and of course, it depends on the meaning of sola fide. If one defines sola fide in the way I often see it, a false caricature that portrays an intellectual assent, which allows the claimant to live anyway he wants, to ignore the commands of Christ to help our fellowman, to resist the means of grace in word and sacrament amnd therefore not grow in grace, then yes, jmartyr’s question cannot be answered.
But I contend the question itself implies a strawman argument, referring to the false caricature of sola fide, as outlined above.
If the faith in question is a saving faith, it is a biblical faith, one that works through love. A faith that does not work is a false faith, a dead faith, and not a saving faith. So, when a Lutheran speaks of being justified by grace alone through faith alone, it is known that sactification must be there. “There is no justification without sanctification, no forgiveness without renewal of life, no real faith from which the fruits of new obedience do not grow.”
So, how can faith be real if there is no renewal of life, or new obedience? Have can it be a true faith if one does not do the good works which He has prepared for us to do? We know that faith comes from hearing. How then can faith be maintained if we do not participate in word and sacrament?
So, the answer to the OP is that faith alone includes these things, including participating in the word. Faith is supported and nurished by the Holy SPirit. How? By word and sacrament. The OP’s question presents a false choice, based on a wrong understanding of sola fide.
It sounds selfish to me, too. While He is my “personal” Savior, in that He died on the cross and rose again for me and all of mindkind, it is also true that, as a believer, I am part of the Communion of Saints, certainly not part of some isolated oone-on-one relationship. Supercatholic, I encourage you stay Catholic, because Christ saves His sheep in the Catholic Church, too. And btw, I really like the DRB.
Jon
