Paul's letter to the Romans is a favorite book of Protestant apologists because it has many of their best arguments in support of sola fide. It was with this epistle that Martin Luther first formed his theology of sola fide, and it was from this epistle that he based his whole belief system. Does Paul really advocate sola fide in his letter to the Romans, or do Protestants "twist to their own destruction" the things in it that are "hard to understand" (2 Peter 3:16)?
Before I begin, I would like to define what exactly the Church teaches about salvation.
According to Catholic theology, we are saved solely by God's grace; we agree with Protestants on this. Here is the main difference: while Protestants believe that God merely declares us righteous at one moment in time when we first accept Him, Catholics believe that salvation is a lifelong process in which we cooperate with God (through His grace) so that we may be saved in the end. To cooperate with God means not only to have faith in Him, but also to do good works and help our neighbor.
"Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things�But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will repay according to each one's deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek�For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires�They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when�God�will judge the secret thoughts of all." - Romans 2:1-16
Here, Paul explicitly states that God will judge us by our works: "For he will repay according to each one's deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury." In this passage Paul talks about "the Jew first and also the Greek," which has led some Protestants to believe that all Paul meant was that both Jews and Gentiles will be saved, not just Jews. This, however, flies in the face of the preceding verses. Before Paul makes any reference to Jews and Greeks, he says, as I quoted earlier in this paragraph, that God will "repay according to each one's deeds." Paul says that God pays according to our deeds, not our faith (remember, however, that Paul does not say works ALONE).
"Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written: 'There is no one who is righteous, not even one�For 'no human being will be justified in his sight' by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe�they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus�For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law." - Romans 3:1-2, 9-10, 20-22, 24, 28
Here, in chapter 3, Paul places emphasis on the fact that we are saved by God's grace, not the works of the law. Protestants charge that since we are not saved by works of the law, we are saved by faith alone. This, however, is a misinterpretation. When Paul spoke of the works of the law, he meant the Mosaic Law, as shown by the context (Romans 2:17-18, 25-29; 3:1-2, 29). We Catholics agree that we are saved by God's grace, not by obeying the Law of Moses.
"What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.' Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:
'Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.'
Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, 'Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.' How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised." - Romans 4:1-10
This is one of the principle passages in Romans that Protestants use to try and prove sola fide. They focus in on verses 1-5, especially verse 5, where Paul says, "But to one who without works trusts in him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness." They say that this verse proves that we are justified by faith and that works play no part in our justification, but they take it out of context. Look at verse 4, where Paul says, "Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due." Paul is not talking about all works; rather, it is just those works with which we can earn our salvation, which we know we don't have. Now, let's take a look at the two quotes from the Old Testament that Paul uses.
The first quote, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," comes from Genesis 15:6. Let's look at that passage in context, starting from verse 1:
"After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, 'Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.' But Abram said, 'O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' And Abram said, 'You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.' But the word of the LORD came to him, 'This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.' He brought him outside and said, 'Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness." - Genesis 15:1-6
Here, Abraham trusts in God, and his faith is counted as righteousness. Why does Paul pick this verse? In chapter 3, Paul emphasized that justification does not come through obedience to the Law of Moses, especially circumcision, and this event in Abraham's life occurred years before he received the sign of the covenant, circumcision (Genesis 17:1-14). But wait, this verse also proves something else - justification is a lifelong process, not a one-time event. As early as three chapters before Genesis 15:6, Abraham is recorded as obeying God (Genesis 12:1-4), and the author of Hebrews said that he had faith (Hebrews 11:8). Now, if justification comes when we first accept God, then it would definitely come here, but Abraham is also justified in Genesis 15:6. Can justification come at a single point in time AFTER you initially accept God? No, because it is a lifelong process. Here, we see Abraham justified twice (when he first believed and in Genesis 15:6). But wait, there's more. In James 2:21, James says that Abraham was justified when he offered Isaac on the altar, which happened in Genesis 22:1-19. We see that Abraham was justified three times in Scripture! So much for justification being a one-time event.
Next, Paul quotes from Psalm 32, written by David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba (this Psalm is the companion to Psalm 51).
"So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:
'Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.'" - Romans 4:6-8
Now, before we look at where this quote comes from, let's establish something. Paul quoted David IN CONTEXT, and David was talking about justification. Now let's go take a look at what David has to say:
"Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the guilt of my sin." - Psalm 32:1-5
Here, David is rejoicing after God forgave him for committing adultery and murder (after he committed adultery with Bathsheba, he killed her husband, Uriah). Paul said that David was speaking of God RECKONING RIGHTEOUSNESS. Who was David talking about? He was talking about himself. After he committed adultery, David repented, and IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. David, who was so close to God that he was called a man after God's heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22), had to be RE-JUSTIFIED after his sin!
So, was Paul teaching justification as a one-time event when we first accept God? As we can see from Abraham and David, his two examples, he was teaching justification as a lifelong process.
"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ�For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life." - Romans 5:1, 6-10
Protestants like to use this passage to prove a few things: 1) We are justified by faith, not works, and 2) We are assured of salvation.
Paul does say that we are justified by faith, but he does not say by faith ALONE. As a matter of fact, the phrase "faith alone" only appears once in the bible, in James 2:24, where James says, "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." We Catholics agree that we're saved by faith, but we also need works. Also, remember that Paul, in Romans 2:6, says that God judges us according to our works, and he doesn't contradict himself in Romans 5:1. Both faith and works are needed for justification, as shown by the following Scripture passages:
"Then Phinehas stood up and interceded, and the plague was stopped. And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever." - Psalm 106:30-31
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, 'The one who is righteous will live by faith.'" - Romans 1:16-17
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love." - Galatians 5:6
"You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works." - James 2:22
Notice that in the first verse, Phinehas is justified by his works, in the second verse Paul says we're justified by faith, and in the last two faith and works are inseparably linked. So, when Paul said that we're justified by faith, he was right, but he did NOT mean faith ALONE.
Now for the second charge. Protestants usually quote "Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God," as proof that we are assured of salvation. However, is that what Paul was really implying? In verses 6-8, Paul says that God proved His love for us by dying for us, and in verse 9 he says, "Much more surely then�will we be saved." The key here is verse 10: "For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life." Here, Paul explains what he meant in the preceding verses. He meant that since Jesus died for us, our chance of being saved is that much greater than it would have been had Jesus not died.
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39
Protestants try to use this verse to show that once we accept Jesus, we can't lose our salvation; however, they are taking this passage out of context. All Paul is saying is that nothing can separate us from the love of God; He will always love us, no matter what we do. In John 3:16, John says that God loves the whole world, yet no Protestant would say that the whole world will be saved. God loves us all, no matter what, even if we won't be saved.
"Because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved." - Romans 10:9-10
Again, Protestants try to use this verse to show that all we need to be saved is to believe, but they take it out of context. If we look at the surrounding context of this passage, we see that Paul is reiterating the fact that both Jews AND Gentiles will be saved (Romans 9:30-10:4, 10:12). He is once again reminding us that faith comes through belief and not adherence to the Mosaic Law. Remember, Paul doesn't say that we are saved by faith ALONE, and he doesn't contradict what he said in Romans 2:6. Here, Paul is emphasizing the role of faith in salvation (but not to the exclusion of works), whereas in Romans 2:6, he is emphasizing the role of works in salvation (but not to the exclusion of faith).
