Why is "Sola Fide" so Significant?

In July 1505, a young lawyer entered an Augustinian monastery. It was a place isolated from the ills of the outside world. The only focus was intended to be God, every waking moment of every day. Yet this young man, even in the safety of the monastery, was tormented. He did not feel worthy of being in God's presence. He was anxious and desperate for an escape from his sins. He greatly feared the coming wrath of God. He had no idea how to live, not even from one moment to the next.

The young monk would confess to his confessor for hours and still be deeply troubled that he may have forgotten something. He knew that even one sin would damn him to hell, and even his sinful nature was a curse. The monk shook with fright when taking communion. Terror filled him at all times. Confession, escaping the evil world, serving as a monk, and meditating on God seemed unable to offer him one scrap of peace, rest, or salvation.

Seeing the monk's agony, his confessor believed the wretched monk might find relief if he were to go to the academy. At the academy, he would have greater access to the Bible, and he might have an opportunity to study God's Word more deeply. The monk was Martin Luther.

In 1515, Luther was lecturing on the Letter to the Romans. He later wrote, "that it was the first chapter of that epistle that he found the solution to his difficulties" (Justo Gonzalez, 1985, 19). Luther read Romans 1:16-17, which reads, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: 'The righteous shall live by faith'" (CSB).

Luther knew that the righteous are saved, and the unrighteous, that is, those without righteousness, are damned. In Romans 1:17, Luther finally understood that man has no righteousness of his own. He has none whatsoever and can't even create it (which is supported by the remainder of Romans 1). Nor can humanity do work to earn it because 'self-righteousness' can't save. Any righteousness Luther may receive could have only come from God. God has revealed his righteousness to his creation. Furthermore, God grants his righteousness to those who believe in God's revelation, the gospel. More striking, is that there is not one thing apart from faith that man can do for salvation. No work can earn this righteousness. Salvation comes by faith alone, in Christ alone.

Luther was liberated! His effort to earn his salvation through his own 'righteous' works now looked silly, futile. Martin Luther might have become a regenerate, born-again Christian at this moment. And it was most likely that God used this discovery to launch Luther into the ministry that reformed the world. Luther's discovery brought the focus to faith in God rather than working and striving to save ourselves.

Hebrews 11:1 teaches that "faith is the reality of what is hoped for." Faith is knowing that God will keep his promises to us. Then the entire chapter shares account after account of God keeping his promises and God's righteous people living their lives based on the rock-solid hope--faith--that God will do what he promised he would. And he does!

The righteous shall live by faith.

The truth Luther discovered in Romans 1:17 became one of five battle cries of the protestant reformation: Sola Fide! (It means 'in faith alone.')

Sola Fide!