A Catholic Response of Five Sola’s of Reformation: Sola Fide

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The five sola’s (Latin word that means alone or only) are the battle cries of 16^th century Reformers against the Catholic Church.  Those five may be expressed in one sentence as: We are saved by grace alone [sola gratia], through faith alone [sola fide], in Christ alone [solus Christus or solo Christo], as revealed in Scripture alone [sola scriptura], to the glory of God alone [soli Deo gloria][i].  We now examine sola fide or (by) faith alone.

We begin by first examining what Protestants mean with sola fide.  Sola fide is the response of the question: How can a person be right with God?[ii]  The answer, given by Protestants, is by faith (in Christ) alone.   Reformed scholar Piper[iii] elaborates further what they mean with by faith alone: But be sure you hear this carefully and precisely: He [Schreiner] says right with God by faith alone, not attain heaven by faith alone.  Such faith always “works by love” and produces the “obedience of faith.” And that obedience—imperfect as it is till the day we die—is not the “basis of justification, but … a necessary evidence and fruit of justification.”[iv] (underlined emphasis added)

By faith alone, as described above, is applied to Justification. Salvation, on the other hand, is by faith that is not alone – it must produce works of obedience as necessary evidence and fruit of justification.  What Piper wrote may sound controversial to some Protestants and “Bible only” Christians, but he simply reaffirmed similar statement Luther made in 1536:

Works are necessary to salvation, but they do not cause salvation, because faith alone gives life. On account of the hypocrites we must say that good works are necessary to salvation. It is necessary to work. Nevertheless, it does not follow that works save on that account, unless we understand necessity very clearly as the necessity that there must be an inward and outward salvation or righteousness. Works save outwardly, that is, they show evidence that we are righteous and that there is faith in a man which saves inwardly, as Paul says, “Man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved” [Rom. 10:10]. Outward salvation shows faith to be present, just as fruit shows a tree to be good.

Luther: The Disputation Concerning Justification (underlined emphasis added)

English translation from Luther’s Works, Vol. 34, page 165

What is then Justification?  Why does it have something to do with “being right with God”?  In Greek, in which all New Testament books were written, the word for justification is dikaiwsiV (dikaiosis) and that of righteousness is dikaiosune (dikaiosune).  Both words are related to Greek verb dikaiwo (dikaio), translated as “to justify” and to Greek adjective dikaioV (dikaios), which means righteous or just.  All of them have stem dike (dike) that means justice.  Dike is goddess of justice in Greek mythology. 

In Hebrews, the word for righteous is צַדִּיק[v] (tsadeek); “to justify” is צָדַק (tsadak).  Justice in Hebrew is צֶדֶק (tsedek) while righteousness is צְדָקָה (tsedaqah).  The Aramaic equivalent of tsedaqah is צִדְקָה (tsidqa), which appears in Daniel 4:27.  Both tsedaqah and tsidqa may mean almsgiving or acts of charity as in Tobit 12:9 (Tobit, written in Aramaic, is not considered inspired by Protestants).  In Judaism giving alms is not a matter of generosity, but it is related to justice[vi].  Synagogues and some Jewish homes have tsedaqah boxes where they can drop money for almsgiving. 

According to both Old and New Testaments, justification has something to do with righteousness and with justice.  The question on How can a person be right with God can be expressed as How does God justify us, which entitles us to enter heaven?  The dispute between the Reformers and the Catholic Church during Reformation is on the meaning of the verb “to justify”.  Does it mean “to make righteous”, as taught by the Catholic Church, or, as according to the Reformers, does it mean “to declare righteous”?  The common charge Protestants make against Catholics is the latter believe in justification by faith plus works. 

The Catholic Church dogmatically declared Catholic teaching on Justification at sixth session of Council of Trent on 13 January 1547.   The council did not declare a new teaching but affirmed that has been taught in the past.  Even Protestant’s scholars would admit that before Reformation, following Augustine[vii], to justify meant to make righteous[viii].  According to Reformed scholar Sproul, the use of Latin, not Greek, in the Catholic Church was the reason why to justify meant to make righteous.[ix]   However, Sproul ignored the fact that the Eastern Orthodox Church, who continue using Greek to this day, does not agree with the Reformers on justification either.  At their Jerusalem synod in 1672, they rejected Reformers’ teaching of faith alone justification.[x]

Quoting from McGrath[xi], Schreiner listed three main features of Protestant doctrine of justification[xii]:

1. Justification is forensic rather than transformative, denoting a change in status rather than change in nature.
2. Justification is distinguished from sanctification.  The former refers to the declaration that one stands in the right before God, while the latter denotes the ongoing renewal and transformation in one’s life.
3. Justification denotes alien (external) righteousness, which means that Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the believer.  Believers aren’t righteous because of a righteousness inherent to them. 

