Sola Fidei

So it's all about Jesus.

We're saved by grace alone.

The way we access grace is through faith and the Reformers said it like this: "Sola fidei" by faith alone.

Grace and faith are inextricably linked as the Bible teaches us Ephesians 2:8–9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Faith is by definition faith in the grace of God shown through Jesus death, burial and resurrection from the dead! Put another way: God offers us grace (unmerited favour) that is able to save us and we access that grace by faith in Jesus as resurrected Lord.

What is faith? It is believing in what is unseen Hebrews reminds us. But what does believing mean? Intellectual agreement to doctrinal truth is not enough! The Devil also believes in Jesus, but he does not have faith in Jesus. The Biblical idea of faith is to trust upon Jesus, to lean on him in our times of need, to trust him not only for our eternal destiny but for our lives here and now.

When we have faith in Jesus he gives us all his righteousness and he takes from us all our sin. Paul writes it like this in 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. There is no action required of us so that God would make us right. Faith is us believing that Jesus has made us right with the father. We are justified (made legally right) by faith. The reformers where reacting to abuses in the Catholic church where people where able to purchase indulgences, basically pardons for sin, or people were told to venerate long dead saints and receive pardon for sin. That is justification by works - you must do something to be made right with God.

Justification by faith is to have trust that everything needed to make us right with God has been done by Jesus. Faith is absolutely central to reformed thinking and for that matter biblical thinking!

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Without faith in Jesus we have no way to please God. In faith everything we do can become pleasing to God. Whether you work in faith, parent in faith, play in faith, relax in faith, discipline in faith, eat in faith, spend in faith, laugh in faith, cry in faith - anything done in faith becomes a pleasing and good thing in the eyes of God.

The Reformers had it right: faith alone!