Title: Faith alone (Romans 1:16-17)
Contents
Faith alone was one of the programs in which the Reformers cried out. Theologian Barthes explains the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism.
It is the difference between 'only' and 'but'. The Reformers said it was only faith, but in the Old Church it was faith.
We are saved, but our actions are also valid. If the only principle on God's side in the process of salvation is grace, man's response to this is only faith. The issue of faith is the essence of Christianity as the basic doctrine of Christianity.
The most difficult and the most well-known is the question of faith. In a person's life, faith must be combined with other things, but in the life of faith there is only faith. Let us savor only the meaning of faith.
1. The historical background of this doctrine
It is often said that the Old Testament is the Age of Law and the New Testament is the Age of Grace. Strictly speaking, however, the Old Testament Age and the New Testament Age are in common the age of faith. Genesis 15:6 says, "Abraham believed the LORD, and the LORD credited him to him as righteousness." Abraham was justified by faith. Therefore, the Old Testament law was a superficial law, and faith was the content of the Old Testament. This doctrine of faith alone was answered through Habakkuk that the righteous would live by faith, and Paul later confirmed it again in Romans 1:17. While reading the Bible, Luther discovered the doctrine of salvation by faith, not works, and this became the center of the reformation.
2. Definition of this doctrine
'Faith alone' in a negative sense means that our salvation does not consist in works. In Confucianism
Emphasis is placed on practicing and cultivating human morals by speaking of the ethics of the Three Rivers and Five Rings, but faith is not something that is learned and practiced. In Buddhism, it is said that good deeds in the present world are the cause of happiness in the future life, saying that the blessings and woes of the present life are the reward of the actions of the previous life. But faith is not the same as these works. Faith means that a sinner person is accepted as Savior and declared righteous on the merits of Jesus Christ on the cross. Therefore, the way to acknowledge oneself as a sinner and accept the declaration of Christ is faith.
3. The content of this doctrine
John said that believing that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ is faith, and that as a result, eternal life is faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Barth said that faith is a decision, Tillich said that it transcends, and Kielkegol said that reason is the crucifixion of reason. Faith means to expect all of us from God, to entrust it to us, and then to become his. Alexander the Great died after receiving a bowl of medicine from Philip, his demonstrator. An Shinha sent a message to warn him to be careful that he had already been bribed by the enemy, but he did not trust the servant and drank Philip's medicine bowl and died. Faith is life. Let's understand the ideas of the important reformers only through faith, and live a life of victory and overcoming the world through faith alone.