The term refers to the fact that salvation occurs in the life of one who puts his/her trust in Christ as the Son of God, as the One who died for this person’s sins.  The term “faith alone” (Latin: sola fide) stresses that no works of obedience, no human performance, no act performed by clergy, no sacrament can be added as a requirement for salvation.

The term was first defined by Martin Luther in the early sixteenth century.  Luther was greatly distressed by the Catholic insistence on adoration of relics, pilgrimages, prayers to saints, penance, and all the other works that were advanced as contributing in some way to our salvation.  He was incensed when forgiveness of sins was actually sold as indulgences by the Dominican Johann Tetzel in nearby Mainz.

He protested by nailing ninety-five propositions for debate to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, thus sparking the Protestant Reformation.  Later scholars defined that we are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, that God alone may receive the glory.

Luther found his theological answer in his preparation for a series of lectures he was giving on the book of Romans at the University of Wittenberg.  In Rom. 1:16-17 he discovered that justification in Greek referred to a legal declaration of pardon from God, that the righteousness imputed to man was God’s righteousness, not man’s, and that it was imputed, the declaration was made, only by faith, not by works.  Thus he wrote in the margin of his Bible where Paul quoted the verse from Habakkuk “the just shall live by faith,” sola fide, “by faith alone.”  Luther insisted that this was the article on which the church would stand or fall, and it became the essential, non-negotiable doctrine of the Protestant Reformation.

The Biblical basis for the doctrine of salvation by faith alone may be established from a large number of passages, the most well known of which would be John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.”  When the jailer at Philippi asked Paul what he must do to be saved, Paul’s quick and simple response was “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved - you and your household “(Acts 16:30-31).

When Jewish Christians sought to bind circumcision and provisions of the law on Gentile Christians, Paul reacted with vehemence and anger, retorting that if righteousness could by gained through law, then Christ died for nothing (Gal. 2:21).  His summary in Gal. 2:16 is clear and absolute: “We…know that a man is not justified by observing law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing law, because by observing law no one will be justified.”

The most detailed discussion of justification by faith occurs in Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome.  He begins by showing that both Gentiles and Jews are declared sinners by the Scriptures, and that righteousness apart from law comes by faith in Christ.  He cites in chapter 4 Abraham whom God declared righteous by faith (Gen. 15:6) as our example, and leads to a glorious conclusion in chapter 5 that having been justified by faith we now have peace with God and access to God by grace, enabled to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

To cite a complete list of passages teaching justification by faith alone would turn a short article into an incredibly long one.  A person should read through the New Testament, or at least use a concordance or on-line Bible help to look up passages on “faith”, “belief”, and “believe”, and he or she could not possibly come to another conclusion than that faith is the one and only Biblical requirement for salvation.

Still, people who believe in works-righteousness and in particular in baptismal regeneration are not satisfied.  They will admit that faith is a necessity, but point to statements linking baptism to salvation and especially to James’ comment in James 2:24 that “you see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone,” and 2:26: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

However, these people fail to realize that Paul and the other writers of the New Testament, all inspired by the Spirit, do not allow a “both-and” approach but an “either-or” situation.  If those who teach salvation by baptism and good works are correct, then Paul and the others are wrong.  The Reformers all believed in baptism, but they understood that it was a necessary sign and seal of our salvation.  Good works follow a living faith.  James is not contradicting Paul, but using “justification” to mean a vindication of faith, as the context clearly shows.  The Reformers insisted that man is saved by faith alone, but never by a faith that remains alone!

(For further study on this subject we would recommend the audio series Justification by Faith available from Engedi Ministries.  –David Lawrence)