Another Reformed scholar, Timothy George[xiii], identified three elements in Luther’s theology, all closely connected: (1) imputation; (2) faith-alone justifies; and (3) believers are justified and at the same time sinners.[xiv]

Those three, either of McGrath or of George, are directly opposing Catholic teaching on justification, listed below in the same order as those of McGrath:

1. Justification is transformative or intrinsic, it changes our state.  Council of Trent declared that Justification is a translation from that state in which man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Saviour[xv].
2. Because it is transformative, justification that starts with faith[xvi] also includes remission of sins, sanctification and renewal of inner man[xvii]. 
3. Through (transformative) justification we are made righteous.  We become righteous, our righteousness comes from God and is infused in us[xviii]. 

In our justification, are we made righteous by God or are we declared righteous by Him?

In Romans 5:19 Paul wrote (underlined emphasis added): For as by one man’s {Adam] disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s [Christ] obedience many will be made righteous.   Schreiner tried to tune down this verse by stating “The verb translated “made” (kathistēmi) can be translated in a number of ways, but it especially bears the meaning “appoint” (cf. Matt 24:45; Luke 12:14; Acts 6:3; Titus 1:7; Heb 7:1, 28), which actually fits nicely with a forensic understanding of the verse”.[xix]   However when we are made righteous, we are also declared as righteous in true sense.  On the other hand, according to the Reformers, we are declared as righteous, while in fact we remain sinners.  Because the verb justify is related to justice, even Catholics believe in forensic aspect of justification.   When we die we will be judged (Hebrews 9:27). – we will be declared righteous because we are made righteous.

Christ said in Matthew 25:46: the righteous shall go to eternal life.  They are not declared righteous by faith alone, but they are righteous because they do acts (Matthew 25:35-36) that make them righteous as defined in 1 John 3:7: He who does what is right is righteous.  In the Old Testament Psalms 15:1-2 says (underlined emphasis added): O Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tent? Who shall dwell on thy holy hill?  He who walks blamelessly, and does what is right, and speaks truth from his heart.  Proverbs 10:2 says that righteousness delivers from death.

Faith is counted or reckoned (passive form of Greek verb logizomai) as righteousness (Romans 4:3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 22, 23, 24; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23).  Certainly, to have faith in Christ is one of acts that makes us righteous as mentioned in 1 John 3:7.  Thus Catholics understand that Abraham became righteous by his faith (Genesis 15:6).  Those verses do not say he is counted as righteous or the righteousness that he had through faith is not his.  Why would Paul, in the same epistle, promoted external righteousness imputed on Abraham and yet, at the same time wrote that through Christ we are made righteous (Romans 5:19)?

According to the Reformers Abraham was declared righteous by his faith.  Yet Abraham had faith in God for the first time not in Genesis 15:6. According to Hebrews 11:8, Abraham already had faith when he was called by God to go out to a place that will be his inheritance (Genesis 12:1-8).

Is justification completed by faith alone?

Reformed systematic theologian Berkhof wrote (underlined emphasis added): Justification takes place once for all. It is not repeated, neither is it a process; it is complete at once and for all time.[xx]  This is the reason why the Reformers and Protestants insist that justification is by faith alone and distinguish sanctification from it, although these two must come together.   “as Christ cannot be divided into parts, so the two things, justification and sanctification, which we perceive to be united together in him, are inseparable.”, wrote John Calvin[xxi].

The phrase “justified by faith” appear four times in New Testament: Romans 3:28, 5:1; Galatians 2:16, 3:24.   New Testament was written in Greek and Greek tenses are not the same with those of English.  Justified in Romans 3:28 is written in Greek passive present tense while the rest are in Greek passive aorist tense.  Both tenses do not indicate a completed justification by faith.  Present tense in Greek implies an action that occurs, usually in present time; it could be an on-going action or not[xxii], while aorist tense indicates an action took place, usually in the past, without any information whether it is on-going or completed[xxiii].  Greek has perfect tense, which precisely indicate a completed action in the past with continuing results to the present.[xxiv]   If New Testament is intended to teach justification by faith alone, then the Holy Spirit would inspire Paul to use this perfect tense in those four occurrences, but he did not. 

