According to the express teachings of Holy Scripture the believer is justified by faith alone (sola fide), without the deeds of the Law, Rom. 3, 28; 4, 5; Phil. 3, 9. Positively, Scripture affirms this truth by ascribing justification directly to faith, Rom. 3, 21—24, and negatively, by excluding from justification every work of man as a meritorious cause, Rom. 3, 27. Indeed, Scripture emphatically declares that all who would be justified by works are under the curse. Gal. 3, 10, and it illustrates this fact by examples which leave no doubt as to the necessity of excluding human works from justification, Rom. 4, 1—3; Luke 18, 9—14.
According to Scripture the attempt on the part of man to secure justification by his own efforts is “zeal not according to knowledge,” Rom. 10, 2, and the insistence upon good works as necessary for salvation “a doctrine of the flesh,” Gal. 3, 2.3. On the other hand, it is the characteristic teaching of the Christian religion, which is of God, that sinners are justified before God solely by faith, without works. Gal. 1, 8; 5, 4.5. Hence we must exclude from the act of justification not only a) all good works which God works in men in His Kingdom of Power (iustitia civilis), Rom. 2, 14.15, but also b) all spiritually good works, which flow from faith, Rom. 4, 2.3; for the exclusive particles (particular exclusivae), such as “without the Law,” “without works,” “not of works,” etc., Rom. 3, 28; 4, 5; Eph. 2, 8.9, debar from the act of justification all human works whatsoever.
The Formula of Concord says Thor. Decl., III, 9:
“Concerning the righteousness of faith before God we believe . . . that poor sinful man is justified before God, that is, absolved and declared free and exempt from ail his sins and from the sentence of well- deserved condemnation,.. . without any merit or worth of our own, also without any preceding, present, or any subsequent works, out of pure grace, because of the sole merit, complete obedience, bitter suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord Christ alone, whose obedience is reckoned to us for righteousness.”
Moreover, as the Formula of Concord shows, Holy Scripture also points out the reasons why human works must be excluded from justification, namely, a) because God wishes to demonstrate the glory of His grace in the unmerited salvation of sinful mankind, Eph. 2, 9; 1, 6. 7, and b) because He, in His infinite grace, has purposed to provide for lost mankind a salvation of which the sinner, on the basis of His gracious promise, may be absolutely sure and certain, Rom. 4, 16.
By teaching that justification is by faith, without the deeds of the Law, Holy Scripture rejects the papistic errors a) that justification is based upon infused grace (gratia infusa), or upon some good quality in man; b) that justification is a medical act (actus medicinalis), by which the sinner is made righteous through sanctification; c) that there are degrees (gradus) in justification, so that one believer is more justified than another; and d) that the believer cannot be sure of his salvation (monstrum incertitudinis).
Positively, by its doctrine of sola fide, Scripture affirms a) that justification is based upon God’s gracious disposition in Christ Jesus (gratuitus Dei favor propter Christum), or upon divine grace, which is outside of man, “in God’s own heart,” though revealed and offered to him in the Gospel (Media gratiae instru- menta iustificationis sunt); b) that justification is a forensic act (actus forensis), by which God declares the sinner who believes in Christ to be righteous; c) that justification has no degrees, but is instantaneous and complete, the believer being justified as soon as he trusts in Christ for righteousness; d) that faith justifies not as a virtue or good quality in man, but solely as the instrument, or means, by which the believer lays hold of the perfect righteousness of the divine-human Savior; and e) that the believer may be sure of salvation, because salvation rests not upon his own worthiness, but upon the imputed merits of Christ.
The doctrine of justification which the Reformers set forth in Art. IV of the Augsburg Confession is therefore truly Scriptural. It reads: “Men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who by His death has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight, Rom. 3 and 4.” By pronouncing upon this comforting doctrine of Scripture its anathema, the Church of Rome has proved itself to be the Church of Antichrist.
The doctrine of justification by faith, without the deeds of the Law, presupposes as necessary postulates a) objective justification, or the doctrine that Christ through His vicarious atonement has secured reconciliation for the whole world; b) universal grace (gratia universalis), or the doctrine that God earnestly desires the salvation of all men; c) salvation by grace alone (sola gratia), or the doctrine that the sinner is saved without any preceding, present, or subsequent human works; d) the means of gTace (media gratiae), or the doctrine that the Word of God and the Sacraments are the gracious means by which God offers and conveys to men the forgiveness of sins and righteousness which Christ has secured by His death (media δοτικά).
All who deny these doctrines (Romanists, Calvinists, synergists) cannot consistently teach the Scriptural doctrine of justification by faith, since the rejection of these teachings invariably leads to the teaching of work-righteousness.