Sola Fide

Faith Alone. It is the mantra of a vast number of Christians, and a dividing line among Christ’s church. What is required for our salvation? Faith ALONE? Or is there more? Are we required “to do something” in order to work out our salvation? The truth is everywhere throughout the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and we have only to look and see in order to understand.

“God alone gives grace to whom He chooses, and often when the soul is least thinking of it… I mean that although we may meditate and try our hardest, and though we shed tears to gain it, we cannot make this water flow”. St. Theresa of Avila

Salvation, undoubtedly, is a gift from God. It is his promise to us, and it is a gift of which we are wholly unworthy. We are imperfect, despite our attempts toward perfection. It is the nature of being human. St. Theresa of Avila said “As a rule, all our anxieties and troubles come from misunderstanding our own Nature.” We need to understand that we all, even the very BEST of us, fall short of the glory of God. THAT is our nature. We don’t deserve to live in Heaven eternally. Yet that is what God promises us. As a gift, freely given.

What does it mean to accept that gift, though? To believe in it? Yes. Absolutely. That is the first step. But it cannot be our only step, because even the Devil believes in God, and believes that He offers salvation to His people. The demons recognized Christ as God’s son…. they had faith in Him as well. The difference, the second step to accepting the gift of salvation, is OBEDIENCE. Nowhere in the Bible do the words “faith ALONE” exist. EVERYWHERE in the Bible does God command us to obey Him.

Noah believed that God would flood the earth and that God would save him, as He had promised. His faith was intact. Was it enough? It wasn’t until He acted on that faith, was obedient to the work God called on Him to complete, that the means to that salvation was worked out, in the form of the Ark. God offered Noah and his family the gift of salvation from the flood, but it required Noah’s obedience and action to become saved from the waters. One could not have happened without the other. “Saved by faith alone”, but “sanctified by works” is a flawed concept. Noah was not merely “made holy” by doing as God commanded. His very life, and that of his family, depended on it.

So what does OBEDIENCE mean? Every covenant God made with mankind required obedience as a stipulation of the promise. Exodus 19:5 is but one of numerous examples. “Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people.” It is a gift, but there is an “if”. And that “if” required a response from the people.

What is God calling us to obey? His laws, surely. The 10 commandments, living a just and righteous life, doing good works. But it was Jesus who explained to us what the fulfillment of the law was…. LOVE. Everything that God commands us to do and be can be boiled down into two very simple statements: “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and love your neighbor as yourself”. LOVE is the fulfillment of the law. When we talk about “works”, if they are not done out of love, they mean nothing.

1 Corinthians 13 explains this beautifully. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Faith, Hope, and Love. And the GREATEST of these is LOVE. Sola Fide is incomplete. Faith alone cannot save without an active love.

St. Terese of Lisieux said “If the Church was a body composed of different members, it couldn’t lack the noblest of all, it must have a Heart, and a Heart BURNING WITH LOVE. And I realized that this love alone was the true motive force which enabled the other members of the Church to act, if it ceased to function, then the Martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. Love, in fact, is the vocation which includes all others; it’s a universe of it’s own, comprising all time and space – it’s eternal.”

The next thing that Jesus commands us to do, is “Abide in my love”. What does that mean? Live in it, stay connected to it, wallow in it. How? Where do we encounter His presence? Through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. But also, through His sacraments, where we receive His grace, in order to abide in His love. This is very explicit.

John 6:53-55 “Amen, Amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh, drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”

John 3:5 “Amen Amen I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit.”

We need to partake of the Eucharist and be baptized with the seal of the Holy spirit in order to receive our gift of salvation. It is what Jesus commanded us to do, in order to “abide in His love”. And we must obey. Participating in these activities does not merely “sanctify” us, or make us Holy. Our very salvation depends on it. Because Jesus told us so.

Faith alone cannot be enough, without obedience to the law, which is LOVE. First Corinthians tells us why this is… because only love remains. The other gifts of the Spirit are tools for our life here on earth. When we complete a journey, we no longer need a map. In the same way, when the Kingdom of God comes, when the veil is lifted, we will no longer need Faith. Faith becomes knowledge. Speaking in tongues becomes perfect communication with God. Works will be finished. So what remains? Love. God is love. And love is eternal.