Protestants often accuse the Catholic Church of conflating sanctification with justification because they understand justification as (one time) declaration and is therefore by faith alone.  As justification in Catholicism includes sanctification Protestants also accuse Catholics of believing in justification by faith plus works.  However, as stated by Piper and quoted in the beginning of this article, their sanctification, though separated from justification, requires works as necessary evidence of their faith alone justification.  In other words, their salvation is by faith that is not alone, but must includes work.  Not all Protestants would agree with what Piper wrote.  The Catholic Church does not teach justification by faith plus works, but our justification comes from grace.[xxv]   Our ability to become righteous, either by believing in Christ or by doing what is right, comes from and is produced by grace through Christ.  Apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

 “Was Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?” (James 2:21). According to the Reformers what Abraham did is supposed to take place in his sanctification, but in James 2:21 the verb to justify, not to sanctify, is applied.   This also shows that justification is not completed by faith alone, but is a process that includes sanctification.  Sanctification is not mentioned in Romans 8:28, unless it is considered as part of justification.  In 1 Corinthians 6:11 Paul placed justified after sanctified, indicating that we are justified after being sanctified. 

Is righteousness imputed on us or is it infused in us?

According to the Reformers we are righteous (externally), based on alien righteousness of Christ imputed on, and at the same time we are sinners.  Luther expressed this in Latin as simul iustus et peccator or justified and sinner at the same time[xxvi].  He also taught double imputation when he wrote: His righteousness is yours; your sin is His.[xxvii]  However Scripture denies both single or double imputation in Ezekiel 18:20: The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Why the Reformers and Protestants rely on alien/external righteousness of Christ is because they believe that we can never meet righteousness standard required by God – we always fall short through sinning. The only solution is accepting righteousness of Christ imputed on us.   When we die, instead of looking at our sins, God will look at righteousness of Christ and based on this righteousness He let us enter heaven.  Scriptural verses quoted to support this belief: no one is righteous (Romans 3:10).  God looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any that are wise, that seek after God.  They have all fallen away; they are all alike depraved; there is none that does good, no, not one (Psalms 53: 2-3). Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for no man living is righteous before thee (Psalms 143:2).  Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20). All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  Who can say, “I have made my heart clean; I am pure from sin”? (Proverbs 20:9). Our iniquities (sins) make us unable to meet God’s standard: If thou, O LORD, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? (Psalms 130:3).

While Scripture says no one is righteous, at the same time it also refers Noah, Daniel, Job (Ezekiel 14:14), Joseph (Matthew 1:19), Elizabeth and Zechariah (Luke 1:6), Paul (1 Thessalonians 2:10), Abel (Hebrews 11:4) and even Lot (2 Peter 2:7) as righteous persons.  The existence of righteous persons, without naming them is shown in Psalms 5:12, 34:15, Matthew 5:45, 1 Peter 3:12 and many other verses. Since Scripture cannot contradict itself the best explanation is no one can be righteous by himself, his righteousness must come from God.  Becoming righteous is therefore possible by grace of God infused in us.

Being a righteous person is not being a sinless one.  Neither does Scripture say we can be righteous (externally) and sinner at the same time, as taught by Luther.  Scripture says: “The righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins” (Ezekiel 33:12) and “a righteous man falls seven times and rises again” (Proverbs 24:16).  A righteous person will sin from time to time.  When a righteous person commits iniquity, he will die, and all his past righteousness will be forgotten (Ezekiel 18:24).   What he needs to do is repenting. Scripture says when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness, he will surely live (Ezekiel 18:27-28) – all his past wickedness will be forgotten, or he will be in righteous state as Righteousness delivers from death (Proverbs 10:2).  We can repent after being moved by and is only possible by grace.  That is why Christ gave the authority to forgive sins to the Church (John 20:21-23).

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[i]       https://www.ligonier.org/blog/five-solas/

[ii]       Schreiner, T.: Faith Alone, page 15.

        Thomas Schreiner (born 1954) is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Professor of Biblical Theology and Associate Dean of the School of Theology of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

[iii]      John Piper (born 1946) is founder and teacher of DesiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary and Senior Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

[iv]      Piper, J.: Foreword of Schreiner, T.: Faith Alone, page 11.

[v]       Words in Hebrew are read from right to left.

[vi]      According to the Mosaic conception, wealth is a loan from God, and the poor have a certain claim on the possessions of the rich; while the rich are positively enjoined to share God’s bounties with the poor.

1906 Jewish Encyclopedia (http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1295-alms)

[vii]     Augustine (354 – 430), was bishop of Hippo in North Africa.  He is one of 36 Doctors of the Catholic Church and is mostly known as Doctor of Grace for his profound teaching on Grace, adopted by the Catholic Church.

[viii]     Before we can understand discussions about justification during the Reformation, we should make a few observations about the medieval view of justification that was widely understood and accepted at the time. It is safe to say that Augustine’s definition of justification had triumphed in the church. All understood justification to mean that believers are made righteous.

