FAITH OVER WORKS-SOLA FIDE BY PASTOR GREG ELKAN.

_“Sola Fide”_ is a Latin phrase that means “(by) faith alone”. FAITH in Christ is the most important element of the salvation message. Take faith out of the message, and you’ll end up with just another moral religion that can never save its devotees from going to Hell. Salvation is not a change of behavior; salvation is the quickening of the human spirit that was dead in sin. 

With respect to salvation, the opposite of faith is WORKS – things we try to do in order to _earn_ forgiveness for our sins. While ‘works’ may look like the harmless actions of a penitent sinner, hidden beneath those actions is a hardened heart of unbelief and pride; because ‘works’ is Man’s insistence that he can either save himself, or at least ‘help’ God in the salvation process. 

‘Works’ is the singular principle that all religions – including religious  Christianity – have in common. Nevertheless, teaching morality to sinners is tantamount to spraying cologne on rotten meat: it is superficial and does not solve the fundamental problem. 

Prior to the Reformation, the Church had fallen to a state of full-blown unbelief. When people sinned, rather than turn them to the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross, they were asked to perform so-called _‘penances:’_ like praying certain prayers a number of times, fasting, crawling on the knees, going on pilgrimage to ‘holy’ sites, giving alms, baptism, etc.

In one little cited instance, Christians were even promised automatic forgiveness of their sins if they died during any 'holy' war they fight on behalf of the Church, (this is centuries before “9/11” popularized that concept). Indeed, the protest against _literal_ sales of forgiveness of sins by the Church was what formally sparked the Reformation movement! 

Nevertheless, the scriptures are clear on this matter. In 4 different books – in both Old _and_ New Testaments – the Bible declares that “the just shall live by faith” (Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11-12; Heb 10:38).

As Believers today, we must uphold the Reformers’ cry of _“Sola Fide.”_ Trying to DO something to show your remorse is a slippery slope that will take you farther and farther from the Cross and closer to damnation. Because, according to scriptures, it is those that _“believe”_  – not those that do ‘works’ – that are saved. 

AMEN

GREG ELKAN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

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