Salvation by Faith Alone?

“Not by faith alone?” Such a title may alarm some Christians. And it should if the “grace” message that saturates the modern Christian scene is scripturally accurate. I mean, one would think the term faith alone is on every page of the New Testament given the preeminence of the subject in the teaching of popular teachers. It may surprise some dear saints, however, to find that the words faith and alone appear only once together in scripture and when this phrase is used it is written not by faith alone. Consider:

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. James 2:24-26

Consider the universally respected seventeenth century theologian Matthew Henry on the subject:

In this latter part of the chapter, [James 2] the apostle shows the error of those who rested in a bare profession of the Christian faith, as if that would save them, while the temper of their minds and the tenor of their lives were altogether disagreeable to that holy religion which they professed. To let them see, therefore, what a wretched foundation they built their hopes upon, it is here proved at large that a man is justified, not by faith only, but by works.¹

In contrast to the modern faith and grace message of giants like Moody Broadcasting and Moody Press, R.A. Torrey, the theologian chosen by D.L. Moody to head what is now Moody Bible Institute, asserted that, “saving faith is a faith that works by doing that which the One who is believed in bids us do.”² Dr. Torrey, whose name is memorialized at the present-day Moody campus, rightly taught that “the faith that one says he has, but which does not manifest itself in action along the line of the faith professed, will not justify. The faith that justifies is the real faith that leads to action accordant with the truth professed.”

Contrary to popular opinion, saving faith isn't simply a one time act of mental assent to a set of historic creeds or orthodox doctrines. Gentle reader, not a few will find themselves thrown into outer darkness though they mentally assented to the right doctrinal stuff. These are hearers but not doers of the word. Scriptural faith is application oriented, faith in Christ being the source and righteous works and lives being the inevitable outcome.

John Fletcher, an 18th century Wesleyan apologist wrote, “If my faith does not produce the proper fruits, it is no better than the devil's faith. We have no Scripture testimony of our being anything other than the devil's children, unless we evidence the truth of our faith by showing forth the genuine fruits and works of faith.”³ Charles Finney rightly observed that many have “overlooked the plain principle, that genuine faith always results in good works, and is itself a good work.”⁴

By relying on circumcision for justification the Galatian legalists “had apostatized from the Gospel as a system of religion, and had lost the grace communicated to their souls, by which they were preserved in a state of salvation.”⁵ Likewise, hordes of hopeful professing Christians fall prey to the converse error and rely on a dead faith; a faith which does not work by love and have likewise apostatized from the Gospel as a system of religion. Yes, dear reader, James was not exaggerating, nor was he contradicting salvation by grace through faith when he wrote, “faith, if it hath not works, is dead,” (James 2:17) and can save no one (James 2:14) as it is the faith of demons (James 2:19).

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