“Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” – Romans 3:27–28

Scripture reading: Romans 3-4

Without faith there is no recovery of truth or life, no godliness, Christian discipline, good works, or pleasing God without it. Sound doctrine and good works emerge from faith itself. Thus sola fide is a hallmark of the Reformation, where we rediscovered how to be right with the God of the Bible. Other virtues make us like Christ, but faith alone makes us inChrist. You can love and follow Christ or you can believe and become one with the Savior. You can count the cost of redemption and try your best or by the hand of faith receive His merits and be justified. Faith is the sole means of salvation. Martin Luther said, “O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith.”

Faith is the sole means of salvation because, first, it excludes all works from justification. All works are excluded on two fronts. First, God has excluded them. The Greek verb excluded is passive and without an agent it is known by Greek grammarians as a divine passive. God is the agent of exclusion. How has Heexcluded boasting? By doing all the work of salvation, which has been Paul’s point all along. This is a defense of God’s righteousness. Not our doing, because we cannot do anything. All we do is unrighteousness. Grace then becomes the necessary cause of justification. Christ becomes the material cause of justification. Salvation is of the Lord. Justification is God’s justification, which eliminates any pride. God’s work has excluded any work we might offer. So, we believe instead.

Suggestions for prayer

Pray that God would preserve our missionaries from every danger. Pray that their work would prosper through their words and deeds.

This daily devotional is available in a print edition you can buy at Nearer to God Devotional. Rev. Jared Beairdis the church planter and pastor of Covenant Reformed Church (URCNA) in Missoula, Montana, USA.