Editing Sola fide (section)

==Reconciliation of differing emphases==
{{See also|Indulgences|Prayers for the dead|Purgatory|Simony}}

[[Christian theology|Christian theologies]] answer questions about the nature, function, and meaning of justification quite differently. These issues include: Is justification an event occurring instantaneously or is it an ongoing process? Is justification effected by divine action alone (''[[monergism]]''), by divine and human action together (''[[Synergism (theology)|synergism]]''), or by human action (erroneously called ''[[Pelagianism]]''<ref>According to [[Williston Walker]] in ''A History of the Christian Church'' (1949), pp. 185–6</ref>)? Is justification permanent or can it be lost? What is the relationship of justification to [[sanctification]], the process whereby sinners become righteous and are enabled by the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] to live lives pleasing to God?

Discussion in the centuries since the [[Reformation]] and in some ways liberalising [[Counter-Reformation]] has suggested that the differences are in emphasis and concepts rather than doctrine, since Catholic and Orthodox Christians concede works are not the basis of ''justification'' nor relatedly ''salvation'', and most Protestants accept the need for repentance and the primacy of grace (see {{section link||Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church}} and {{section link||Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission}} below). Further, many Protestant churches actually hold more nuanced positions such as ''sola gratia, sola fide'' or ''justification by faith'' (i.e. without the ''alone''). According to a 2017 survey conducted in Western Europe by the [[Pew Research Center]], "fewer people say that faith alone (in Latin, ''sola fide'') leads to salvation, the position that Martin Luther made a central rallying cry of 16th-century [[Protestant reformers]]." Protestants in every country surveyed except Norway are more likely to say that both good deeds and faith in God are necessary for salvation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Five Centuries After Reformation, Catholic-Protestant Divide in Western Europe Has Faded |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2017/08/31/five-centuries-after-reformation-catholic-protestant-divide-in-western-europe-has-faded |publisher=Pew Research Center |date=31 August 2017}}</ref>

The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), signed by both the [[Lutheran World Federation]] and the Roman Catholic Church on 31 October 1999 declares:

<blockquote>
We confess together that good works – a Christian life lived in faith, hope and love – follow justification and are its fruits. When the justified live in Christ and act in the grace they receive, they bring forth, in biblical terms, good fruit. Since Christians struggle against sin their entire lives, this consequence of justification is also for them an obligation they must fulfill. Thus both Jesus and the apostolic Scriptures admonish Christians to bring forth the works of love.<ref name="vatican.va">{{cite book|title=Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html|access-date=25 November 2017}}</ref>
</blockquote>

The [[Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification]] (JDDJ), signed by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church, says that "sinners are justified by faith in the saving action of God in Christ. ... Such a faith is active in love and thus the Christian cannot and should not remain without works." And later, "Good works – a Christian life lived in faith, hope and love – follow justification and are its fruits. When the justified live in Christ and act in the grace they receive, they bring forth, in biblical terms, good fruit. Since Christians struggle against sin their entire lives, this consequence of justification is also for them an obligation they must fulfill. Thus both Jesus and the apostolic Scriptures admonish Christians to bring forth the works of love."<ref name="vatican.va" />

The Joint Declaration never mentions the expression ''Sola Fide'' and the [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] clearly teaches that salvation is obtained by a combination of both faith and good works, which are considered to be a human response to God's prior and continuing grace.<ref>Catechism of Catholic Church, Paragraphs 2068, "all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments."</ref><ref>Catechism of Catholic Church, Paragraphs 2010, "Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life."</ref><ref>Catechism of Catholic Church, Paragraphs 2027, "we can merit for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life, as well as necessary temporal goods."</ref><ref>Catechism of Catholic Church, Paragraphs 2036, "The authority of the Magisterium extends also to the specific precepts of the natural law, because ''their observance, demanded by the Creator, is necessary for salvation.''"</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Salvation by Works Questioned – Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) |url=https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=17711 |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=wayback.archive-it.org |quote=The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear in stating that we merit salvation in part by our works. Read paragraphs 1987 through 2029, note especially 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2019, 2027. |archive-date=27 September 2009 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090927212950/https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=17711 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Epistle of James and Pauline Epistles===
Chapter 2 of the [[Epistle of James]], verses 14–26, discusses faith and works, starting with verse 14, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?" In verse 20 it says that faith without works is dead.

