Sola Fide | The Substance of Faith
Make no mistake. We are dead in our sins. There is nothing we can do to merit our salvation and our justification as these are acts of Grace Alone (Sola Gratia). Yet, every day, we see people move from death to life by the grace of God to live in eternity in Heaven. “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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV) We produce nothing from our good works and every step of our salvation comes from God.
Yet, we must also wrestle with the same process of our salvation. Justification is an act of grace which comes about by faith and solidifies our right standing of God. We must wrestle with the question of what is faith from a substantival perspective. What is the means by which we are saved. Everyone seems to assume and understanding of faith, but for the foundation of the means of our faith, we should understand faith deeply. The process of faith can clearly be seen in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:8-9 ESV) Faith comes from the same word in Greek as belief. Yet even this carries connotations that the belief is expressed in action. In faith, we die to ourselves to come alive with Jesus Christ, the author and perfector of our faith.
Dying to Ourselves in Faith
As we wrestle with the idea of faith, we must do so on the foundation of Sola Gratia, By Grace Alone. The sins of Adam sealed our death by our own actions, and only through the works of our Prophet, Priest, and King in the person of Jesus Christ, can we be justified. The spiritual battle within the person wages on to either submit to the desires of the flesh and stay dead, or, in faith, to die to our faith every day in fullness of trust in Jesus Christ. In the end, the consequences of the death of our flesh are secure. Our unholiness cannot persist in the righteous presence of God, nor do our work merit any form of salvation. Faith does not work against the grace of God but rather in response to the grace of God.
Dying to ourselves can be terrifying but we must remember that we will die in some form or another. By the merits of our own sin, we earn death. Faith comes in being willing to die with Christ, united with Him, in order to come alive in Him. All Paul discusses dying daily to his faith, he demonstrates the effects of faith in Jesus Christ. Choosing to crucify the flesh by the grace given to us in faith in Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, we reject the life of flesh to receive the gift of grace offered to those God grants his grace to. Our faith expresses as trusting that when we die with Christ and are crucified with Him we will rise with Him from the dead in the newness of life.
Faith As Submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ
Romans 10:9 gives the conditions for the salvation that comes by grace alone; “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9, ESV) In faith, we stand in the resurrection of Jesus Christ as we die with Him. Yet, we also establish ourselves with Jesus Christ as Lord. Too often, we breeze by the idea of Jesus Christ as Lord of our life, failing to see the full weight. The Lord rules and reigns over the lives of those underneath Him. As people claiming Jesus Christ as Lord, we allow ourselves to be transformed by the will of God for His glory. Our actions are not our own and we owe our lives to the Lord who saves us.
We are not saved by our works as we have discussed in various other portions of this post and previous ones in the series. Yet, the idea of faith and works are links throughout the whole of scripture. Bowing before Jesus Christ as Lord means a total transformation and redemption of ourselves to reflect the glory of God. In faith, we bow before Jesus Christ as our Lord, trusting that God loves us as His dearly beloved creation and that He alone will save us from the death we face. We may not understand everything God requires of us, the manner in which God acts, or the thoughts of Christ, but faith does not require understanding, only trust. At the heart of faith we trust in an infinite and loving God to save and redeem his people which expresses itself through a transformation of our thoughts, words, and actions.
