Seth, Thanks for the post. I just read the article on the site “Justification by Faith Alone as the Central Dogma of the Reformed Church” it is very good I will be reading other articles here I am sure, Thanks again.
“ I just read the article now “If You Are a Protestant, What Are You Protesting?” This is also very good. As a former Roman catholic turned Protestant I am aware as the reformers were that we are Protestants because we protest the Roman catholic church and her ritualistic ceremonies. Like the mass which is an abomination and all her ceremonies which are not found in the Word of God. We protest the position that places her tradition on the same level as the Word of God. We protest because we are for the truth of the Gospel and not the heretical Gospel of Rome. The FV supporters do not realize how close their teaching on Justification touches the heresy of her doctrine of works and faith vs. our Protestant doctrine of Faith alone in Christ alone for our salvation. As we are sanctified we of course do good works as Christians. But we can not do anything to attain our salvation ;it is by the grace of God and our being given faith and Christ’s atonement for all who place themselves in Him alone that we are saved. The Protestant doctrine of Justification ids the true dividing line between us and Roman Catholics. I think some Protestants have forgotten that. I can see the difference as did the reformers who renounced Roman Catholicism as did I. I think all Protestants need to read this article.
I think the article “If You Are a Protestant, What Are You Protesting?” should be read by all Protestants.
The historic Protestant doctrine Sola Fide is very important to those of us who are Protestants. It states that the only instrumental cause of justification, from the human perspective, is faith.
While God is the ultimate cause of justification, we who are Protestants believe that faith in Christ through the message of the Gospel is necessary. There are no works, no matter how meritorious they may seem, that can add to justification (Eph. 2:8-9).
This Protestant doctrine of Justification finds its roots in the teachings of Paul but was obscured by the corruptions of the Roman catholic teachings up to the middle ages. It was restored during the Reformation. I am an ex Roman catholic and now a Protestant, a Presbyterian. As a Protestant who at one time a Roman catholic I want to point out that it is the doctrine of Justification by faith alone in Christ alone which is the dividing point between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. I also want to point out that it is not the doctrine itself that saves, but the reality that the doctrine represents. In other words, one is saved by faith alone, not by belief in the doctrine of faith alone. As well, most Protestants would say, “it is faith alone that saves, but the faith that saves will not be alone.” This doctrine represents a major point of distinction between Protestants and Roman Catholics.
I also think the 5 solas is an area that needs reaffirmation and emphasis in Protestant churches. I think they can be tied into the beautiful doctrine of Justification by faith alone in Christ alone. It is a doctrine that separates us unto the truth of the Gospel message that Christ died for all the sins of men and we are saved not by any merit or doing of our own but only by His divine mercy and His righteousness which grants us salvation.
I think the Protestant doctrine of Justification is one that many Protestants have forgotten the true meaning of and our assurance of salvation by a simple act of faith in Christ as our savior.
"There are but two religions in the world," we hear Olivetan saying. "The one class of religions are those which men have invented, in all of which man saves himself by ceremonies and good works; the other is that one religion which is revealed in the Bible, and which teaches man to look for salvation solely from the free grace of God." "I will have none of your new doctrines," Calvin sharply rejoins; "think you that I have lived in error all my days?" But Calvin is not so sure of the matter as he looks. The words of his cousin have gone deeper into his heart than he is willing to admit even to himself; and when Olivetan has taken farewell for the day, scarce has the door been closed behind him when Calvin, bursting into tears, falls upon his knees, and gives vent in prayer to the doubts and anxieties that agitate him.
Source: The History of Protestantism, by J.A. Wylie
Calvin said concerning his conversion: "By a sudden conversion, God subdued and reduced to docility my soul, which was more hardened against such things than one would expect of my youthful years."
"Like a flash of light, I realized in what an abyss of errors, in what chaos I was."
Calvin broke with the Roman Church, I can relate with John Calvin because I too broke with the Roman church and her pope as did Calvin and the Reformers and converted to Presbyterianism and became a Protestant just as he and the other reformers did.
Dudley Davis
