We continue looking at some of what makes us Lutherans unique. Last week we considered the first of the three “Solas.” The word is Latin for “alone.” The early Lutherans developed three prongs to their theological differences with the Church at that time. They were: Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), Sola Fide (faith alone) and Sola Gratia (grace alone). This week we consider faith alone.

During his early life, Martin Luther was terrified that he had not done enough to be loved and saved by God. Even though he went to church every week, confessed the sins he knew he had committed and strove to do good works, he was never sure he had done enough to earn the love of God and to be saved for heaven. All of this even though he was a monk and a professor of the Bible at a university!

One day Luther was preparing to teach a class on the book of Romans when he ran across these words from Saint Paul, “For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law” (Romans 3:28). Luther was stunned, he said that it seemed at that point that the gates of heaven opened before his eyes.

The Holy Spirit revealed to Luther in scripture that we can never “earn” salvation but that it is a gift through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Further, we accept that gift, not by doing good works or believing the right things or going to church every Sunday, but through faith, and trusting God’s promise that Jesus has won salvation for us on the cross once and for all.

Good works and all the rest are a result of our faith in God and in response to all that God has done for us. Or as the author of 1 John says, “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our faith in God frees us from worrying about our salvation which allows us to turn outward and serve our neighbors. As noted in a scripture “For freedom Christ has set us free!” Thanks be to God!

Blessings,

Pastor Nancy