Sola Fide v. Solus Christus?

Romans 3:20–31 ESV

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Scripture: Romans 3:20-31

Belgic Confession Lesson: Article 22

Sermon Title: Sola Fide vs. Solus Christus?

           You can see why this might be an easy passage to pick when we are addressing the topic we are tonight. Our Confession article was labeled “The Righteousness of Faith” and our NIV translation uses the title for verses 21 and on “Righteousness Through Faith.” We have hit a run in the Belgic Confession that has a string of articles with a common theme around our salvation and the various effects of our salvation. We’ve dealt with atonement, righteousness is tonight, Article 23 deals with justification, 24 with sanctification, 25, the fulfillment of the law, and 26, the intercession of Christ. Salvation is a meaty topic; it’s not shallow or single-faceted. With that said, tonight is an overview of how salvation comes to us. 

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, this year marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. In a few months when we hold our annual area-wide Reformation Day service, we will be thinking back to how in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. That day, October 31, is the day we most associate with the movement of a number of theologians and pastors and Christians who desired to bring reform in the Roman Catholic Church. They didn’t want to break off, but to get back on track with what Scripture says, to bring biblical truth to the people of God.

           When you get into the subject of the Reformation, you are bound to hear about the 5 solas. You might hear in that Latin word an English word that is more familiar to us—“solo.” Solo meaning one, and what we commonly translate as alone. The 5 solas are sola scriptura—Scripture alone, sola fide—faith alone, sola gratia—grace alone, solus Christus—Christ alone, and soli Deo gloria—to the glory of God alone. I’m guessing that for some of us at least, we know these 5 main ideas very well or at least remember hearing them back in our Sunday School or Catechism days.

Tonight, I want to pick on two of them as we see being dealt with in Article 22 and in Romans 3. You can see them there in the title of this message—sola fide and solus Christus. The question that we might be asked is are these things not just in competition, but are they opposed to each other? Is there room enough for both of these “alones”, faith alone and Christ alone? We hear in Ephesians 2 verse 8, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.” Someone might argue, there it is, grace is pivotal in one’s salvation, but they must have faith, without that they can’t possibly be saved. But another person might argue, what about everything being focused in Christ alone? This morning when we were going through the baptism and profession of faith here I made the point that the sacrament reminds of what Jesus has already done. So, it’s really about him, that’s what matters, isn’t it?      

The answer that we find in Scripture and laid out in Article 22 is that these are not opposed to each other. Rather, they’re really speaking about 2 steps of the same process. That’s where people can get tripped up, in thinking that salvation is just a one act show. One thing causes salvation and gets salvation and merits salvation. Let’s keep it simple, let’s keep it about Jesus, end of story. Yet Scripture, particularly the New Testament, as it features the covenant of grace, describes it as more of a process. We need faith and we need Jesus, and yes, we need grace too. That’s what the Reformers intended to pass along, and we will unpack going forward now.

If we can have a question before us, the question is, “How are we saved?” It kicks off with this truth—through Jesus Christ. Verses 24 and 25 says that redemption “came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” Every bit of salvation necessarily begins with Jesus and the sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice. It is that simple in the sense that it comes down to the only perfect God-man. Yet we ought to understand and be reminded of the gravity of what Jesus accomplished. It’s more than just he lived his life and then died on this date. Or that he stopped breathing as a result of the punishment of crucifixion. What Jesus did by going to the cross and what he accomplished in his death is profound. 

A common theme throughout comic books and superhero stories and other forms of literature that people are attracted to is this sense of a savior and a sacrifice. The best guy or girl puts their life on the line so that an ordinary person or the rest of civilization, they can continue to live. I bring that up, because unfortunately if that’s all we or other Christians think about when we think about Jesus, he’s no different from our modern-day superheroes, then we’re missing out. 

We confessed a little bit ago, “Jesus Christ is our righteousness in making available to us all his merits and all the holy works he has done for us and in our place…When those benefits are made ours, they are more than enough to absolve us our sins.” That’s what the familiar words of Romans 2:22 to 24 are getting at, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Again, just like we were covering last time, Jesus’ death was an atonement for us and for our sins. He doesn’t just save our lives but he purifies and reconciles us and mercifully gives life and life eternal back to us. Eternal life, at least with God how he intended it all the way back in the beginning, was lost, but through Jesus, we can forward to that again. 

Why is it so crucial that we hear the truth of Jesus regularly and that we have a decent to strong grasp of it? Because if we don’t, then we are prone to not see or experience the magnitude of it. How great a thing it is that Jesus has actually done! He accomplished this not just for one person, one sinner, but for all sinners. We are saved by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. That is essential. Any righteousness that is credited to us is not our own, but it begins in him. 

