What is Justification by Faith Alone?

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. —Ephesians 2:8-9

The heartbeat of the gospel resounds in this glorious declaration: when guilty sinners respond in faith to the gospel message of Christ's death and resurrection, the glorious result is that they are declared righteous before a holy God. This justification happens not because of anything they have done or ever could do, but solely because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished on their behalf. This truth stands as the central pillar of biblical soteriology, the doctrine upon which the church rises or falls. Martin Luther called justification "the article by which the church stands or falls" (articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae),¹ and the history of both the church's faithfulness and its departures confirms this assessment. Where justification by faith alone has been proclaimed, spiritual life has flourished; where it has been obscured or denied, spiritual darkness has inevitably followed.

This glorious truth is guarded and proclaimed by the three great Reformation solas that stand at the center of biblical Christianity. These principles did not originate with the Reformers but were recovered by them from Scripture after centuries of accumulated tradition had obscured the gospel's clarity. The Reformers understood that these truths were not negotiable distinctives but essential affirmations without which the gospel ceases to be good news.

Sola Gratia: Grace Alone

The first foundation of biblical justification is that salvation originates entirely in the grace of God. Sinners are not saved by a mixture of grace plus works, or even by grace-enabled works that they then contribute to their standing before God. As R.C. Sproul articulated, salvation "is from God alone as He sovereignly chooses to give it apart from human performance."² From first to last, salvation flows from pure, unmerited, undeserved grace.

The apostle Paul labored throughout his epistles to establish this foundation against every form of works-righteousness. To the Ephesians he wrote: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). The grammar of this passage is emphatic: salvation is "not of yourselves" and "not of works." Paul eliminates every possible ground of human contribution and locates the entire cause of salvation in divine grace.

To Titus, Paul similarly declared that God "saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:5-7). The explicit contrast between "works done by us in righteousness" and salvation "according to his own mercy" leaves no room for human contribution to the ground of justification.

Grace, properly understood, is not merely assistance that enables human effort but unmerited favor that accomplishes what human effort could never achieve. The sinner does not cooperate with grace to produce righteousness; the sinner receives grace that imputes righteousness. This distinction separates the biblical gospel from every system of works-righteousness, whether ancient or modern, religious or secular. The moment anyone imagines that their efforts contribute to their standing before God, they have departed from grace and placed themselves under obligation to fulfill the entire law (Galatians 5:3-4).

Sola Fide: Faith Alone

The second foundation establishes that faith is the sole instrument by which we receive the saving benefits of Christ's work. It is through faith in Christ alone—not through works or sacraments—that the sinner consciously receives and rests upon Christ as Savior and Lord. When believers do this, God objectively justifies them based on Christ's work, a reality they receive solely by this faith. They contribute nothing to their justification but the sin that makes the gift necessary. Faith is not a meritorious work that earns God's favor; it is the empty hand that receives Christ and all His benefits. Faith looks away from self entirely and rests upon Another. As the Reformers emphasized, faith justifies not because of any inherent quality it possesses but solely because of the Object it grasps.³

Paul's argument in Romans reaches its climax in this declaration: "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (Romans 3:28). The phrase "apart from works of the law" (choris ergon nomou) establishes the exclusivity of faith as the instrument of justification. Faith does not work alongside obedience to secure righteousness; faith receives the righteousness that Christ has already secured. To the Galatians, Paul stated the same truth with equal clarity: "We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified" (Galatians 2:16).

The nature of faith as instrument rather than ground must be carefully maintained. Faith does not make sinners righteous; faith unites them to the One who is righteous and whose righteousness is credited to their account. John Calvin expressed this with characteristic precision: "We are justified not without works, and yet not by works, since in the participation of Christ, by which we are justified, sanctification is just as much included as righteousness."⁴ Faith receives the whole Christ, including both His righteousness for justification and His Spirit for sanctification, yet it is His righteousness alone, not the believer's Spirit-enabled obedience, that constitutes the ground of their acceptance before God.

