Question on Faith Alone

[joshnov17]

I’m a Catholic and aware of many Protestant denominations following of “faith alone.” I do have an apologetic type question on “faith alone.”

In the Gospel of Luke 18:35-43 we see the account of Jesus healing the blind beggar. In line 42, Jesus says the following to the blind beggar, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”

Now to a Protestant, this line would prove their belief in “faith alone.” I’m just wondering how a Catholic would respond to such an accusation.

Does Jesus mean, that the blind man’s faith has saved him and he will enter Heaven. Or is Jesus speaking about the blind man’s faith in Jesus to be able to see again???

Just thought I’d like to get a Catholic answer if I ever run across a Protestant and they point to this Scripture passage as proof of saved by “faith alone???”

Thanks so much!!!

 

[Todd_Easton]

The Greek phrase pistiV sou seswken se occurs 7 places in the Gospels. In 6 of those 7 places, physical healings are involved and all, except for Lu 18:42, are translated in the King James Version as “thy faith hath made thee whole.” So, even though Lu 18:42 is translated as “thy faith hath saved thee,” it seems to be more about the man’s physical healing than about his eternal salvation.

However, that is not the case in Lu 7:50, where only the forgiveness of sins seems to be involved and the phrase is translated “thy faith hath saved thee.” Still, in that instance, it could be argued that it seems to be more about the forgiveness of the woman’s past sins than about her eternal salvation.

The phrase appears in the following verses with its King James Version translation:
Mt 9:22 thy faith hath made thee whole.
Mr 5:34 thy faith hath made thee whole.
Mr 10:52 thy faith hath made thee whole.
Lu 7:50 thy faith hath saved thee.
Lu 8:48 thy faith hath made thee whole.
Lu 18:42 thy faith hath saved thee.
Lu 17:19 thy faith hath made the whole.

 

[anruari]

I will not bother to challenge Sola Scriptura here…
what is at stake is Sola Fide.

On the basis of Sola Scriptura it is essential that a belief comes from the bible. If it is directly contradicted in the bible you have misunderstood at least one of the two passages.

Sola Fide is not actually taught by the bible, it has to be inferred. If you wish to inferr this teaching you must ignore a number of other passages:

in the Letter of James we have the statement, which is repeated 2ce. You are saved by works and not by faith alone.

in the gospels, Jesus in various places states many things are required for salvation:

“Eat my flesh and drink my blood”
“Be Born again by Water and by Spirit” (this is a direct reference to baptism)
“Do what I/my father commands”
“Take up your cross and follow me”
“Believe in me”
minister to the poor and needy (If you deny them, Christ will deny you).

There are many others. The apologists have a number of good tracts on this topic… there’s no need for me to replicate theme here. look on the main Catholic.com website under Tracts

 

[Sirach2]

I think the words, “Believe in Me” underlie this gospel scene. We read that the blind beggar heard Jesus was passing by, and he continued to cry out for Jesus’ mercy on him, despite the crowd trying to to silence him. In essence, the man’s faith was in the person of Jesus.

 

[JRKH]

I will not bother to challenge Sola Scriptura here…
what is at stake is Sola Fide.

On the basis of Sola Scriptura it is essential that a belief comes from the bible. If it is directly contradicted in the bible you have misunderstood at least one of the two passages.

Sola Fide is not actually taught by the bible, it has to be inferred. If you wish to inferr this teaching you must ignore a number of other passages:

in the Letter of James we have the statement, which is repeated 2ce. You are saved by works and not by faith alone.

in the gospels, Jesus in various places states many things are required for salvation:

“Eat my flesh and drink my blood”
“Be Born again by Water and by Spirit” (this is a direct reference to baptism)
“Do what I/my father commands”
“Take up your cross and follow me”
“Believe in me”
minister to the poor and needy (If you deny them, Christ will deny you).

