Faith in Christ Alone So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.Galatians 2:16 We are justified through faith in Christ, not through our own efforts. We shouldnt let anyone confuse us by saying that faith justifies people only when love and good works are added to it. If people hear that they must believe in Christ and that faith alone doesnt justify unless love is added to it, they immediately fall from faith and think, If faith without love doesnt justify, then faith is empty and useless. Love alone justifies. For if faith is not formed and enhanced by love, then its nothing. In order to prove their damaging comments, my opponents point to 1 Corinthians 13:1–2: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, . . . I am nothing. They think these verses are an impenetrable wall. But they dont understand Pauls teachings. We should avoid these comments as if they were poison from hell. Instead, we should conclude with Paul that we are justified by faith alone, not through faith formed by love. So we shouldnt attribute the power of justification to something formed in us that makes us pleasing to God. We must attribute it to faith, which takes hold of Christ the Savior and keeps him in our hearts. This faith justifies us apart from love and prior to love. We concede that we must also teach about good works and love. But we only teach these at the proper time and place—when the question deals with how we should live, not how we are justified. The question here is this: How do we become justified and receive eternal life? We answer with Paul that we are pronounced righteous through faith in Christ alone, not by our own efforts. From Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional by Martin Luther, James C. Galvin. ©2005 by Zondervan. All rights reserved. No part may be reproduced without written permission from Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49530. Sent from the Martin Luthers Faith Alone Devotional. For devotionals like this one for your iPhone, visit us at 43rdElement Sent from my iPad
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 16:56:40 +0000
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