Westminster Confession of Faith
Chapter XI.2 – Of Justification
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Receiving and resting in Christ and his righteousness is the alone instrument of
justification
o Sola Fide or faith alone stands for teaching justification is by faith alone
 Fide in Sola Fide is affirmed by Rome, what is not affirmed is Sola
 Faith is the foundation or root initiating justification, but its mere
presence is not enough to effect justification
 What is unthinkable in Reformed view is that a person could have faith
without justification – b/c rests upon work of Christ
 Rome – can have faith w/out justification – a person can keep his
faith but commit a mortal sin which destroys justification
When the reformers said that justification is by or through faith they affirmed that the
means or instrument by which we are justified is by faith alone
o Does not mean that faith is the only thing that we need –we need Christ and his
perfect righteousness and atonement on the cross
o Historic debate is how we obtain this work of Christ
 Reformers in and through faith alone in Christ alone
 Rome – Sacraments are instruments by & through which person justified
o Faith is not the grounds of our justification – the grounds is Christ and his active
and passive obedience
 Faith is not meritorious or add anything to the grounds of justification
 There are people who believe justification by faith alone, but rely upon
their faith as if it were meritorious or a good work
 We receive Christ’s merit only by faith - no merit in faith itself
o The sole ground of our justification is the obedience of Christ Jesus – Phil. 3:8-9
 Since we have no righteousness of our own, and since we must have
perfect righteousness before God in order that we are righteous, there
can be no mixture of our own righteousness with that of Christ imputed
 God requires of us nothing but utter reliance upon the righteousness and
satisfaction of Christ
 This means that the instant we begin to trust in Christ we are then
declared to be legally without sin, guilt, or future punishment
 Faith which is not doing something ourselves, but only our
depending upon Christ and what he has done - instantaneously
results in complete and eternal justification
o Provided it is true faith which will also produce good works
as evidence that it is true faith
The reformation formula is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone
o Reformed – true faith if present in soul will immediately and inevitably yield
fruit of good works
 Works contribute nothing to justification, b/c only ground merit of Christ
 Often James 2:14 brought as an objection to our doctrine
 Paul faith alone justifies – arguing against Pharisees legalists
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James teaches that a faith which is alone – that is dead faith will
not justify – arguing against nominal Christians
o He uses in sense of prove real or true – faith is proved
genuine through our works
o Antinomian – possible to have faith and justification and never have any fruit
 Young man professing faith in Christ, but continues in illegal drugs and
living with his girlfriend – calls self a carnal Christian
 A person can come to saving faith & never change his life
 Reformed would call a totally carnal Christian a non-Christian – a person
cannot be born of the spirit, have the gift of faith, and continue to live
exactly as he lived when he was a pagan
 Does not mean we are perfect – change takes place rest of our lives
o Luther said that the only faith that saves is a living, vital faith that yields the fruit
of righteousness
 We are not justified by a profession of faith, but by possession of faith
 Justification is by the possession of faith and not by mere profession of faith
o Many tell us that if we ever raised our hand in a meeting or come down
the aisle that it is enough to get saved
 But, it is virtually impossible to have genuine faith and never
profess it – it is possible to profess but not possess
Saving faith according to reformers three essential elements – notitia, assensus, fiducia
o Notitia refers to the information or content of saving faith
 Faith must have an object, something to believe in not an empty faith or
faith for faith’s sake
 You have to believe in Christ Jesus
o Assensus – it is possible to know what the information of the gospel consists of,
and yet not affirm its truthfulness or provide intellectual assent
 Assent affirms that information is true, accepts truth claim of the gospel
o Fiducia – a personal trust or reliance
 Believing that Jesus is the Christ and that he is truly your Christ, able and
qualified to save you
 But until you put your personal trust/reliance in him, he is not saving you
 Fiducia has to do with the personal trust and reliance, as well as the state
of the heart or soul, which we call religious affection