Okay so my wife and I were discussing last night about how the basic theologies of Protestantism were found in scripture and that we should make a topic defending it so, here it goes.
I don't need to defend Eternal security because there are already a bazillion threads on the issue at the moment and this thread would easily get to 100+ pages in a week but I would like to defend Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura.
First Sola Fide. The fact of the matter is Sola Fide wasn't just believed/taught by Luther and Protestants throughout history it was in fact, believed by the Early Church and the Apostles as well. Yes, even the Catholic Church. The very first pope, Pope Clement I believed in Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura. The only difference is though, the Early church did not believe that we couldn't lose our salvation by a lack of faith and Luther defended and started the argument that we CANNOT lose our salvation for ANY reason. This particular belief did not start in the church until Luther (And it is argued that the apostles taught it but that it died with the church after they all died) but it is scriptural. Mainly because of these verses in scripture (John 6:37-40, John 10:28-29, John 5:24, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 21:7, Hebrews 10:10, 1 John 5:10-13, 1 Peter 1:4-5 & more.) Yes, even in Hebrews and John's letters where the so called "offending" verses were contained there were verses stating when you receive the Holy Spirit you receive it FOREVER and you HAVE eternal life FOREVER and were sanctified ONCE FOR ALL TIME even Christ himself said it (John 14:16). Peter said it, Paul said it (Ephesians 1:13-14, & Romans 8:9) John said it, The writer of Hebrews said it, the list just goes on and on.
So tell me, if we have the Holy Spirit for forever, and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation for forever, just how is it that we can lose our salvation again? Was the Early church and the church today who believes that you can lose your salvation by lack of faith trying to claim that the Holy Spirit will be living inside of us when we go to Hades, or the Lake of Fire? Because if they are, that sounds preposterous! How could this have been taught by the Early church?
So far there has not been a single viable argument that Christians who do believe that you can lose your salvation by a lack of faith or that Sola Fide is a false doctrine can come up with that has satisfied Protestants or really anybody else capable of reading and applying the Bible as a whole (and we've been fighting about these topics for over 500 years now). However, Protestants can explain each and every offending verse in scripture because otherwise the Reformation would have died years and years ago since we believe in Sola Scriptura as well which, I'll get to in a moment. So, after saying all of this why is it that Protestants and Luther aren't right about scripture again? Especially when literally ALL of our basic teachings are taught THROUGHOUT the Bible? Just because our church is divided by people who are pro abortion, pro gay rights, pro women pastors, pro feminism, and other minor issues does NOT mean that we don't agree with each other on these basic points and it does NOT mean that Protestantism is a false church or w/e other Christians who disagree with the Reformation claim it to be. It also doesn't mean that those of us Protestants that do believe in Sola Scriptura should NOT defend the Bible say that those particular beliefs are WRONG and against God because the Bible teaches that they are from Genesis to Revelation.
Now that we've covered the part of Sola Fide that says that you cannot lose your salvation let's take a look at what the Bible says salvation even is. The Bible says that salvation is by grace through faith (Romans 4:1-25, Romans 3:28, Ephesians 2:8-10, Acts 16:31, John 3:16, 1 John 5:10-13, Philippians 3:9, John 5:24, to name a few)
While it's true that the words faith alone are never stated anywhere in the Bible it is implied throughout scripture. Nowhere in scripture does it say that we are saved by our faith + works, or by our faith + baptism or by our faith + anything. The Bible just says faith. When Paul was asked by the Jailer "Sir, what must I do to be saved?" notice Paul didn't say "You have to be baptized or you have to do good works...etc" he said "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household."
In Romans 10:13 Paul states that EVERYONE who calls upon the name of the Lord WILL be saved and this matches up with what Christ says in John 6:37 where Christ promises not to cast a SINGLE person out.
When the thief on the cross was saved by Christ, he was saved by his faith. He didn't have a chance to do any works or baptism because he was condemned to death along with Jesus. Yet, he is with Christ right now from the moment he died over 2,000 years ago to this very moment. And he will be with Christ, FOR FOREVER.
The words "Holy Trinity" are also not contained in the Bible but yet that has been a mainstream belief among Christians for a REALLY long time now. That doesn't necessarily mean that the doctrine of the Trinity is wrong. There is plenty of evidence supporting the Holy Trinity. Just like there is plenty of evidence supporting Sola Fide.
We ARE saved by our faith alone but the faith that saves, is never alone. It will ALWAYS have works and obedience. When we were saved we dedicated our lives to Christ and God's will for our lives not our own.
Second Sola Scriptura. The main argument that Luther had against the Catholic church was that how can we claim to follow God yet, not follow God's word but the words of a Pope who can be corrupted? The word of God on the other hand, cannot be corrupted because every person who has written scripture was carried along by the Holy Spirit and it is in fact, inerrant. Both Paul and Peter said it in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 & 2 Peter 1:21. So why is it that we should obey the doctrine of man and the "changing times" when scripture should be the #1 source of our theology. It's true, each Christian denomination has a separate interpretation of scripture but the fact of the matter is, that ALL Christians should go to the word of God FIRST and ONLY before they obey the doctrines of men. Even Paul (and Christ) warned us not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2 & John 17:16). The world has been evil from the beginning and many evil and Godless things are being "allowed" into this world ever since the beginning of time. So why take your theology from the world when the word of God cannot become corrupted?
Oh I realize that there are now Bibles that have been corrupted to say that homosexual marriage is "okay" and abortion is "okay" and divorce ...etc is "okay" but when you translate/look at the Bible as a whole and use 99.9% of the English translations of the Bible they ALL state that they are in fact, not okay.
