all-satisfying end of every longing.
Saving Faith: Satisfaction in Jesus
And the other thing this verse has shown me is the nature of saving faith. Notice the parallel between coming to Jesus to be satisfied and believing on Jesus. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger.” That’s the first statement. We come to Jesus to have our hunger stilled.
Now parallel to that, and repeating the meaning, is the next statement: “And whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Coming to Jesus to be satisfied in him and believing on him so as not to thirst are the same. So I define saving faith as being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus.
Sola Fide: Faith Alone
It was only right that they would follow in the tracks of those whom they called fathers who, after receiving what had appeared to them to be so uncommon, should have been able to recognize the greatness of the one who was to come. But the ingratitude of those who came before and those who now come later is one and the same: both dared to criticize the gift they had before them by comparing it with what they were missing.
So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you going to perform?” Great is the arrogance of the Jews! When that magnificent miracle was still before their eyes, and while the crumbs of the food which they had enjoyed were still between their teeth, they asked him for a sign to confirm his power.