Lutherans believe and teach that human beings are saved by “faith only”. This seems like a simple enough idea, but some people seem to have a mistaken notion about what it means to be saved by “faith only”. This is perhaps because often when people think about the word “faith” they are thinking about holding a particular belief. Certainly faith has an element of belief but is would be wrong to think that faith just amounts to a belief. To be sure, knowledge about what Christ has done for us is necessary for faith but it is not sufficient. What faith really amounts to is an active and living trust is Christ and his work on the cross for our salvation. We are not saved because of anything we do, but because of what Christ has done for us.
In this way, we can see that faith always has an object—something in which it holds on to. For Lutherans, the only proper object of faith is the person and work of Christ . And so the doctrine of sola fide is related to another one of the four solas namely sola Christo which says that we are saved by Christ only, not ourselves or anyone else for that matter. In fact, each of the four solas are related to one another and only make sense in light of one another. We are saved by faith to be sure, yet faith is not something we can produce on our own but is created in us by the Holy Spirit upon hearing the word of God and by receiving the two sacraments—Baptism and Communion. And so we see how sola fide is related to sola gratia, that we are saved by grace alone, and sola scriptura as well.
The real controversy over the doctrine of sola fide centers on the claim that faith is enough to be saved and that good works are not required. Many would point to verses in Scripture which seem to provide evidence against this doctrine, particularly in the book of James. Some see Lutherans as contradicting what James says about the relationship between faith and good works. However, Lutherans do not deny what James writes but instead take what he writes and places it into proper context. We know that Paul writes in Galatians that we are justified by faith and not by works of the law and so that we believe. What James says is that faith which does not also produce good works is not real faith. In other words, a living and active faith in Christ will necessarily produces good works, whereas a dead faith will not . This is what James was trying to get across to us and we as Lutherans believe this too. The good news of the Gospel is that even when we do not produce good works for our neighbors as we should, we
can look to Christ for forgiveness of all our sins.