There are many others. The apologists have a number of good tracts on this topic… there’s no need for me to replicate theme here. look on the main Catholic.com website under Tracts

Very good post.
I would simply add that all of these things, in order to be “saving” must stem from faith.
So the "Faith Alone person would place all of these other things within and flowing from “Faith”.
This is fine of course so long as one actually teaches this and understands it and embraces it. Unfortunately all to often, “Faith alone” is taught - or at least understood - as “belief” alone and that is where the real problem comes in because, in English, belief and faith and, and often do have different connotations.
Those preachers who insist on separating “Faith” from “works” are in error …Those who separate “belief” from “works” (but keep both as necessary within faith) are closer to the truth…for faith (living faith) must include works and many protestants I’ve spoken with realize and accept this fact.
And it is this is what James is speaking of in his letter.

These things are not helped by the fact that the same Greek word, or root (Pistis) is translated variously in the NT as either belief or faith.

Peace
James

 

[animalis]

Does Jesus mean, that the blind man’s faith has saved him and he will enter Heaven. Or is Jesus speaking about the blind man’s faith in Jesus to be able to see again??? :

Trust as far as the greek is concerned. The notion of trust is found in the meaning of the greek word for faith. So you can say that more then dry belief is meant by the words of Jesus, considering the greek is the word of God, and how the original intention of the author should be strongly considered in interpretation. This opens the door for other virtues for a coherant understanding of what is meant by Jesus. Thus, we have other scriptures (what anruari mentioined is lucid), we also have the statement from St. Paul, “we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen, is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, we wait for it with patience.” (Rom 8:24, 25) You see the virtues are interconnected, and there are many of them. St. James said, “and **patience **hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing.” He goes on with another counterpart a Gift of the Holy Spirit, he says, “But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God…”(Jas 1:4, 5) Among the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit Wisdom is the highest and the goal of the rest of the gifts. It says in many places in Scripture, “The **Fear of the Lord **is the beginning of Wisdom” (Ps 111[110]:10, Prov 1:7, 9:10, Sir 1:16,) The Fear of the Lord is also a Gift of the Holy Spirit, the beginning of love. “The fear of the Lord is the lesson of wisdom: and **humility **(a virtue under the virtute of temperance) goeth before glory.” (Prov 15:33) The seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit are spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of piety…And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.” (Is 11:2, 3) The seven gifts give life to the three thelogical virtutes: “And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.” (1 Cor 13:13, cf. 1 Thess 1:3, 5:8) Amd they give life to the four Cardinal virtues, “And if a man love justice: her labours have great virtues; for she teacheth temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life.” (Wis 8:7) There is interconnection of reality, and salvation is no different. I should not stick to one notion and call it truth. For those reasons the faith as a whole (ironicly a lot of times it is legimately called faith) is purposed and not imposed.

Just thought I’d like to get a Catholic answer if I ever run across a Protestant and they point to this Scripture passage as proof of saved by “faith alone???” :

A more accurate statement is that we are saved by grace alone with our cooperation, which finds a principle in grace. St. Theresa said everything is a grace. St/ Paul wrote, “And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.” (Rom 8:28) But properly defining it falls short, because for one reason we are to be in the world but not of the world. Pope John XXIII wrote, “St. Augustine … is celebrated in the universal Church as ‘Doctor of divine grace,’”(Aeterna dei sapientia, 10) You find lucid light on grace by his writtings.

 

[Todd_Easton]

However, that is not the case in Lu 7:50, where only the forgiveness of sins seems to be involved and the phrase is translated “thy faith hath saved thee.” Still, in that instance, it could be argued that it seems to be more about the forgiveness of the woman’s past sins than about her eternal salvation.

Just wanted to add that, even in the woman’s case in Lu 7:50, her faith in Jesus is first manifested by her good work of washing his feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, kissing them, and anointing them with perfume before he declares that her faith has saved her.

 

[BibleCatholic1]

There is more than one passage in Scripture. Faith does save us because it leads to baptism through which our sins are forgiven (Acts 2:38, 22:16) and which ‘‘Saves us’’ (1 Peter 3:21), but once we are saved we need to continue living a Christian life and grow as children of God. There are many other passages in scripture that indicate that there is more to do than just believe (Rom 2:6-7, Jas 2:24, Phil 2:12-13, 1 Tim 5:8) and as Col 1:22-23 says, we need to continue in the faith. We need to look at all of Scripture and not just one passage.

 

[joshnov17]

Thanks so much everyone for the great responses!!! A big help.