Schreiner, T.: Faith Alone, page 38

Before Luther, the standard Augustinian position on justification stressed intrinsic justification.  Intrinsic justification argues that the believer is made righteous by God’s grace, as compared to extrinsic justification, by which a sinner is forensically declared righteous.

Geisler, N. and MacKenzie, R.E.: Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences, page 222

Norman Leo Geisler (1932 – 2019) was Systematic Theologian and philosopher, cofounder of Veritas International University in California and Southern Evangelical Seminary in North Carolina, USA.

Ralph E. MacKenzie is a graduate of Bethel Theological Seminary, Arden Hills, Minnesota.

[ix]      The early Latin fathers, who studied Scriptures by means of the Vulgate (the fourth-century Latin translation of the Bible) rather than the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) and the Greek New Testament, developed their doctrine of justification based on their understanding of the legal system of the Roman empire.  In time, the doctrine of justification came to address the question of how an unrighteous person, a fallen sinner, can be made righteous.

Sproul, R.C.: Are We Together, page 30

        Robert Charles Sproul (1939 – 2017) was respected Reformed theologian and pastor.  He was the founder of Ligonier Ministry (www.ligonier.org) and served as executive editor of Tabletalk magazine published by Ligonier Ministry.

[x]       We believe a man to be not simply justified through faith alone, but through faith which works through love, that is to say, through faith and works.  But [the idea] that faith can fulfill the function of a hand that lays hold on the righteousness which is in Christ, and then apply it unto us for salvation, we know to be far from all Orthodoxy.

Decree 13

Source: www.crivoice.org

[xi]      Alister Edgar McGrath (born 1953) is theologian, Christian apologist and (Anglican) priest.  He holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion, a fellow of Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford, UK, and Professor of Divinity at Gresham College, London, UK.  One of his works is Iustitia Dei (Justification of God), published by Cambridge University Press, 1998.  Iustitia Dei is history of Christian doctrine of justification.

[xii]      Schreiner, T.: Faith Alone, page 39.

[xiii]    Timothy George (born 1950) is the founding dean of Beeson Divinity School and distinguished professor of Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama, USA. He is a life advisory trustee of Wheaton College, Illinois, USA.

[xiv]     cited in Schreiner: Faith Alone, page 43.

[xv]      Council of Trent: Decrees on Justification, Chapter IV


[xvi]    we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification; without which it is impossible to please God

Council of Trent: Decrees on Justification, Chapter VIII

[xvii]    This disposition, or preparation, is followed by Justification itself, which is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of the grace, and of the gifts, whereby man of unjust becomes just [righteous], and of an enemy a friend, that so he may be an heir according to hope of life everlasting

Council of Trent: Decrees on Justification, Chapter VII

[xviii]   Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness (or ‘justice’) here means the rectitude of divine love. With justification, faith, hope and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to divine will is granted us.

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1991

[xix]     Schreiner, T.: Faith Alone, page 175.

[xx]      Berkhof, L.: Systematic Theology, page 513

Louis Berkhof (1873 – 1957) was one of distinguished Reformed theologians.  He taught at Calvin Theological Seminary from 1906 and served as its president from 1931 – 1944.

[xxi]     Calvin, J.: Institutes of Christian Religion 3.11.6

[xxii]    Greek verbs have both aspect and tense – the former indicates what type of action the verb describes.  There are three aspects: completed, undefined and on-going (or continuous).    The aspect of Greek present tense is either on-going or undefined (Mounce, W.D.: Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, page 129). 

[xxiii]    The aorist indicates an undefined action usually occurring in the past.

        The aorist tense has often been mishandled by both scholars and preachers.  Aorist verbs too frequently are said to denote once-for-all action when the text has no such intention.

Mounce, W.D.: ibid, pages 198, 202 (underlined emphasis added)

Aorist verbs have undefined aspect, the writer or speaker does not tell us whether the action is completed or on-going.

[xxiv]    Greek perfect tense implies the action described by the verb is completed in the past whose effects are felt in the present (from speaker/writer point of view).

        The Greek perfect is one of the more interesting tenses and is often used to express great theological truths.  The Greek perfect describes an action that was brought to completion and whose effects are felt in the present.  Because it describes a completed action, by implication the action described by the perfect verb normally occurred in the past.

Mounce, W.D.: ibid, page 225 (underlined emphasis added)

[xxv]    Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1996

[xxvi]   Thus a Christian man is righteous and a sinner at the same time [in Latin simul iustus et peccator], holy and profane, an enemy of God and a child of God.

Luther: Lectures on Galatians

English translation from Luther’s Works, Vol. 26, page 232

[xxvii]   Luther: Lectures on Galatians, Chapter 1-4.  English translation from Luther’s Works, Vol. 26, page 233.