Justification through faith alone

Where St. Thomas and Martin Luther meet

I regularly see posts on social media of (people claiming to be) Roman Catholic apologists, denying the concept of justification through faith alone or sola fide. And usually, the main target is Martin Luther. What characterises many of these posts, however, is an absolute abysmal engagement with the actual arguments, and usually a non-engagement with Luther’s actual writings.¹ The problem with pop level apologetics is that it does not engage with actual arguments but only with caricatures, and from a Roman Catholic perspective that often involves arguing against a undefined blob called “protestantism” (which is one of the reasons that I simply do not call myself a protestant). Often the argument is that we cannot add the word “alone” in Romans 3:28 (which, as far as I know, not one of the current translations do),² because even though faith does not need to be accompanied with works in order to initially justify someone, that does not mean that faith is alone. It is accompanied by hope and love (cf. 1 Corinthians 13). But as I have said elsewhere, virtually no one denies that.³

A recent attempt, by Patrick Neve, said that Martin Luther added the German word alein (“alone”) to Romans 3:28, which is true. But his claim is that this fundamentally changes the meaning of the text. Under a different reply, I simply replied: “Aquinas disagrees with you.” Now, I did not elaborate but I want to explain why I can say that here, and why the Lutheran concept of faith alone does not, in fact, contradict St. Thomas Aquinas’s view of what he sees as our initial justification.⁴ For St. Thomas, when St. Paul talks of justification, this is justification by faith alone, as we can see from his commentaries on Romans, Ephesians, and 1 Timothy.⁵ Commenting on Romans 3:28 (that “a man is justified by faith apart from works of law”),⁶ St. Thomas says:

Not only without the ceremonial works, which did not confer grace but only signified it, but also without the works of the moral precepts, as stated in Titus, not because of deeds done by us in justice (Titus 3:5). This, of course, means without works prior to becoming just, but not without works following it, because, as is stated in James: faith without works (Jas 2:26), i.e., subsequent works, is dead, and, consequently, cannot justify.⁷

St. Thomas is clear here that no works accompany faith in initial justification. And he continues this in his commentary on Romans 4. Commenting on vv.4–5, he says:

Then when he says but to him, he shows how the eternal reward is related to faith, saying, but to him who works not outward works, for example, because he does not have time to work, as in the case of one who dies immediately after baptism, yet believes in him who justifies the ungodly, namely, in God, of whom he says below: God is he who justifies (Rom 8:33), his faith is reputed, i.e., FAITH ALONE without outward works, to justice, so that in virtue of it he is called just and receives the reward of justice, just as if he had done the works of justice, as he says below: with the heart, we believe unto justice (Rom 10:10), and this according to the purpose of the grace of God, i.e., accordingly as God proposes to save men gratuitously: to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints (Rom 8:28); he accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph 1:11).⁸

To really sell the point, let’s quote St. Thomas’ commentary on 1 Timothy. Commenting on 1 Timothy 1:8, that “the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully,” St. Thomas writes:

But the Apostle seems to be speaking of the moral precepts, because he continues by saying that the law was made for sinners, and these are moral precepts. The proper use of these precepts is that a man not attribute more to them than is contained in them. For the law was given in order that sin be recognized: for I had not known concupiscence, if the law did not say: you shall not covet (Rom 7:7). Therefore, the hope of justification must not be placed in them, but in faith alone: we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law (Rom 3:28).⁹

Note that while St. Thomas does not add the word “alone” to his translation of the verse, he clearly states that what St. Paul means in Romans 3:28 is that we are justified by faith alone (Lt. sola fide). And the reason, of course, is that this follows quite clearly from St. Paul’s argument. Now, as I have noted before, the question is how we understand the word “alone” (in the phrase “justified by faith alone”). Is it an adverb or an adjective? If it is an adverb, it modifies the verb “justified,” and it only tells us that in the act of justification, faith is the only contributing factor. If it is an adjective, however, it modifies the noun “faith,” which means that we must conclude not only that faith is the only contributing factor to the act of justification but that nothing can exist alongside it (which St. Thomas would deny). I am sure that St. Thomas would see this as an adverb, which mans that when you are justified by faith alone, faith alone is what justifies you. But it does not mean that faith is alone or unaccompanied. And that is exactly what St. Thomas says, and it is also what we as Lutherans say. As we see above, St. Thomas states that we are justified not by works we have done prior to justification but that works which follow can have an impact (cf. James 2:14-26).

