Another look at Sola Fide wrt Matthew 6:15
There are a plethora of new Testament passages that refute the doctrine of Sola Fide but one that struck me in another recent e-mail from the Catholic Apologist, John Martignoni was this one in Matthew’s Gospel. It follows the Lord’s prayer which begins in verse 9 and concludes in verse 13.
(NAB)
To paraphrase John Martignoni we might ask our brothers and sisters who adhere to Sola Fide whether they would believe that anyone can be saved if their sins are not forgiven. (You can likely see already where this is going.)
The response would be a definite no. And on that we have no disagreement. It is basic, almost stating the obvious.
But the next question requires a little more thought. Is forgiving someone who sins against you a “work” or an act of “faith”, or in other words, is it part of the “Fide” of Sola Fide? Clearly, as most, if not all, Sola Fide believers describe faith, this forgiving of others would be a work. It is something that we do.
Alright, then let us look at the words of Jesus. Our sins will not be forgiven, ie. we will not be saved, if we do not forgive the sins of others. But we have established that forgiving others is a work, not part of the “Fide” of Sola Fide. So then Jesus is saying that we cannot have our sins forgiven, we cannot enter heaven, we cannot be saved, without at least this one “work.”
This is not the only work in our salvation but it is sufficient to show that Jesus himself did not teach Sola Fide. Since we are followers of Christ should we then abandon his teaching to follow that of Martin Luther?