To say that our faith saves us means that we do not save ourselves even in the slightest measure. Very different would be the case if our salvation was said to be through love…. J. Gresham Machen, What Is Faith? (1946), 173–4.
Five Solas
Witsius: The Law Of Works And The Law Of Faith Are Antecedent And Consequent Conditions
Disputing in his Panstrat. vol. iii. book xv. chap. iii. against Bellarmine, [Chamier] teaches that the true and determinate difference between the law of works and that of faith, is the condition of works and of faith; that is, that the law . . . Continue reading →
What The Socinians Denied And Taught On Faith And Justification
1. That justifying faith, or that faith whereby we are justified, is our receiving of Christ as our Lord and Saviour, trusting in him and yielding obedience to him. 2. That faith, in justifying, is not to be considered as a hand . . . Continue reading →
The Logic Of Fruit As Evidence (1)
The Patristic Period One of the earliest concerns of the Christian church, beginning with the apostles and intensifying through the patristic and medieval periods, was that those who profess the Christian faith should live in a way befitting their profession of faith. . . . Continue reading →
Goodwin: Salvation Is Through Faith Alone But Good Works Are A Necessary Consequence
God requires humiliation indeed afore, because men will not believe else; and he requires obedience after, as that which necessarily follows upon faith, so as a man cannot truly believe but it will follow, as heat follows light. Yet, upon believing, the . . . Continue reading →
Perkins: As Signs Thereof
Nothing within man, and nothing that man can do, either in nature, or by grace, concurreth to the act of justification before God, as any cause thereof, either efficient, material, formal, or final, but faith alone; all other gifts and graces, as . . . Continue reading →
Goodwin: Faith Is The Alone Condition Of The Covenant Of Grace
When we are in the state of salvation, faith doth all; for whenas all graces else would soon be overcome and cast out again by lusts, and would soon be tripped up from off their standing, faith is able to keep its . . . Continue reading →
Goodwin: Faith Does It All
Faith doth all in us, till it hath brought us to salvation. It carries along this great venture of a man’s soul safe to heaven, and leaves it not till it hath put it into Christ’s hands in heaven, till itself ends . . . Continue reading →
On The Necessity And Efficacy Of Good Works In Salvation
Introduction There is no question among orthodox, i.e., confessional, Reformed folk whether good works are necessary as a consequence, evidence, and a fruit of justification and sanctification by grace alone, through faith alone. There is no question whether God’s moral law, whether summarized in . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: Works Are Necessary Effects And Evidences Of Salvation
For because Paul had taught, that a man is justified by faith without works, hence some inferred, that in whatever manner a man live, it, equally suffices, that he persuade himself that Christ is his Saviour. Which they could have inferred with . . . Continue reading →
Berkhof: Perseverance Is By Grace Alone Through Faith Alone
The doctrine of perseverance may also be proved in an inferential way. a. From the doctrine of election. Election does not merely mean that some will be favored with certain external privileges and may be saved, if they do their duty, but . . . Continue reading →
Godfrey: Salvation Sola Fide Vs Salvation By Faith Formed By Love
The medieval church consistently taught that faith, in its essence, was simply or implicitly a mental category or habit to which the believer must assent, fides informis. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Hence if anyone wishes to reduce these words to the form of . . . Continue reading →
Machen: Salvation Is By Grace Alone Through Faith Alone
If Christ provides only a part of our salvation, leaving us to provide the rest, then we are still hopeless under the load of sin. For no matter how small the gap which must be bridged before salvation can be attained, the . . . Continue reading →
Hodge On The Sufficiency Of Scripture And The Development Of Christian Theology
The anti-protestant principles of Dr. Schaff, as it appears to us, are either included in his theory of development, or are its legitimate consequences. That theory he and Dr. Nevin for a time held in common. But it contains antagonistic principles. When . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 126: Justified Sinners Pray For Forgiveness Of Sins
One of the most persistent temptations Christians face is that of turning the covenant of grace into a covenant of works. As we pray we must always be reminded that we, who trust in Jesus Christ as our substitute and Mediator, are . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 91: What Are Good Works? (2)
The source, fountain of good works is true faith. By using this expression, the catechism deliberately takes us back to Heidelberg 21, where true faith is defined and to Heidelberg 60 which are among the several places where true faith is said to be the sole instrument (sola fide) of justification and salvation. True faith is also the instrument of union and communion with Christ and it is the headwaters of the believer’s new, Spirit-wrought life in Christ. In other words, true faith is essential to good works. Continue reading →
Office Hours: The Perspicuity Of Scripture In A Skeptical Age
The alternative to the essential clarity and sufficiency of Scripture is, ironically, the Romanist doctrine of implicit faith (fides implicita) according to which we should trust not in Scripture principally as we wait confidently for difficulties to be resolved in future but rather, according to Romanist doctrine of implicit faith, we begin with doubt about the clarity of Scripture and we trust that the church knows. This turn to the old Romanist doctrine of implicit faith is attractive to skeptical millennials and others because it fits the prejudice of the age toward personal relationships over than fixed truths. Continue reading →
Calvin: Implicit Faith Is Inescapable
We certainly admit that so long as we dwell as strangers in the world there is such a thing as implicit faith; not only because many things are as yet hidden from us, but because surrounded by many clouds of errors we . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 77: As Don Says, It’s In The Bible
It was the first time I got to see how daily pastoral ministry really was. It was, in a word, intense. It was also biblical. Don was constantly referring back to Scripture or quoting Scripture and reading it or studying it. It was very impressive. I had heard that Scripture was essential but in Don I saw right away that the Bible is at the center of pastoral ministry. Continue reading →
Heidelberg 67: The Sacraments Are True Signs And Seals Of Christ And His Gospel (1)
67. Are both the Word and the Sacraments designed to direct our faith to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation? Yes truly, for the Holy Spirit teaches in the Gospel and assures us by . . . Continue reading →