Thank you for your response. I'm afraid I still see issues with what you have written in response. First, I would point out that unlike most of his contemporaries Luther actually possessed a Bible. As in it was his. Bibles were not something one possessed rather a school or a library owned it. Second, Luther graduated with a degree in biblical studies in 1508 and taught scripture for a decade and more. Thirdly, being part of a monastic order if nothing else one would be surrounded by scripture from performing the daily office (breviary) read and chanted in a language he really could understand. (Actually I have an old monastic breviary on my shelf, pre VII and pre Pious X reform). Lastly, and most important the man translated the NT by 1522 and the OT by 1534 so if he wasn't familiar with text from all his experience before he certainly would have been familiar with scripture by the time he was finished. And if it was his ignorance that caused him to "invent" is doctrine surley by the time his OT came out (with the apocrypha I might add) he would have seen one of these "contradictions". But alas he did not nor did the Lutheran theologians of the Lutheran Orthodoxy period. So whatever issue one has with Luther's doctrine it was not a result of any ignorance of scripture.
This statement is problematic because virtually everything stated is anachronistic. First, Clement is not referred to as "pope" this early (or any bishop of Rome for that matter). Second, there were no dioceses in existence at this time since Clement lived approximately 150 years before the Roman empire was reorganized into dioceses. In other words I am not sure why this is even mentioned since the even I believe you are referring to doesn't occur for another 300 plus years ( the politicking between Constantinople and Ephesus ca 431 AD).
I noticed you inserted your definition of "Grace" into the text. You will also notice that it isn't present in the text. So lets put it in a greater context.
Acts 15:8-11 The council of Jerusalem (ESV)
And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
John Chrysostom writes:
Observe how he shows that it was God speaking by him, and no human utterance. “And God, that knoweth the hearts, gave testimony unto them:” he refers them to the spiritual testimony: “by giving them the Holy Ghost even as unto us.” (v. 8.) Everywhere he puts the Gentiles upon a thorough equality. “And put no difference between us and them, having purified their hearts by faith.” (v. 9.) From faith alone, he says, they obtained the same gifts. This is also meant as a lesson to those (objectors); this is able to teach even them that faith only is needed, not works nor circumcision. For indeed they do not say all this only by way of apology for the Gentiles, but to teach (the Jewish believers) also to abandon the Law. However, at present this is not said. “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples?” (v. 10.) What means, “Tempt ye God?” As if He had not power to save by faith. Consequently, it proceeds from a want of faith, this bringing in the Law. Then he shows that they themselves were nothing benefited by it, and he turns the whole (stress of his speech) against the Law, not against them, and (so) cuts short the accusation of them: “which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus we shall be saved, even as they.” (v. 11.) How full of power these words! The same that Paul says at large in the Epistle to the Romans, the same says Peter here. “For if Abraham,” says (Paul), “was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.” (Rom. 4:2.) Do you perceive that all this is more a lesson for them than apology for the Gentiles? However, if he had spoken this without a plea for speaking, he would have been suspected: an occasion having offered, he lays hold of it, and speaks out fearlessly. See on all occasions how the designs of their foes are made to work with them. If those had not stirred the question, these things would not have been spoken, nor what follows.
John Chrysostom. (1889). Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Acts of the Apostles. In P. Schaff (Ed.), J. Walker, J. Sheppard, H. Browne, & G. B. Stevens (Trans.), Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans (Vol. 11, pp. 201–202). New York: Christian Literature Company.
As you can see I didn't misunderstand anything Chrysostom in the least bit. The fuller context actually affirms my position (Sola Fide). The problem you are having is that as a modern Roman Catholic you have to make the early church fathers sound like modern Roman Catholics when they are not. I can literally fill page upon page of early church fathers that agree with the doctrine of Sola Fide. Of course they say things that I do not agree with and neither would you but what I can do that you cannot is allow the ECF to speak for themselves without an artificial interpretive lens.
Again you are inserting things into the text that simply are not present. I do apologize, I did not mean to use the above quote rather the one I will include below because it it clearly from I Clement chapter 32 and is not a commentary:
Whosoever will candidly consider each particular, will recognise the greatness of the gifts which were given by him. For from him have sprung the priests and all the Levites who minister at the altar of God. From him also [was descended] our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. From him [arose] kings, princes, and rulers of the race of Judah. Nor are his other tribes in small glory, inasmuch as God had promised, “Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven.”15 All these, therefore, were highly honoured, and made great, not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness which they wrought, but through the operation of His will. And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Clement of Rome. (1885). The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 13). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.