Popular Beliefs: Faith Alone I. Introduction A. Let us spend some time looking at popular beliefs of our day 1. If we are going to be able to preach the Word to others, we must know what they may believe! 2. Even if a person is not religious, s/he may have a view of Christianity based on denominational doctrines 3. We must be prepared to make a defense of the truth (1 Peter 3:15) B. Let us spend some time today looking at the doctrine of faith alone 1. How did it come about? 2. What are the major ideas supporting the doctrine? 3. What Scriptures are used in these ideas? 4. What is the complete message of the Scriptures? C. Let us now explore this doctrine II. Faith Alone: Origin A. Faith alone, as currently articulated, originates in the Reformation in the sixteenth century 1. Begins with Martin Luther's "epiphany" and then the beginning of his split with Roman Catholicism in 1519 2. Picked up by many other Protestant leaders and groups 3. Now present as the major theme of all Protestantism B. The reasons for the creation of the doctrine are inherent in the time C. Luther and others reacted to the excess of the Roman Catholic church 1. In the late medieval times, the Catholic church focused greatly on works and on the church itself 2. This is very clearly seen in the selling of indulgences, the idea that one could give money to the Roman Catholic organization and such would free one's relative's soul from purgatory 3. Salvation was dispensed in the church by engaging in the certain things demanded by the religious authorities D. While we can understand the need to react to such works-based ideas, the reaction, as we will see, went too far E. Let us look at the belief and how it is promoted III. Faith Alone: The Doctrine and Ideas Behind It A. Faith alone is the belief that the only thing necessary for salvation is belief, that on the basis of belief alone God justifies and sanctifies 1. Luther, as all who have come after him, bases this view from Romans 1-5, Ephesians 2:8-10, among other passages 2. They see Paul's emphasis on salvation by faith, and translate that into a focus only on faith 3. Likewise, the view is that God is the only Actor involved in the process B. There are two main ideas that underpin this view of the Scriptures 1. The first idea is the use of the principle of exclusivity: the inference that "salvation by faith" demands "salvation by faith alone" 2. The second idea is a concentrated focus on initial salvation C. Let us now consider these main ideas and the difficulties with them IV. Faith Alone: What the Scriptures Say and Do Not Say A. Let us first establish that we are not trying to deny the importance of faith in salvation 1. Faith is absolutely essential to our salvation-- salvation is indeed by faith, and we do not deny Romans 3:24 and Ephesians 2:8-10 2. We are not trying to establish that anyone is saved by works or by merit; Romans 1-3 teaches that such is not possible B. The issue, then, is not "salvation by faith," but whether the Scriptures teach "salvation by faith alone" C. Let us first text the idea of the principle of exclusivity: does the Scriptures require that "salvation by faith" mean "salvation by faith alone"? 1. Many times various passages that teach the need for one to believe, or faith, or repentance, are taken by people and used to justify the idea that one needs to only believe, or only have faith, or only repent 2. Acts 16:31-- does it teach that belief alone is all that is necessary? 3. Romans 10:9-- is it, as the Message would say, that confession and belief are "it," that such is "all you have to do"? D. The difficulty with the principle of exclusivity is the essential rule of hermeneutics: the sum of God's word is truth (Psalm 119:160) 1. It is not that we disagree that belief, confession, and repentance are necessary; the Scriptures simply do not put an "only" next to them! 2. It is absolutely true that belief and confession and repentance are necessary for salvation (Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9, Acts 2:38) 3. ...yet Acts 2:38 also speaks of the need to be baptized, as does 1 Peter 3:21 4. Matthew 10:22, Romans 6:16-18, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 attest to the need to obey to be saved E. It is clear, then, that when all of these passages each say that (belief, confession, repentance, baptism, obedience) are necessary for salvation, if we believe that the sum of God's Word is truth, then we must accept that all are necessary, and not some to the exclusion to the other F. Since, then, there are many other aspects to salvation than faith that are listed as necessary, we should not presume to infer that "salvation by faith" means "salvation by faith alone" 1. In fact, the only time that "faith alone" or "faith only" occurs in the Bible is negative 2. James 2:24: it is not by faith alone that we are justified, but also by works G. We can see, therefore, that the Scriptures actually deny the idea of "faith alone" explicitly! H. Let us now explore the second idea, the concentrated