The Seed of Error: Sola Fides

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There is no doubt in my mind that we are in an awakening perhaps without precedent in Christian history. The spiritual awakening that is upon us must include three aspects, as I see it. First, there must be thorough repentance on the part of the believers. Second, there must be a worldwide revival of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Third, there must be a greater understanding of the New Testament than currently is possessed by the Lord’s teachers and preachers.

(August 15, 2005) The sermon of yesterday might be titled "The Seed of Error." The reference is to the unscriptural concept that was planted during the Protestant Reformation.

We are not unmindful of the value of the teaching of the early reformers nor of the price they paid for standing for the truth of the Gospel. They were true heroes of the faith and their memory is to be revered.

One part of their struggle was against the concept of selling indulgences. An indulgence is a method of remitting punishment, especially a way of relieving a deceased individual from having to do penance in Purgatory.

It may be noted that doing penance is not the same as repentance. Repentance is not a religious duty we perform in order to show we are sorry for our behaviour. Rather, repentance is a change in our behaviour.

Martin Luther, a man of God if there ever was one, may be the most famous of the Protestant reformers. Yet, Martin Luther planted a seed of error that is flourishing today.

In his effort to combat the concept of doing penance, Luther stressed we are saved by faith alone.

Keeping in mind the extraordinary pressure that Luther was under, and his stalwart stand for the truth, it may be true that Luther adopted an improper familiarity with the New Testament, casting doubt on the inspiration of the Books of Hebrews and James, and inserting the word "only" when the term is not included in the Greek text. Let me quote from Diarmaid MacCulloch:

"He (Luther) could treat the text in a startlingly proprietorial way. Whenever, for instance, Luther found the word equivalent to ‘life’ in Greek or Hebrew, he would extend it in His German to the phrase ‘eternal life.’ ‘Mercy’ became ‘grace,’ and ‘the deliverer of Israel’ ‘the saviour.’ When he translated a crucial proof-text in Romans 3, ‘we hold that man is justified without works of the law, by faith,’ he made no bones about adding ‘only’ to ‘faith.’"

"Luther also had no scruples about ranking different parts of the Bible as more or less valuable depending on whether they proclaimed the message which he had discovered." (Reformation: Europe’s House Divided, 1490-1700. Diarmaid MacCulloch. Penguin Books, 2003)

The result of this over familiarity with the Scriptures caused Martin Luther to cast doubt on the value of the Books of Hebrews and James. But without doubt the gravest error was the inserting of "only" so that instead of our being saved by faith we are saved by "faith alone"—a rallying cry of today’s Evangelical preachers.

When I first became a Christian I came under the influence of people, such as Dawson Trottman, who implanted in me an awe of the Scriptures. To this day I regard every word of the Old and New Testaments as inspired by the Spirit of God.

What incomprehensible harm has been done to the Gospel, and consequently to the moral condition of the churches, the world of which they are to be the moral light, by the insertion of the little word "only"!

I do not know if you ever have come across it, but there is a deadly teaching that the four Gospel accounts contain Christ’s words to the Jews; but after His resurrection they no longer apply to Christians, because they imply that righteous behaviour is an essential part of the Kingdom of God. We now are guided by the writings of the Apostles and can safely ignore the words of the Lord. Have you ever heard this teaching?

This would mean that being born again, John 3:16, abiding in Christ, the Sermon on the Mount, "In my Father’s house are many dwelling places," and so forth, have no bearing on us Christians. Or perhaps these well-intentioned teachers pick and choose the parts of Jesus’ teachings that apply to us, leaving the rest for the Jews of Jesus’ day.

Also, it may be demonstrated that Jesus’ teachings appear in the Epistles. And why not? After all, the writings of Paul proceeded from Christ who is living in Paul.

So we may have a problem today in determining how the four Gospel accounts are related correctly to the writings of the Apostles.

I would like now to describe the relationship between the four Gospels and the remainder of the New Testament. First, let’s think about the goal of the new covenant.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3)

The goal toward which we should be pressing is that we may have fellowship with the Apostles, and that fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

Fellowship with God was lost to mankind when the rebellion occurred in Eden. The Lord Jesus Christ came to earth that fellowship with God might be restored to us.

But we cannot have fellowship with God when our ways displease Him. Therefore God sent Jesus Christ to us, not only to forgive our sins but also to demonstrate by His behaviour and by His words the kind of personality that results in fellowship with God.

It is right here that "faith alone" has borne its deadly fruit. We would say today that we can have fellowship with God by grace, or by faith alone. This is not scriptural.

"Therefore come out from them and be separate," says the Lord. "Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." (II Corinthians 6:17)

Does the above verse sound to you like God will have fellowship with unrighteousness? I wonder what Martin Luther would do with this passage.

So we understand that by obeying the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel accounts, and taking note of His behaviour, we realize what is required if we would attain to our goal of fellowship with God.

But where do the Epistles of the Apostles fit into this picture?

The Epistles tell us how to obey the commandments given to us by the Lord; how to live as He always lives.

The Apostles tell us to present our body a living sacrifice; to crucify our sinful nature; to put to death the deeds of our body; to take our place on the cross with Christ so we may live by His resurrection life; to awake to righteousness and stop sinning; to obey the Holy Spirit at all times.

Now, let’s consider the whole picture, and then we can understand the correct relationship between the four Gospel accounts and the remainder of the New Testament.

First, we hold firmly in mind that our goal is fellowship with God.

Second, we read and reread what Jesus told us in the Gospel accounts so we may know how to gain fellowship with God.

Third, we read carefully every day the writings of the Apostles so we may know how to attain to that way of life the Lord Jesus presented to us.

The above three aspects of salvation reveal the correct relationship between the four Gospel accounts and the Epistles of Paul and the other Apostles.

The concept of salvation by "faith alone" is the seed of error. It is bearing horrid fruit in our time.

The idea that Christ came and spoke to the Jews of His day, and His words do not apply to us, deprive us of the value of Christ’s teaching. After His resurrection salvation is by grace, meaning no change of our personality is necessary, removes the possibility of fellowship with God. There no longer is a new creation.

We do always err in our hearts, don’t we? God sent Christ in order to produce good people. We have changed this simple purpose into God sent Christ in order to forgive us and give us the right to enter Paradise when we die.

As I said at the beginning, we may be in the greatest spiritual awakening of all time. There must be repentance on the part of God’s people. There must be worldwide preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, the gospel that is being restored today after being hidden for the two thousand years of the Church era.

But no matter to what extent the Spirit of God is poured out on us, no lasting good will be accomplished until God’s preachers thoroughly, vigorously, repudiate the seed of error: the righteous shall live by faith alone.

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