Sola Fida

Romans 3:23-28
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

Sola Fide reminds us that righteousness is not something we ACHIEVE but the gift we RECEIVE when we BELIEVE.

Romans 1:17 (Hab. 2:4)

This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

“I hated that word ‘righteousness of God,’ which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner... I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners….I was angry with God.”
-Luther, Sermons Vol. 1

What does the gospel (Good News) reveal?

“Faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law; faith it is that brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ.”
-Luther; Intro to Romans

What is faith?

Romans 4:1-3 (Genesis 15:6)

1 Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? 2 If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. 3 For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

Romans 3:28
So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

Ephesians 2:10 (James 2)
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Works are the FRUIT of salvation, not the ROOT.

Applications:

Sola Fide calls us to personal faith
Sola Fide compels us to personal evangelism
Sola Fide inspires corporate service
Posted in

Categories

Archive

 2025

Recent