What is important to note, however, is that St. Thomas is not saying that works justify you, even those who come forth from faith. As we can see above, from his commentary on Romans 3:28,¹⁰ St. Thomas says that we are justified without both “ceremonial works, which did not confer grace but only signified it” and “the works of the moral precepts” (cf. Titus 3:5). But this, he says, “means without works prior to becoming just, but not without works following it, because, as is stated in James: faith without works (Jas 2:26), i.e., subsequent works, is dead, and, consequently, cannot justify.” Note, however, what St. Thomas is actually saying here. He says that justification comes through faith alone and that this faith is accompanied with works that flow forth from it. But he does not say that these works are themselves the means through which you are justified, but that these works prove that the faith in question is a living faith, the only faith that can justify. Or, as St. Paul says in Galatians 5:6: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love.” And this, incidentally, is exactly what Luther says is the nature of the living faith which justifies us:

Faith, however, is a divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[:12-13]. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; and it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. This knowledge of and confidence in God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith. Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. Beware, therefore, of your own false notions and of the idle talkers who imagine themselves wise enough to make decisions about faith and good works, and yet are the greatest fools. Pray God that he may work faith in you. Otherwise you will surely remain forever without faith, regardless of what you may think or do.¹¹

For Luther, then, as for St. Thomas, the faith which justifies is a living faith which works, something we also see in Confessio Augustana (hereafter: CA):

Likewise, they teach that this faith is bound to yield good fruits and that it ought to do good works commanded by God on account of God’s will and not so that we may trust in these works to merit justification before God. For forgiveness of sins and justification are taken hold of by faith, as the saying of Christ also testifies [Luke 17:10]: “When you have done all [things] . . . say, ‘We are worthless slaves.’ ” The authors of the ancient church teach the same. For Ambrose says: “It is established by God that whoever believes in Christ shall be saved without work, by faith alone, receiving the forgiveness of sins as a gift.”¹²

What we see, then, is that both Aquinas and Lutherans hold to the doctrine of justification through faith alone. We all hold that there is an initial justification but we do not hold that salvation cannot be lost, since we reject the Reformed concept of OSAS (“once saved always saved”). As I have shown before,¹³ Lutherans do not have the same view of justification as the Reformed tradition. We believe that faith itself it imputed and that Christ is really present in faith as the one who saves. Faith is living because Christ is present in it. As St. Thomas says, initial justification is by faith alone. This is given us in baptism, grasped in faith, which is given to us in the sacrament, and which produces fruit, as we see in Ephesians 2:8–10. There, good works proceed from salvation, which is by grace, through faith. And this is also where I think we find the most interesting parallels between the St. Thomas and the Lutheran tradition. In his commentary on Ephesians 2:8–10,¹⁴ St. Thomas notes that salvation is by grace, which has two essential characteristics. First, “what exists through grace is not present in man through himself or by himself, but from the gift of God” and secondly, grace “is not from previous works; this is expressed when he adds created.”¹⁵ And here he makes an interesting observation:

To create anything is to produce it from nothing; hence, when anyone is justified without preceding merits, he can be said to have been created as though made from nothing. This creative action of justification occurs through the power of Christ communicating the Holy Spirit. On this account he adds in Christ Jesus, that is, through Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but a new creation (Gal 6:15). Send forth your Spirit, they are created anew (Ps 104:30).¹⁶

If justification is to be understood in terms of creation, and specifically creatio ex nihilo, it follows logically that this cannot be based on anything already in us, as that would not be a creation from nothing.¹⁷ This creation comes, then, by grace, through faith, with no other contribution. The instrument through which it is given is faith alone (which is a living faith that is not unaccompanied by wirks). And this is exactly what St. Paul says in Romans 4:15-17, where he explicitly understands justification as creation from nothing: “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants—not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (emphasis added). This is St. Thomas’s view, and it is Martin Luther’s view. It should be yours as well.