focus on initial salvation 1. Protestants seem to focus exclusively on the moment of conversion, as if all of salvation is encapsulated in that moment 2. As we will see in another time, many such Protestants believe that salvation is ironclad after that point 3. Should we, however, view salvation only in terms of that which happens initially? I. The New Testament does not present salvation in terms of a one-moment conversion as much as a conversion and then a process 1. Such can be seen in Romans 6 2. Paul does focus on the role of faith in initial salvation in Romans 1-5, yet in Romans 6 we see the need to be a servant of Christ and continually so 3. After all, most of the New Testament epistles are written to Christians and speaking regarding their present conduct! J. Focusing entirely on initial salvation misses out on the whole picture and therefore leads to a focus not shared by the Scriptures 1. Luther's intractable conflict with James 2:14-26 illustrates this 2. For those holding the holistic view of the Scriptures, it presents no problem; our continual obedience as faithful Christians is not incompatible with salvation by faith 3. For faith only, however, James 2 is a thorn in the flesh: it is not compatible since it goes beyond the initial moment of salvation 4. Arguments tend to go around "well, good works will proceed from faith" 5. Such is true, but trying to argue faith and works is a chicken-egg argument K. The view of salvation by faith alone begs the question: after conversion, then what? All the answers are not in harmony with the Scriptures L. The problem, then, with limiting the frame to initial salvation is that it limits too much 1. The New Testament does not speak of faith and salvation only in terms of the moment of conversion; faith is the essential for the relationship with Christ, a relationship involving obedience (Romans 6:17-19) 2. Paul's argumentation in Romans 1-5, then, is not designed to portray the whole picture of salvation, but the demonstration that one is not saved by merit, ethnicity, or in any way familiar to the Jews and Gentiles 3. Paul's picture of salvation by faith in those chapters is not in exclusion to obedience-- Romans 1:5 and chapter 6 focus on the need for obedience, and that in faith 4. Paul is not contradicting himself; we are not saved by works, but without obedient service we cannot be saved! 5. Purpose is everything! V. The Truth from the Bible A. Let us now seek the truth of the matter from the Scriptures B. The holistic view realizes the essential: obedience in faith (Romans 1:5) 1. Salvation is not by works, since we have all sinned (Romans 3:23) 2. Salvation is not by faith alone, since faith alone is limp and dead (James 2:24) 3. Salvation is by obedient faith, a belief system given life by proper obedience to God (James 2:14-26, Romans 1:5, 6:17-19) C. We will certainly be doing things to be saved, but what we do is based on obedient faith, not the belief that by what we do we merit salvation 1. It was not inconsistent for Paul to say that we are saved by faith (Romans 3:24) and yet that through baptism we die to sin and are reborn in Christ (Romans 6:3-7) 2. James speaks of being made righteous by faith and works (James 2:14-26) and does not find himself in a contradictory mess D. All of these aspects are essential 1. Without faith, works just scream that we think that we can gain salvation by our own hand, which the Scriptures make clear we cannot 2. Without works, faith is worthless and dead-- a hollow shell 3. Faith and works must blend in a cohesive being-- obedient faith E. In the end, salvation is a process-- the fostering and development of the relationship between a man and Christ 1. Peter is one who often indicates the truth of salvation-- while it is something that is present based on current condition, in reality it is not yet realized, and therefore is a hope (1 Peter 1:3, 5, 9, 13) 2. 1 Corinthians 11:1, Galatians 2:20 both point to conforming to the image of Christ, and in reality all of the commands of what Christians are to do and not to do can be summed up in the idea of doing what Christ would do and avoiding what Christ would avoid 3. The images of the path and the expectation of development to maturity also point to the focus on relationship and association (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Philippians 3:12-14, Hebrews 5:14, 2 Peter 3:18, etc.) F. We can see, then, that salvation is not to be cheapened to be a few abstract concepts, but is indeed to be a working relationship between a man and his God G. Let us hold to the truth of the Bible and preach the need to have obedient faith H. Invitation/songbook I. If you have not obeyed Christ, you have the opportunity today J. Yes, belief, confession, and repentance are necessary, but so is immersion in water for the remission of sin and obedience also K. Come in obedient faith today L. Perhaps you are a Christian who has a need for encouragement M. If we can help you, please let us do so; come to the front as we stand and sing