This understanding of faith as the sole instrument of justification does not diminish the importance of works in the Christian life. Genuine faith inevitably produces good works as its fruit (James 2:17-18). The Reformers unanimously affirmed that believers are justified by faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone.⁵ Works serve as evidence of living faith, confirmation of genuine conversion, and the means by which faith expresses itself in love (Galatians 5:6). Yet works never serve as the ground or instrument of justification. The moment one looks to their works as contributing to their righteous standing before God, they have abandoned the gospel of grace.

Solus Christus: Christ Alone

The third foundation identifies the ground and object of justifying faith as Jesus Christ Himself. Faith does not save in the abstract; faith saves because it unites the sinner to the Savior. The righteousness by which believers stand before God is not an abstract quality infused into their souls but the personal righteousness of Christ imputed to their account. His perfect obedience, His substitutionary death, and His victorious resurrection constitute the complete ground of their acceptance with God.

The Old Testament anticipates this truth with striking clarity. The psalmist declares the utter impossibility of human self-redemption:

Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit. For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others. (Psalm 49:7-10)

No human being possesses the resources to ransom another soul. The cost exceeds all human capacity. Wealth cannot purchase exemption from death; wisdom cannot devise an escape from Sheol. The wise and the foolish alike descend to the grave. If redemption is to come, it must come from beyond humanity.

And so it does. The same psalmist who declared human inability also declared divine sufficiency: "But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me" (Psalm 49:15). What no man can do, God will do. The ransom that "can never suffice" from human hands is provided by divine hands. This is the hope of the Old Testament believer, and it finds its fulfillment in Christ, who "gave his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).

Scripture is emphatic that salvation is found in no one else: "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). The exclusivity of Christ as Savior is not narrow-minded bigotry but faithful proclamation of how God has actually accomplished redemption. There is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). No sacrament, no saint, no human merit, no religious observance is added to His finished work. He alone is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

The completeness of Christ's work means that nothing can be added to it without subtracting from it. To trust in Christ plus anything is to trust in something other than Christ. The Judaizers of Paul's day added circumcision to faith; Paul declared that those who did so had "fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4). The principle applies to every addition, whether sacramental, moral, or experiential. Christ's work needs no supplement because Christ's work lacks nothing. "In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him" (Colossians 2:9-10). The believer who rests in Christ alone possesses complete righteousness, complete acceptance, complete salvation.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes justification with theological precision: "Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone."⁶ Every element of this definition matters: justification is an act (not a process), of God's free grace (not human merit), involving both pardon of sins and acceptance as righteous (the double benefit), grounded only in Christ's imputed righteousness (not our inherent righteousness), and received by faith alone (not by works or sacraments).

The Inseparable Unity of the Three Solas

These three solas are inseparable and mutually defining. Grace is the source from which salvation flows, faith is the sole instrument by which the benefits of salvation are received, and Christ is the only ground upon which salvation rests. Remove any one of these, and the others collapse. Grace that is received by works is no longer grace. Faith that rests on human merit is no longer saving faith. Christ who is supplemented by human righteousness is no longer the complete Savior.

To add anything to Christ is ultimately to subtract from Him. If believers' works contribute to their justification, then Christ's work was insufficient. If their faith is meritorious, then grace is no longer grace. If any other mediator stands between them and God, then Christ is not the one Mediator Scripture declares Him to be. The gospel permits no additions, tolerates no supplements, and admits no rivals to the finished work of Jesus Christ.

The moment believers rest in Him alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, they are clothed in His righteousness, adopted as beloved children, and declared "not guilty" forever. This verdict will never be reversed, for it rests not on their fluctuating performance but on Christ's perfect obedience. This is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls. It is the hill upon which the church's spiritual forefathers willingly died, and it remains the sweetest, most liberating truth any sinner will ever hear: in Christ, and in Christ alone, believers are complete.

For a deeper exploration of what sinners must believe and how faith functions as the instrument of justification, see "Saving Faith: Its Object and Function".

Soli Deo Gloria — To God alone be the glory.

Justification by Grace Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone