>Luther insisted that Paul's doctrine of "justification by faith" was definitive for Christianity. And to make sure that there was no understandings about this, he added the word "alone" lest anyone see faith as one among a number of causes of justification-including works. This addition caused a furor. Catholics pointed out that the NT nowhere taught "justification by faith alone"; indeed, the Letter of James explicitly condemned the idea. Luther responded by making the point that his slogan encapsulated neatly the substance of the NT even if it did not use precisely its original words. And as for the letter of James, was it not "an epistle of straw" that ought not to be in the NT anyway? This second argument caused considerable unease within Protestant circles and was not maintained by Luther's successors.
Note that the “second argument” also was not maintained by Luther himself and irrespective of its canonicity it does not teach against sola fide.
>>18548817When the rich man asked Jesus what he had to do to enter heaven, Jesus replied: Keep the commandments. (Which is The Law) And when the man said he already did that and pressed him about what could he do to guarantee heaven, Jesus said: Sell everything you own and give it to the poor. (Which is good works).Never did he say, have faith in me alone and that's it or believe in me and you're in, or put your trust in my finished work or confess with your mouth that I am the Lord. He said, to be saved you must keep the law and do good works. Which is the exact opposite of what Paul taught.
>>18548855>Never did he say, have faith in me alone and that's it or believe in me and you're in, or put your trust in my finished work or confess with your mouth that I am the Lord.Luke 18:9-14His answer to the rich man was the first use of the law. It is indeed true that if one were perfectly righteous he would inherit eternal life, but Christ’s purpose was to show him that he failed this standard, and therefore had merited the penalty of eternal death. It is only through Christ that we can truly receive eternal life.
>>18548864Jesus: Do good and obeyChristians: So what you really mean is do nothing right? Got it.
>>18548867>lies and slanderUnsurprising that Pelagians have the least fear of God, because they are unregenerate. There is no restraint on their flesh.
>>18548868How is the one who disobeys God the one who fears him?
>>18548871Yes, how do you fear Him when you slander His people? God hates the tongue that tells lies.
>>18548875>Yes, how do you fear Him when you slander His people?I don't slander Jews, you do.
>>18548876The Jews are not God’s people.
>>18548855>Jesus replied: Keep the commandments. (Which is The Law)>Jesus said: Sell everything you own and give it to the poor. (Which is good works)>He said, to be saved you must keep the law and do good works. Which is the exact opposite of what Paul taught.This is the classic confusion between sola fide and Catholic teaching. Christ did NOT say "do good works and you will be saved." He said "keep the commandments" and the rich man said he already had. Then Christ told him to sell everything, and the man walked away sad. The point was not "works save you." The point was that the man's attachment to wealth was keeping him from God. He lacked the FIRST commandment, not good works. He loved money more than God.Paul did not teach the opposite of Christ. Paul taught that no one earns salvation through the law, because all have sinned (Romans 3:23). Grace comes first. But Paul also said "we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense for what he did in the body, whether good or evil" (2 Cor 5:10). He said "God will repay everyone according to his works" (Romans 2:6). Faith works through love (Galatians 5:6). James 2:24: "a person is justified by works and not by faith alone."The Catholic position: grace precedes works. You cannot earn salvation. But grace, if truly received, transforms the will and produces works. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Luther's error was extracting one phrase ("justification by faith") and adding the word "alone" that appears nowhere in Scripture, then dismissing James as "an epistle of straw" because it contradicted him. That is not reform. That is rewriting the text to fit your theology. Trent (1547) made the Catholic position explicit: justification is by grace, through faith, working in love. Not faith alone. Not works alone. Grace transforming the soul, bearing fruit in works. That is what Christ taught. That is what Paul taught. They are not in contradiction.
>>18548880Says you.
>>18548881Paul said if you even try to keep the law you're going to hell. That's not the teaching of Jesus, much less the teaching of the Most High.
>>18548881>Luther's error was extracting one phrase ("justification by faith") and adding the word "alone" that appears nowhere in Scripture, then dismissing James as "an epistle of straw" because it contradicted him. This is a fictional narrative. First, as stated before, despite the endless whining of papists, Luther never rejected the Epistle of James, he only questioned it. And the reasoning he used to question was not that it contradicted him personally, but the same as many church fathers had likewise used to dispute more than 1,000 years prior. Second, while all agree that we are justified by faith, this is true in name only and the difference is great indeed. The function of the word “alone” is only of a landmark to tell us which entirely different country we are standing in. The Romanists hold that we are justified by faith insofar as faith is one of many virtues in man, which is apt to stir up his will to love and good deeds, but as faith is insufficient virtue to justify him, it cannot alone justify. Our meaning is very different. We hold that the sinner is justified by faith alone, because faith is the soul instrument, created in his heart by God, by which he apprehends the foreign righteousness of Jesus Christ, who having perfectly kept the law and satisfied God’s holiness in every respect is therefore the sole virtue on which the believer is justified. So faith alone must justify man, because he is justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. And as faith itself is not nor any other virtue in man imputed to him for righteousness, he therefore cannot fall into condemnation again, not even for his weakness of faith, since the condemnation was fully satisfied on the cross. Were there to be no other dispute between us this would be sufficient to necessitate absolute and irreconcilable separation because on the article of justification the church stands or falls.
>>18548817I wish I lived in a time where Christian autism was so severe that bible interpretation could lead to murder, rape and pillage.