The Defense of the Augsburg Confession rejects the idea that the Epistle of James contradicts the Lutheran teaching on Justification.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Formula of Concord ~ Solid Declaration |url=https://bookofconcord.org/solid-declaration/ |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=bookofconcord.org |at=Paragraph 42 |language=en}}</ref>

{{blockquote|He who has faith and good works is righteous, not indeed, on account of the works, but for Christ's sake, through faith. And as a good tree should bring forth good fruit, and yet the fruit does not make the tree good, so good works must follow the new birth, although they do not make man accepted before God; but as the tree must first be good, so also must man be first accepted before God by faith for Christ's sake. The works are too insignificant to render God gracious to us for their sake, if He were not gracious to us for Christ's sake. Therefore James does not contradict St. Paul, and does not say that by our works we merit, etc.<ref>The Defense of the Augsburg Confession, III, ''Reply to the Arguments of the Adversaries'', [http://bookofconcord.org/defense_5_love.php#para123 123-132]</ref>}}

[[Confessional Lutheran]] theologians summarize James 2: "we are justified/declared righteous by people when they see the good works we do as a result of our faith and they conclude that our faith is sincere."<ref name=wels-faith-works2>{{cite web|url=https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=11833|title=Errors of Catholicism - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090927213257/https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=11833|archive-date=27 September 2009}}</ref>

In answer to another question on James 2:24 as well as Romans 3:23–24, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod replied:
{{blockquote|[[Pauline epistles|Paul is writing]] to people who said that faith in Jesus alone does not save a person, but one has to also obey God's law in order to be justified (Gal 3:3, 5:4). To counter the false idea that what we do in keeping the law must be added to faith in what Christ did for us. Paul often emphasizes in his letters (esp. Galatians, Romans, Colossians) that we are saved by grace through faith alone. [[Epistle of James|James is writing]] to people who felt that believing in Jesus saved a person, but that having faith did not mean that a person necessarily would keep God's commandments out of love for God (James 2:14, 17). To show that faith is not really faith unless it leads a person to thank God for salvation in a life of glad and willing obedience to God's holy will. James emphasized that a faith which did not show that it was living faith was really not faith at all.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arkiv.lbk.cc/faq/site.pl@1518cutopic_topicid46cuitem_itemid3064.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606231259/http://arkiv.lbk.cc/faq/site.pl@1518cutopic_topicid46cuitem_itemid3064.htm|title=WELS Topical Q&A|archive-date=6 June 2014}}</ref>}}

A Lutheran exegesis further points out that James is simply reaffirming Jesus' teaching in [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mt7:16&version=NIV Matthew 7:16],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore|first=James|title=When You're a Christian...The Whole World Is From Missouri |url=https://www.abingdonpress.com/product/9780687089246/ |language=en-US |quote=James talks as if he were from Missouri, "Show me!” He says to the objector, "I can show you faith by my works". His works proved that his faith was active. But can the objector show faith without works? James knew what Matthew had said in the seventh chapter, "Ye shall know them by their fruits".}}</ref> and that in [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james2:10 the tenth verse] of the same chapter ("For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it"), James too denies works as a means to obtain forgiveness:

{{blockquote|James here (verse 10) also shoots down the false doctrine of work-righteousness. The only way to be free of sin is to keep the law perfectly and in its entirety. If we offend it in the slightest, tiniest little way, we are guilty of all. Thank God that He sent Jesus to fulfill the Law in its entirety for us<ref>Meier, Edward P. (1978), [http://wlsessays.net/files/MeierJames.pdf The Nature of True Faith: An Exegesis of James 2], p5, [[Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary]]</ref>}}

Lutheran and Reformed Protestants, as well as others, base the sola fide on the fact that the [[New Testament]] contains almost two hundred statements that appear to imply that faith or belief is sufficient for salvation, for example: "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." ({{bible verse||John|11:25|KJV}}) and especially Paul's words in Romans, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." ({{bible verse||Romans|3:28|KJV}})

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." ({{bible verse||Romans|4:4–5|KJV}})

The precise relationship between faith and good works remains an area of controversy in some Protestant traditions (see also [[Law and Gospel]]). Even at the outset of the Reformation, subtle differences of emphasis appeared. For example, because the [[Epistle of James]] emphasizes the importance of good works, Martin Luther sometimes referred to it as the "epistle of straw". Calvin on the other hand, while not intending to differ with Luther, wrote of the necessity of good works as a consequence or 'fruit' of faith. The [[Anabaptist]]s tended to emphasize a "faith that works".<ref name="Roth2004"/>

A recent article suggests that the current confusion regarding the Epistle of James about faith and works resulted from Augustine of Hippo's anti-Donatist polemic in the early fifth century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Kenneth |title=Reading James 2:18–20 with Anti-Donatist Eyes: Untangling Augustine's Exegetical Legacy |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |date=2020 |volume=139 |issue=2 |pages=389–410}}</ref> This approach reconciles the views of Paul and James on faith and works. Recent meetings of scholars and clergy have attempted to soften the [[antithesis]] between Protestant and Catholic conceptions of the role of faith in salvation, which, if they were successful, would have far reaching implications for the relationship between most Protestant churches and the Catholic Church. These attempts to form a consensus are accepted among many Protestants and Catholics, but among others, ''sola fide'' continues to divide the Reformation churches, including many Lutherans, Reformed, and others, from other denominations. Some statements of the doctrine are interpreted as a denial of the doctrine as understood by other groups.

