Sola fide: Solely by faith
Greetings from Faith Lutheran Church in Eldorado.
Solely by faith. OK, but what does that mean? Martin Luther and other 16th century reformers coined that phrase as a shortcut of the Scriptural truth that only faith could receive God's promise of salvation in the Gospel. It also opposes the idea that our good works must be added to faith so that we would be saved.
Sola fide is not an attack on good works or the law, for God gave the law and greatly desires us to do good works.
What are good works and the law about? It is love. To love the Lord your God with all your soul, mind and heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. Few people in the world would object to love as the guiding principle by which all should live. Yet, we miserably fail to love. Jesus says in Luke 10:18, "no one is good except God." Because of our failures, the world is cursed.
Through Adam, the curse came to the world - death, disease, thorns and thistles and all worldly maladies. This curse is felt when the law is pressed upon us. Perhaps in your life, you remember words you spoke that caused hurt or dishonor to God. The sting that we feel when our sins are exposed by the law of love is the curse making itself known through guilt and shame.
When we sin, we seek to make ourselves righteous in the eyes of those around us. Perhaps we send flowers to our wives, do someone's chores, work or pay a fine. We do some type of work that hopefully puts us in good standing. Those good deeds can make us righteous before our fellow man, but not before God, as Paul writes in Galatians 3:11, "Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law."
The only work that God accepted was that of His Son, who lived a totally righteous life and died on the cross as a ransom for all. No good work of ours can compare to Christ's act of love on the cross. His sacrificial death alone makes us righteous.
The Holy Spirit through the Gospel brings to us the benefits of the cross of Christ and, by faith alone, we appropriate the salvation won for us on the cross. Faith or belief is the same as trust. In faith or trust, a person clings to Christ and his death and resurrection.
Faith is the working of the Holy Spirit, for we do not have the reason or strength to come to Christ. We are called by the Gospel, enlightened by the gifts of the Sprit, who makes us holy and keeps us in true faith. Again, St. Paul, "for the righteous shall live by faith." Galatians 3:11
I pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen your faith in Christ daily.
This Sunday, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation of the church.</group><group id="B8896660-8A5A-440A-AA14-D96786578A78" type="seoLabels"><seoLa