Sola Fide
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Counted as righteousness
Counted as righteousness
Abraham’s faith
Abraham’s faith
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
old, yet promised heirs
promised land
given a timeline
after this God calls Abraham to commence a covenant ceremony.
but there is one verse that pulls all of this together and I think serves as a helpful outline or guide for our conversation this morning
And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
God had promised a son, even in his old age - he believed
he didn’t believe his own ability, he believed God
not his own planning or vision casting
not his own strategy
he believed God.
as a result, it was credited or imputed to him as righteousness.
This encounter between God and Abraham is the one of the first instances we see in Scripture regarding the doctrine of Sola Fide, the next of the five solas that we are considering.
If you remember for our previous discussions, in the 1500s, the reformers sought to bring about some changes/reformations in the church. As a result, they produced Five Solas or five “alones” that marked where these reformations should take place. Generally, these five solas are distinctive markers in protestant churches today.
As we began by considering 2 weeks ago:
Sola Scriptura - Scripture Alone is our inspired, inerrant authority for the church - not tradition, councils, or certain people.
Solus Christus - Christ Alone is our means of salvation - not sacraments, or mediation by the church - but Christ alone.
Today, we consider the next Sola - Sola Fide - justification by faith alone.
Justification and Righteousness are closely related. For example, when a person is justified - they are declared righteous - or right according to a legal standard. Just as Abraham was credited with righteousness, sola fide deals with the doctrine and its application toward Christians.
Joel Beeke defines justification in this way:
“Justification is God’s gracious forensic declaration that guilty sinners are forgiven (and thus freed from condemnation) and reckoned [or counted] as obedient to the law (and thus worthy of eternal life), both on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ received by faith alone.” (p. 517)
So, let’s consider some element of this definition...
Justification is received by Faith Alone in Christ Alone
Justification is received by Faith Alone in Christ Alone
When Abraham believed God… he had faith. He didn't know who Christ would be, but He was growing in knowledge of God and demonstrated faith in him.
This sort of begs the question:
What is Faith?
What is Faith?
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
confidence not based on visual evidence but on something more.
According to the Westminister Confession of Faith:
The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the word...”
Sproul defines “faith” simply as “Believing God”. He says...
What Is Faith? Faith Is Believing God
It’s believing God. The Christian life is about believing God. It is about living by every word that proceeds from His mouth (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4). It is about following Him into places where we’ve never been, into situations that we’ve never experienced, into countries that we’ve never seen—because we know who He is.
So the essence of faith is trusting or believing in who Jesus is and in what He has done. But there is an on-going element of faith.
Gerard Wisse notes
Faith is...the channel through which all the benefits of Christ grow.
We receive everything we have from Jesus by faith. It’s not something earned. It’s not something physically handed off to us from him. Everything we receive is by faith - including justification.
So this justification - or declaration of righteousness is by faith alone in Christ alone.
We read earlier a bit of what this means. When we were dead in our sins and hopeless, God did something about that through Jesus Christ...
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.
The key concepts in this passage are that we are “saved by grace [which we’ll get to next week] through faith.” The reason we’re saved by faith is two-fold.
because we are unable to do so - dead people don’t walk, talk, move, think, act. Our sinfulness left us spiritually dead. But even if we did have some sort of a Zombie resurrection, we also receive this salvation by faith...
so we can’t boast - we trust by faith that God has accomplished what we could never accomplish.
So we are saved from the consequences, punishment, or guilt of our sin through faith in Jesus Christ. But not only do we receive salvation, we receive justification through faith - a declaration of righteousness.
The object of that faith is...
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ
lived a perfect life (he knew no sin) - 2 Cor. 5:21.
Jesus perfectly fulfilled all that the law required -
He perfectly obeyed all that the Father called him to do - especially in his work on the cross
Schreiner writes:
he obeyed his Father, that he did everything the Father called him to do, for the Father mandated him to do many things that were not written in the law. Jesus, as the Son of the Father, did what his Father commanded on all occasions and in every circumstance, and so his obedience transcends keeping the Torah. Jesus’ obedience is displayed supremely in the cross, his taking the punishment upon himself that human beings deserved. In any case, when we put our faith in Jesus, we are given the whole Christ, so that both his sin-bearing death and his obedience are counted to us.
And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Philippians 2 further illustrates this:
Philippians 2:5–11 (ESV)
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Titus summarizes the work of Christ in this way.
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
So, with the foundation of what justification is and how we receive it - let’s consider a couple of elements what Sola Fide means. First of all...
Justification By Faith Alone is Forensic, not Transformative
Justification By Faith Alone is Forensic, not Transformative
This word “forensic” has often puzzled me. We might hear of forensics in a legal show. The forensic detectives might come onto a scene to analyze data in order to help prosecutors use that evidence to help a judge come to the a verdict based on forensic evidence.
The evidence points clearly to a specific verdict.
All of this kind of clicked for me when Thomas Schreiner explained it this way...
justification is forensic rather than transformative, denoting a change in status rather than a change in nature.
It’s as though the crime scene of our lives is analyzed. For those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ - His DNA is all over the scene. The only right outcome is to declare this sinner justified because of Jesus.
Paul writes in Galatians
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.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
So, why the contrast with “transformative”
In the time leading up to the reformation, many church leaders taught that justification was in Christ AND our actions. That the righteousness of Christ would then work to transform us and so then our justification would be based on our transformation.
the reformers challenged that the church leaders were mixing up “justification” and “sanctification.” Sanctification is essentially the process of becoming more and more like Christ.