{| border="2" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" style="width: 220px; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center; border: 1px solid #333333; font-family: Arial; margin: 0 10px 0 10px; float: right"
! colspan="5" |<big>Views on Salvation</big>
|-style="background-color: #99FF99"
|'''Tradition'''
|'''Process <br />or<br /> Event'''
|'''Type <br />of<br /> Action'''
|'''Permanence'''
|'''Justification <br />&<br /> Sanctification'''
|-style="background-color: #EDEDED"
|'''[[Roman Catholic]]'''
|Process
|Synergism
|Can be lost via mortal sin
|Part of the same process of [[Divinization (Christian)|Divinization]]
|-
|'''[[Lutheran]]'''
|Event
|Divine monergism
|Can be lost via loss of faith or mortal sin<ref name="Koehler">{{cite book |last1=Koehler |first1=Edward W.A. |title=A Summary of Christian Doctrine |date=1939 |publisher=Concordia Publishing |page=73}}</ref><ref name="Chemnitz2007">{{cite book |author1=[[Martin Chemnitz]] |title=Ministry, Word, and Sacraments: An Enchiridion; The Lord's Supper; The Lord's Prayer |date=2007 |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |isbn=978-0-7586-1544-2 |language=en}}</ref>
|Justification is separate from and occurs prior to sanctification
|-
|-style="background-color: #EDEDED"
|'''[[Methodist]]'''
|Event
|Synergism<ref name="Olson2002">{{cite book|last=Olson|first=Roger E.|title=The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity|date=6 September 2002|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=9780830826957|page=281|quote=Two examples of Christian synergism are the Catholic reformer Erasmus, who was roughly contemporary with Luther, and the seventeenth-century Dutch theologian Arminius. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist tradition, was also a synergist with regard to salvation.}}</ref>
|Can be lost through sin or via a loss of faith<ref name="Pinson2002">{{cite book |last1=Pinson |first1=J. Matthew |title=Four Views on Eternal Security |date=2002 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=9780310234395 |page=18 |language=English |quote=While for Arminius loss of salvation came only through ceasing to believe in Christ, Wesleyans held that it could result from eiter unbelief or unconfessed sin. ... Anabaptists (e.g., Mennonites, Brethren) and Restorationists (e.g., the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, Disciples of Christ) have traditionally tended towards doctrines of salvation similar to that of Wesleyan Arminianism--without affirming a "second blessing" and entire sanctification. There have always been some in these groups, however, who has espoused a view more akin to Reformed Arminianism. Many traditional Lutherans also affirm the possibility of apostasy and reconversion.}}</ref><ref name="Robinson2016">{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=Jeff |title=Meet a Reformed Arminian |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/meet-a-reformed-arminian/ |publisher=[[The Gospel Coalition]] |access-date=16 June 2019 |language=English |date=25 August 2016 |quote=Reformed Arminianism’s understanding of apostasy veers from the Wesleyan notion that individuals may repeatedly fall from grace by committing individual sins and may be repeatedly restored to a state of grace through penitence.}}</ref>
|Salvation is dependent on upon both justification and sanctification<ref name="Lindström">{{cite web |last1=Lindström |first1=Harald |title=Chapter Three: Sanctification and the Order of Salvation |url=https://www.craigladams.com/Books/page289/page294/ |access-date=4 April 2021 |language=English |quote=In the former sense Wesley can use it to embrace the whole range of Christian salvation proper, both present and final salvation: salvation in its inception, continuation, and conclusion; usually, however, he confines it to present salvation, which comprises justification and sanctification, and the emphasis may be laid on sanctification.}}</ref>
|-
|
|-style="background-color: #EDEDED"
|'''[[Eastern Orthodox]]'''
|Process
|Synergism<ref name="Stamoolis">{{cite book|last=Stamoolis|first=James J.|title=Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism|date=5 October 2010|publisher=Zondervan|isbn=9780310864363|page=138|quote=A further concession is made, one that could easily be made by an Arminian Protestant who shared the Orthodox understanding of synergism (i.e., regeneration as the fruit of free will's cooperation with grace): "The Orthodox emphasis on the importance of the human response toward the grace of God, which at the same time clearly rejects salvation by works, is a healthy synergistic antidote to any antinomian tendencies that might result from (distorted) jurdicial understandings of salvation.}}</ref>
|Can be lost through sin
|Part of the same process of [[Theosis (Eastern Orthodox theology)|theosis]]
|-
|'''[[Reformed tradition|Reformed]]'''
|Event
|Divine monergism
|Cannot be lost
|Both are a result of [[union with Christ]]
|-
|[[Free grace theology|'''Free Grace''']]
|Event
|Synergism<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bing |first=Dr Charlie |title=Is Faith in Jesus Christ a Gift of God? |url=https://www.gracelife.org/resources/gracenotes/?id=42&lang=eng |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=www.gracelife.org |language=en-us}}</ref>
|Cannot be lost, not even in cases of apostasy or carnal living
|Sanctification is not guaranteed nor necessary for salvation, however it is necessary for eternal rewards. 
|}