Sola Fide, Faith Alone, is the second piece of the foundation for this blog. Faith alone is a fundamental precept to understanding this blog and God. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved. There is no other path of heaven. John 14:6, “Jesus told them, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Acts 4:12, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.” The world says, “That’s intolerant and insensitive and bigoted!” etc. But does it really matter what the world thinks? No, it does not. From the first piece of the foundation, Sola Scriptura, we can revisit Galatians 1:10, “For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.” Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father and, by extension, heaven. There is no other way around it. No other religion in the world can save anyone. They are all part of the broad road that leads to destruction. I don’t want anyone to go down that road! I, like God, desire everyone be saved. I Timothy 2:3-4, “This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
We have set up who the faith must be in, Christ Jesus, but what else does Scripture say about faith? Hebrews 11:1 defines faith for us. “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” Faith has given people across the centuries the confidence to stand firm in the face of persecution, even to death. All the disciples except for John were martyred for their faith. They gave their lives as a living sacrifice throughout their lives and as a final sacrifice for Christ. That is the reality of what we hope for. They knew the reality of what they hoped for was real. Their faith confirmed it for them.
James 2:18-19 says, “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe – and they shudder.” This verse has some other themes we can go into in a future post but the one I want to focus on in this post is that faith causes us to do “good works”. Now, Scripture says in Isaiah 64:6, “All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf.” But that is before the new covenant of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.” Before we are born again in Christ Jesus our good works are done out of selfish motives and for self-glorification. Our inherent sin nature corrupts everything which is why before we come to faith in Christ Jesus, our good works are like a polluted garment. However, once we are called out of our death in sin, II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.” John 3:21, “But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.” We are not the ones who do the good works but God through us accomplishes His will through us. Hebrews 11:6 confirms this. “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.” Hebrews chapter 11 is about how faith lead to obedience in the lives of men and women of faith from the Old Testament. It also tells us that many who lived by faith faced horrible ends: tortured, jeered, flogged, imprisoned, stoned, sawed in two, executed, destitute, persecuted and mistreated. Hebrews 11:39, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” Erwin McManus in The Barbarian Way writes, “Some barbarians [followers of Christ] survive the night in the lion’s den; others experience their darkest night and wake in eternity.” (p. 41) Those who follow Christ do not seek to bring glory to themselves but only to glorify God. The desire for obedience is born out of the love we have for the God and Savior who first loved us and was the propitiation for our sins (I John 4:10) while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).
Many who do not believe look at followers of Christ and say that faith is illogical. They take the stance that Han Solo has in A New Hope on the Millennium Falcon on the way to Alderaan; “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster [symbolizing man’s logic] at your side kid…I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything to make me believe there’s one all powerful force controlling everything. There’s no mystical energy field that controls my destiny. It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.” I am a huge Star Wars fan. But I digress. I Corinthians 2:13-14 says, “We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.” Ephesians 1:13-14, “When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory.” Only by the Holy Spirit does Scripture make sense. God is so far above man’s logic that it makes sense that God resides beyond what man thinks is logical. We cannot fully understand God but that doesn’t mean He isn’t real. Man wants a god they can put in a box, control and fully understand. That kind of god is an idol; a false god that leads to destruction!
Finally, faith in Christ Jesus is the only way to God. No other philosophy or religion can save. Faith in Christ Jesus leads us to obedience to God because of the love we have for the One who saved us and served as the propitiation for our sin. Faith is beyond human reason and understanding because that is how God has willed it. Only by the Holy Spirit are the things of God revealed.
For His Glory!