Justification by Faith Alone: The Heart of the Gospel

And the term sola fide contains this sola again, which means alone, and fide is the word for faith coming from the fidelis; we remember the Marine Corps motto semper fi of semper fidelis or the hymn Adeste Fidelis, Oh Come All Ye Faithful. Sola Fide means faith alone, and this was the central assertion of Martin Luther that provoked the serious controversy of the 16th Century. [00:00:46]

Luther said that justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls. Now we could view that from the vantage point of the 20th Century perhaps as an exaggeration or as an overstatement, but I'm just mentioning at this point that it was clearly Luther's conviction that this doctrine was so important because it touched the very heart and soul of the Gospel itself. [00:02:17]

Calvin took a similar view of the importance of the doctrine. He used a different metaphor. He said that justification by faith alone is the hinge upon which everything in the Christian life turns. In our own day J. I. Packer in his preface to Buchanan's 19th Century work on justification used another striking metaphor where he likened the doctrine of justification by faith alone to the mythological figure of Atlas, whose task it was to bear the world on his shoulders. [00:03:09]

He said, "This doctrine is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God. And without it, the church of God cannot exist for one hour." And again he said, "The article of justification is the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines. It preserves and governs all church doctrine and raises up our conscience before God. Without this article the world is utter death and darkness." [00:05:04]

But to get the doctrine from our heads into our bloodstreams is another matter all together, because it is one thing to understand a doctrine; it is another thing to have it be the controlling aspect of the faith by which we live before God. And another thing I want to say before we proceed to an exposition is that we are not saved by a doctrine. [00:07:29]

The fundamental question that the doctrine of justification is trying to answer and succeeds in that attempt is the question, "How can an unjust person ever survive the final judgment of a just and holy God?" And as soon as we ask that question, we see instantly why it is a matter of great importance, not just a question of dotting I's and crossing T's and passing an exam in systematic theology but it is the question of how are we to stand before God. [00:08:24]

The good news is that God, according to the Apostle Paul, is both just and justifier of sinful people. Now let's look at those concepts as they are put together that God is both just and justifier. Paul says these concepts have to be clear in our minds if we're going to understand the Gospel of the New Testament. The Gospel does not say that God simply unilaterally declares forgiveness to everybody in the world. [00:10:49]

His way of justifying guilty people is worked out from all eternity in such a manner that God Himself remains just. But again that brings us back to the original question. If God is just and I am not just, and I have to face His just judgment, how can I possibly stand? What I am in need of, most desperately for all eternity is to be justified. [00:14:19]

So in the first instance the Reformers of the 16th Century insisted that justification is forensic, and so they were teaching what is called forensic justification. Now this term is a term that is not commonly used in the church. The most frequent place where we hear references to forensic is in criminal trials, on Perry Mason, or the O. J. Simpson trial or something where we hear about forensic pathology or forensic evidence. [00:16:09]

Forensic justification involves God's declaration of a person's being just in His sight. And as I say, it is a legal declaration by which God declares a person just. Now I used a string of words a moment ago that I want to elaborate on. I said He judges us, declares us, or deems us, or reckons us, or counts us as just. [00:17:32]

The glory of the Gospel is that God pronounces people just while they are still sinners, that He declares a person to be righteous in His sight and before His law when under analysis they are still sinners. Now it is that judgment of declaring somebody just who in and of themselves is not just that creates so much of the controversy over the doctrine. [00:19:31]

The expression of justification by faith alone is theological shorthand for justification by Christ alone, because the fundamental issue is this: On the basis of whose righteousness does God declare anyone just? And the Reformation answered that clearly that the only grounds by which God will ever view me as being righteous is the ground of Somebody else's righteousness--the righteousness of Christ. [00:22:03]