Sunday Hymn: Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Refrain

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all my sin.

Sin and despair like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide,
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! there is flowing a crimson tide;
Whiter than snow you may be today.

—Ju­lia H. John­ston

Theological Term of the Week: Sola Fide

sola fide
One of five Latin statements that summarize the core teachings of the Protestant Reformation. The phrase means “faith alone,” and affirms that trust in Christ and his saving work—“is the alone instrument [or means] of justification.”¹ Justification is received by faith alone and not achieved by good works.

• From scripture:

[Y]et we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2:16 ESV).

• From The Heidelberg Catechism: 

Question 60. How are thou righteous before God?

Answer: Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, though my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil;  notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ; even so, as if I never had had, nor committed any sin: yea, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished for me; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a believing heart.

Question 61. Why sayest thou, that thou art righteous by faith only?

Answer: Not that I am acceptable to God, on account of the worthiness of my faith; but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, is my righteousness before God; and that I cannot receive and apply the same to myself any other way than by faith only.

• Augustus Toplady describes the kind of faith that is the means of our justification in the hymn Rock of Ages:

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: Why is sola fide important?
2. Daniel R. Hyde: What Does Sola Fide Mean?
3. R. C. Sproul: Sola Fide
4. Tom Schreiner: Justification = Faith + Nothing
5. Tom Schreiner: The Five Solas: Faith Alone
6. J. I. Packer: Sola Fide: The Reformed Doctrine of Justification
7. Joel Beeke: Justification by Faith Alone: The Relationship of Faith to Justification

Related terms:

• five solas
• justification
• saving faith
• sola gratia
• sola scriptura
• solus Christus
• soli Deo gloria

¹Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 11, Section 2. 

Filed under Salvation

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Sunday Hymn: Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all—a healing stream—
Flows from Calvary’s mountain.

Refrain

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Shed its beams around me.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o’er me.

Near the cross I’ll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.

—Fanny Crosby