Living HD - A Journey Through the Letter of James预览

This question posed by James is hugely relevant, and is the major theme of this week’s devotional. The simple answer is that faith that produces no works is of no use at all. But we’ll get to that later. 

Today’s devotional seeks to answer the second question, “can faith alone save you?”.

The 500th anniversary of the Reformation was just 3 years ago, in 2017. The five foundational doctrines of the Reformation are known as the five solas (sola or solus means "alone") and can be summarised as follows: God has chosen and acted to save us by His grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide) in Christ alone (solus Christus), according to the truth of Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) and for His glory alone (soli Deo gloria).

The interplay between grace and faith is neatly summarised in Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” Again, in Romans 5:1, Paul writes, “...we have been justified by faith”.

Let us be very clear that, when it comes to salvation or justification (the two have the same meaning in this context), that it is by faith alone. Our works cannot in any way contribute to our salvation. See Ephesians 2:9, “...not a result of works”.

Are you completely sure about this doctrine of sola fides or faith alone? Is your faith firmly and solely in the redemptive work of Jesus?