First point in the process of salvation—Jesus saves sinners. Bringing in sola gratia, Jesus gives grace to sinners. Grace is also essential in that we recognize salvation is not something we form or naturally advance to or earn—salvation is wholly provided to us by God as a gift. In this, part of the grace of God that we can have is faith. 

Now we move into the second main point of the process of salvation—the role and place of faith. This morning, I focused on faith coming out of this idea of rethinking—Jesus makes us rethink everything, that’s what a true conversion involves. Now we are thinking about faith as going beyond that conversion, what do we have in lifelong belief? 

Going back to Article 22 again, “We believe that for us to acquire the true knowledge of this great mystery,” the great mystery if you go back into previous articles is likely the atonement of Jesus for our sins and reconciliation, “for us to acquire [that] the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith that embraces Jesus [wholly and solely].” “We believe that for us to acquire the true knowledge of Jesus’ atoning work the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith that embraces Jesus [wholly and solely]…Those who have Christ by faith have his salvation entirely.” 

Salvation starts in Jesus Christ and what he did. It comes to us, it has God’s desired impact by his grace. That happens in the proper relationship of true, saving faith. Faith is not the source of salvation or righteousness, but Guido de Brès says it is “the instrument by which we embrace Christ…and that keeps us in communion with him and with all his benefits.” 

The reason why the Reformers were so intent on this matter of faith alone was because of the role and the effect that good works and payment and good credit had accumulated in the church. Good works were not a response of gratitude to God’s grace—that’s a Reformation principle. No, they were a way of crediting righteousness to one’s self, which seems completely contrary to all of Scripture. Verse 28, the single verse that’s footnoted in the Belgic Confession articles says, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” Salvation is not ultimately linked to what a believer does; it is linked rather to their faith.

When people like Luther and Calvin and others looked at what was going on in the church, it wasn’t that they were seeking to develop the most intelligent branch of the church and seeing faith as only that intelligence. No, they were seeking to make clear that you and I and everyone else cannot add one thing to earning our salvation. It is by Christ alone and in Christ alone, it is given to us by grace alone, and our reception involves this faith, this true belief that God has extended to his own. Faith was not and is not to be understood as an action that is wholly ours, and that’s what we bring to the table for salvation. No, faith is a gift. It’s how we trust God apart from any of our sinful acts or our seemingly righteous or good acts.   

Who has saved us? Jesus. How are we saved? By the grace of God. How can we be sure of our salvation? Through faith—a sure knowledge and wholehearted trust as Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 21 describes. This is how salvation has been accomplished and communicated and is intended to be received. This is how we are made righteous from the starting point of being sinners and falling short of God’s glory, of having no future except God’s just punishment in hell. Our entire hope as believers is wrapped up in who God is, what Jesus has done, and that God promises to remain faithful—and he can be trusted. 

In concluding tonight, I want to go back to the topic of righteousness. When I look up the meaning of the word “di-kai-o-syne,” the Greek word translated as righteousness in verse 21, these are the top two meanings, “what is right, justice,” and “to be put right with, be in right relationship with.” So much of my upbringing if I were to come across the word righteousness, there was this unconscious assumption that we’re only talking about actions. God is going to make me do the right things, and if I don’t do those things, then am I really even a Christian? Everything ends up boiling down to a focus on my works, my deeds.

It’s not bad to associate righteousness with good deeds and in the proper perspective that the Holy Spirit is sanctifying us, making us more holy. That’s good, that’s a goal of our Christian faith, God is glorified when we live to please him. But we cannot miss out on that second meaning, a meaning that absolutely fits with Paul’s message in Romans 3. But now a righteousness from God apart from law. But now a putting of us into right relationship with God from God apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 

Doesn’t that understanding of righteousness speak deeper into the reality of sin and brokenness and evil in this world? Yes, sin has been committed, wrong actions have most certainly infested this world throughout history. But in our sin, going back to Adam and Eve, isn’t it also the relationship that we were supposed to have with God that is even more so broken? When we speak of covenant theology, with God making and keeping promises in his faithfulness with us—do we see the change of focus from just our actions to the relationship that God desires through salvation to restore? Brothers and sisters, see the law as an encouragement for us, a way of experiencing life and doing life the way God intended for his people—not offending him or others. But also see that through Jesus, our relationship with God is being restored, and we look forward to that day, when it will be complete. Amen.