John Brown of Wamphray compares and contrasts Justification and Sanctification in this way (Beeke, 531)
Justification: Change in relation to God and his law
Sanctification: Change in nature
Justification: Judicial act of God acquitting believers
Sanctification: Continual building up
Justification: Perfect at the first moment
Sanctification: Not perfect until death
Justification: Equal in all
Sanctification: Not the same in all believers
Justification: Cannot be lost
Sanctification: Degrees may be lost
Justification: Instantaneous
Sanctification: Progressive
Justification: Removes guilt and liability to penalty
Sanctification: Kills the being and power of sin
Justification: Man accepted and righteousness imputed
Sanctification: Grace infused and the Spirit given
Justification: Gives the right to life
Sanctification: Gives fitness to share inheritance
Justification: By faith alone
Sanctification: Requires exercise of all graces
If Justification was transformative, then a person like the apostle Paul would not write words like:
Romans 7:15–25 (ESV)
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ... For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ....
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!...
Justification by Faith Alone is Now and Later
Justification by Faith Alone is Now and Later
Have you ever eaten “Now and Laters”? This hard candy is called that because you get the flavor and the enjoyment of it now - immediately and because they are small, the candy manufacturer says you’ll want more later. I suppose we could also say that if you eat too many now, you’ll feel the effects later of an upset stomach.
Justification by Faith Alone is a Now and Later event in our lives.
Through Jesus Christ, because of what he did on the cross and in his life leading up to that event, purchased our salvation. When we trust in him, we receive his righteousness in a great exchange.
Isaiah 53 prophesied hundreds of years earlier that this would happen.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Paul applies this to us, to believers, in Romans 5.
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
This making or declaring of righteousness is what theologians call “imputation.” It’s like a courtroom declaration. We aren’t only justified as right according to the Law, but because of Jesus Christ, we receive his very righteousness.
Joel Beeke describes it this way:
“Therefore, ‘made righteous’ does not refer to the sanctification of many people’s character, but to their justification in the courtroom of God. Christ’s obedience is their righteousness.” (Beeke, 520)
As we considered earlier, this is a declaration that is immediately applied. If you are a believer, by faith you are justified, declared righteous with Christ’s righteousness - right now!
We also have to recognize that we are walking in Christ’s righteousness, but we certainly aren’t living fully up to his righteousness - and never will.
This is where the “later” comes in to play. What we believe by faith now will be fully realized later.
Thomas Schreiner explains it this way:
Faith Alone—The Doctrine of Justification: What the Reformers Taught … and Why It Still Matters The Resurrection and the Eschatological Nature of Justification
Believers in Jesus Christ are now justified through faith in Jesus Christ. They are justified by faith alone by virtue of Christ’s death for their sins and his resurrection for their justification (Rom 4:25). Still, they look forward to the day when the declaration will be announced publicly and to the entire world. In this sense, as many scholars attest, justification is an already but not yet reality. Presently, believers may doubt their justification, for it is theirs by faith and God hasn’t publicly revealed their status to the entire world. Indeed, the truth that Jesus is ruling and reigning has been hidden from the world, and thus his role as resurrected Lord is doubted and rejected. But the day is coming when God will reveal to all that Jesus is the risen Lord and Christ, and then he will announce to all that those who have put their trust in Jesus are acquitted of all their sins.
Closing thoughts
Closing thoughts
As we’ve considered Sola Fide today, we’ve discussed how:
Justification is received by faith alone in Christ alone - not in our righteousness or goodness, but his
Justification is Forensic and not transformative - transformation is the work of sanctification. The forensic evidence points to our justification in Jesus Christ.
And finally,
Justification is Now and Later - Because of Jesus’ obedience and substitutionary sacrifice, we are declared righteous, imputed with his righteousness. We look forward to the day when, sustained by Christ until that day, God reveals to the whole world publically who’s are his.
We looked at Abraham:
God promised
Abraham believed
God credited that to him as righteousness - declared righteous by faith.
And yet - Abraham was still a work in progress.
Child by Hagar
On 2 occasions said that his wife was his sister out of fear for his life.
The child of promise did not come for 15 or 20 years after God’s initial covenant with Abraham.
In spite of Abraham’s faithlessness, we could say that we all are part of God’s faithfulness to that Covenant.
Beloved
rest assured in your salvation - in the righteousness that Jesus gives you through his perfect life.
Pursue holiness - but don’t get discouraged over failures - repent, return
Friend, if you are far from God, hear this encouragement from Romans...
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray that you would, by faith, receive this peace from God. Jesus paid for the just consequence of your sin with His life. Turn from trusting in your own ways and trust in him.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Let’s pray.
Benediction
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Sources
Beeke, Joel R., Paul M. Smalley. Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 3: Spirit and Salvation. Wheaton, IL. Crossway, 2021
Schreiner, Thomas. Faith Alone—The Doctrine of Justification: What the Reformers Taught … and Why It Still Matters. Edited by Matthew Barrett. The Five Solas Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015.
Sproul, R. C. What Is Faith?. Vol. 8. The Crucial Questions Series. Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2010.
Westminster Assembly. The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition. Philadelphia: William S. Young, 1851.
Wisse, G. Christ’s Ministry in the Christian: The Administration of His Offices in the Believer. Grand Rapids, MI. Netherlands, Reformed Book and Publishing. 2013.
