Sola fide

The doctrine of sola fide asserts God's pardon for guilty sinners is granted to and received through faith alone, excluding all "works".

The kingdom of heaven is not the hire of servants, but the inheritance of sons. ~ John Calvin

Quotes

James

• What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
  • James 2:14-17 NIV

• ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ σῶμα χωρὶς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστιν, οὕτως καὶ ἡ πίστις χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν.
  • As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
  • James 2:26 NIV

Calvin

• Let it be a fixed principle in our hearts, that the kingdom of heaven is not the hire of servants, but the inheritance of sons.
  • John Calvin, Institutes, Book 3, Chapter 18

• Those who are justified by true faith prove their justification by obedience and good works, not by a bare and imaginary semblance of faith. [James] is not discussing the mode of justification, but requiring that the justification of believers shall be operative.
  • John Calvin, Institutes, Book 3, Chapter 18

• The error of our opponents lies chiefly in this, that they think James is defining the mode of justification, whereas his only object is to destroy the depraved security of those who vainly pretended faith as an excuse for their contempt of good works.
  • John Calvin, Institutes, Book 3, Chapter 18