1. For a critical edition of Luther’s works, see D. Martin Luthers Werke: kritische Gesamtausgabe, 112 vols. (Weimar 1883-2009). These are divided into Schriften (Writings, hereafter: WA); Tischreden (Table Talks, hereafter: WA TR); Die deutsche Bibel (The German Bible, hereafter: WA DB); and Briefe / Briefwechsel (Letters / Correspondences, hereafter: WA BR). For translations, see Luther’s Works, 82 vols., eds. Helmut T. Lehmann and Jaroslav Pelikan et al. (St. Louis, MO: Concordia/Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press 1955-, hereafter: LW). For a web page, with links to the source texts, see here. For a web page comparing LW to the originals, see here.

2. Luther was, however, not the first one to do so. See this blog post.

3. I have done a few posts on this before, here, here, and here.

4. An argument may be given that there are disagreements on what initial and final justification are, is, or if they ultimately differ. I think that there is a distinction but that they cannot be separated from each other. But as a reminded, Lutheran theology rejects the Reformed concept of OSAS, “once saved always saved.”

5. St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans (Super ad Romanos), trans. Fabian Larcher (hereafter: Ad Rom); St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Ephesians (Super ad Ephesios), trans. Fabian Larcher and Matthew Lamb (hereafter: In Eph.); St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on I Timothy (Super I ad Timotheum), trans. Fabian Larcher (hereafter: In I Tim.). For St. Thomas’s works, see Opera Omnia of St. Thomas Aquinas, Latin and English (Lander, WY: The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine, 2012, https://aquinas.cc/).

6. If not otherwise noted, when citing Scripture, I will be using the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (abbreviated RSV-2CE), corrected to British spelling. See The Ignatius Bible: Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2006).

7. Ad Rom, c. 3, L 4, 317.

8. Ad Rom, c. 4, L 1, 330, cf. 328–331. Bold and italic emphases in original, emphasis with CAPITALS added.

9. In I Tim., c. 1, L 3, 21.

10. Ad Rom, c. 3, L 4, 317.

11. Martin Luther, “Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans,” in LW 35, 365-380 (here: 370-371), cf. WA DB 7, 2-79.

12. CA, 6. For the English translation of CA, see The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, eds., Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2000), pp. 27–105. For a critical edition of the Latin and German texts, see Die Bekenntnisschriften der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche, vollständige neuedition, ed., Irene Dingel (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014), 85–225. If not otherwise noted, all quotations of CA follow the translation of the Latin text.

13. See here and here.

14. In Eph., c. 2, L 3, 92–100.

15. In Eph., c. 2, L 3, 98–99 (emphasis in original).

16. In Eph., c. 2, L 3, 99 (emphasis in original).

17. Luther also understood justification, and deification, in terms of creatio ex nihilo, though this also includes a critique of the medieval Scholastic tradition, though more particularly its nominalist incarnations (via moderna). See Knut Alfsvåg, “Deification as creatio ex nihilo. On Luther’s appreciation of Dionysian spirituality in Operationes in Psalmos,” in Hermeneutica Sacra: Studien zur Auslegung der Heiligen Schrift im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert – Studies of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, eds. Torbjörn Johansson, Robert Kolb, and Johann Anselm Steiger (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011), 59–84. Alfsvåg does not engage with Aquinas in the article, though he does engage with Peter Lombard, whom St. Thomas did comment on. It seems, however, that St. Thomas would agree with Luther that deification is a divine creation, grasped only by faith, which is itself a divine work (cf. John 6:29).