Sola Fide Vs Sola Gratia Essay Research

Sola Fide Vs. Sola Gratia Essay, Research Paper

Sola Fide vs. Sola Gratia

Sola Fide, or the salvation by faith alone, has become the basis for the Protestant faith. When Luther split from the Catholic Church in 1517, his new doctrine was based on five key principles: 1) grace and sovereignty of God, 2) faith, 3) scripture as the word of faith, 4) the church as the fellowship of saints and the priesthood of all believers, and 5) the fallibility of man and his institutions. As important as all five of these tenants are, the first two, and especially the belief in faith truly separate Protestantism from other branches of Christianity. This is how Protestantism separates from Catholicism, in the fact that Catholics believe in good works to obtain God’s grace and that Protestants believe only in Sola Fide.

In 1517 Luther started the whole Protestant reformation by producing his Ninety-Five Theses. In these theses, Luther went on to denounce the act of Sola Gratia, claiming that selling of indulgencies to the Catholic Church was not a valid nor a moral way to gain salvation. Up until that time it was common practice for “religious” men to prove their holiness by giving good works to the church. A good work was an act done for the purpose of removing sin, for example donating money to the church, or the confessing of a sin. Luther claimed that The Creator disregarded good works, and that Christians needed to come up with a new form of achieving salvation. His suggestion was Sola Scriptura coupled with Sola Fide. The principle of Luther’s proposal claims the Canonical Scriptures, especially the New Testament to be the only infallible source and rule of faith. Luther also felt that the teachers of the scripture were subordinate to the Bible and its lessons. In fact Phillip Schaff (see bibliography) claims that “The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is the religion of Protestants. Protestantism, however, by no means despises or rejects church authority as such, but only claims of the Bibles superiority”. This only confirms Luther’s suspicion of a corrupt Catholic Church, as he felt that it was time for a change. The Bible says that in the beginning there was the Word; and Protestants believe that it is faith in that Word, and the Word only that will grant them salvation. This principle of Protestantism can be summed up by Phillip Schaff again: The Protestant goes directly to the Word of God for instruction, and to the throne of grace in his devotions; whilst the pious Roman Catholic consults the teaching of his church, and prefers to offer his prayers through the medium of the Virgin Mary and the saints.” It stems from this general principle of Evangelical freedom, and direct individual relationship of the believer to Christ, proceed the three fundamental doctrines of Protestantism -the absolute supremacy of (1) the Word, and of (2) the grace of Christ, and (3) faith of believers

The salvation by faith alone was Luther’s way of splitting from the Catholic Church’s good work system. Sola Fide was a way for a Protestant to relate to God in a one on one relationship without the worry of having to deal with good works. It is the justification by faith that means a complete trust in the savior. It is in this justification that we transform from the complete sinner to a state of holiness and one of god’s perfect imago dei. There are passages in the Bible that reaffirm this point, the story of Abraham being one such parable. In this lesson, God commanded Abraham to kill his son in order to prove his faith. Abraham, not wanting to doubt his savior, was ready to do such a deed. However, God interjected and said that He was only testing Abraham on his faith. Because Abraham had believed God gave His command in regards to Abraham’s best interest, Abraham had faith in whatever decision he would make. That is the ultimate faith in ones savior, to sacrifice a child based on faith proved Abraham’s holiness in God’s eye. It is the purpose of the scriptures to promote faith in God, and to instill a sense of obedience to the God.

I (and professor Twesigye) have stated before that the scriptures form a foundation for faith, however it can also be said that faith forms the basis for the very same scriptures. It was Luther who realized this in 1517 when he challenged that one did not need a leader such as the pope to instill faith. Instead, Luther claimed that all a man needed was his bible, his wits and his God. According to Luther man was a sinful creature, a fallen imago dei from God’s Garden of Eden. The only way to make it back to this paradise is in a process called the Justification, or Salvation. And, according to Protestantism, the only way to achieve this goal is to take up a bible and have faith in the Lords teachings. Luther stressed the state of original sin, that all men are born sinful due to Adam’s corruption in the Garden. “Death alone shall free us” from sin, and the only way to make up for our fallibility is by professing our faith onto our savior.

There have been debates for centuries, countless lives have been lost, and wars have been fought to see which side, Protestant or Catholic is the more righteous. Why is it so important that Catholics denounce Luther’s teachings, and why is it so important that only faith can save us. Faith is so important to us on so many levels, that it was only natural for Luther to adopt his Sola Fid