Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification - What the Reformers Taught...and Why It Still Matters

The Five Solas

by Thomas R. Schreiner, Matthew Barrett (Editor)

Renowned biblical scholar Thomas Schreiner looks at the historical and biblical roots of the doctrine of justification and offers an updated defense of this pillar of Reformed theology. Reinvigorating one of the five great declarations of the Reformation— sola fide — Five hundred years after the Reformation, the doctrine of justification by faith alone still needs to be understood and proclaimed. In Faith Alone you will learn how the rallying cry of “sola fide” is rooted in the Scriptures and how to understand this doctrine in a fresh way. —THE FIVE SOLAS— Historians and theologians have long recognized that at the heart of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation were five declarations, often referred to as the "solas." These five statements summarize much of what the Reformation was about, and they distinguish Protestantism from other expressions of the Christian that they place ultimate and final authority in the Scriptures, acknowledge the work of Christ alone as sufficient for redemption, recognize that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and seek to do all things for God’s glory. The Five Solas Series is more than a simple rehashing of these statements, but instead expounds upon the biblical reasoning behind them, leading to a more profound theological vision of our lives and callings as Christians and churches.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Faith, History, Nonfiction, Christianity, Religion

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2015

About the author

Thomas R. Schreiner (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including New Testament Theology; Magnifying God in Christ; Apostle of God's Glory in Christ; and Romans in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.

Reviews

[Neil Kruger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schreiner is such an even-handed scholar. Fair representation of his opponents whilst still pursuing clarity and conviction is a hallmark of this book. This was a real joy to work through. The arguments are presented well and made accessible to a less technical audience.

[Rob Messenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful even-handed review and commentary on the historical and some contemporary understandings of the doctrine of justification by faith alone...

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: One of the five rallying cries of the Reformation was the statement that we are saved by faith alone — ​sola fide! These words declared that salvation does not come from looking at our own works of righteousness, but from looking outside ourselves to another, to the person and work of Jesus Christ. This statement grew out of a desire to return to the biblical text and to the teachings of the early church fathers, a cry to reform the church and return it to biblical orthodoxy. I believe that the Reformation cry of sola fide should continue to be taught and treasured today because it summarizes biblical teaching, and God’s Word never loses its transforming power. The Word of God speaks in every era and in every place.

Premise/plot: Faith Alone is the first in a five-book-series celebrating the Protestant Reformation. Each book has a different author. Faith Alone is by Thomas R. Schreiner. In his own words: "In this book I attempt to tour the historical teaching of the church, explain the scriptural teaching on justification, and provide some sense of contemporary relevance." The book is divided into three sections: "A Historical Tour of Sola Fide," "A Biblical and Theological Tour of Sola Fide," and "Contemporary Challenges to Sola Fide."

My thoughts: I'll start with the good news. Each chapter has a clear-and-obvious introduction and conclusion. He tells you exactly what the chapter will be about at the beginning. At the end, he sums the chapter up tidily reminding you exactly what his points were.

Unfortunately, the introductions and conclusions were the only parts that I was able to grasp. It wasn't the subject matter that made it dense and hard to read. It wasn't. The subject can--and often is--presented in a way that is for everyone. There are books on the subject that feel almost like a devotional because they are packed with rich insights and shining gospel truths. There are books on the subject that can lift the weight of the world off your shoulders. There is something liberating and freeing and GLORIOUS and WONDERFUL on the subject of justification by faith alone. It wasn't the subject. It was the style.

I was not the right audience for this book...apparently.

[CJ Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent summary presentation of the doctrine of justification, considered historically and biblically/theologically. Moves the ball forward on the role of good works in justification, although more needs to be done. Special sections critiquing ECT/Neuhaus, Beckwith, and Wright, with shorter critiques of Mannermaa, Campbell, and Leithart.

[Will Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schreiner’s “Faith Alone” exemplifies an irenic and yet clear analysis of the doctrine of Justification. This work provides an excellent overview of his defense of Justification by faith alone. At the same time, he fairly depicts other competing views of justification, while also showing where he thinks they went astray.

Schreiner does an excellent job in condensing his exegesis while still maintaining the thrust of his argument. He also does a good job of bringing in the Church Fathers and commenting on that side of the debate. I would have enjoyed even more of this.

The biggest weakness of “Faith Alone” is its layout; as it stands, the final three chapters on Beckwith and N.T. Wright are largely redundant. Schreiner almost acknowledges this himself (see page 239). Particularly for a general overview, N.T. Wright’s view and the Catholic view of justification are too similar to warrant separate treatment. If Schreiner condensed their views, he may have been able to dive deeper into exegetical or historical arguments.

I understand why he did not, as N.T. Wright is not Catholic. It also may have worked against the irenic tone of the work, but I think there were ways of reworking the material to be less redundant while remaining irenic.

If you are interested in diving into the topic of justification (particularly from a traditional Reformed perspective), then this book is an excellent introduction to the various issues and views popular in contemporary scholarship. It also is helpful for those looking for a refresher, such as myself. If, however, you are looking for a technical and expansive defense of justification, other works may be more suitable as that was not Schreiner’s purpose for “Faith Alone.”

[Christian Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is really well done. In this book Dr. Schreiner walks through the tradition of the biblical doctrine of “Faith Alone.” In doing so he presents the history of it from Paul to Augustine to the Reformers. This book also entails extensive Scriptural exegesis to show that the doctrine is truly rooted in Scripture. One of the things that separates this book from others is that he spends quite a bit of time refuting the Roman Catholic notions of justification and he breaks down the New Perspective on Paul. All of this is done in terms for the lay person to understand. This is an excellent read, and one church leaders should be ready to hand out!

[Jon Pentecost · Rating 4 out of 5]

The occasion of this book was celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. I'm thankful that gave someone an excuse to ask Tom Schreiner to write about the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. As Luther says, this is the article by which the church stands or falls. This book is a useful, clear exposition of that doctrine.

It comes in three sections: historic articulation of the doctrine, biblical exegesis, and recent controversies. Schreiner shines in the latter two sections. The biblical exegesis section is especially strong: each chapter is a brief and clear exposition of a particular aspect of the doctrine from Scripture. The third part is a masterclass example of charitable and incisive theological critique. His responses to modern Catholicism and the NPP are useful in clarifying what is often presented confusedly; they also are steadying.

The first section was good, but I wonder if it would have been more helpful after the biblical exposition.

[Moses Each · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rarely do you come across someone who is both unwaveringly committed to fairly representing opposing views and yet thoroughly effective in correcting them. Schreiner has earned my trust. If you already have a general understanding of the doctrine of justification by faith alone but want to explore it more deeply—especially in light of church history, the Biblical evidence, and interaction with differing perspectives—I highly recommend this book.

[Matt Pitts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, wide-ranging, and gracious.

[David J. Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lives up to the hype.

[Wyatt Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Schreiner has written a non-technical overview of faith alone and/or justification. Schreiner provides a simple overview of justification throughout church history but focuses more on current discussions of the doctrine as well as biblical passages on sola fide and justification.

If the topic is new to you or you want to understand the basic contours of these issues, take a read. But definitely get Horton's two-volume book on justification for a more detailed and profound understanding of the doctrine.

[Will O'kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A solid introduction to the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The book definitely had a polemical tone, which is perhaps to be expected given the disputes over this doctrine. There was much good in the book-- it introduced a lot of the arguments and key figures in the debate over sola fide. It did a good job of showing how (at least some of) the early church embraced an incipient form of sola fide. It also offered a helpful rebuttal to the New Perspective idea that Paul's greatest focus was "boundary markers" instead of being in a right standing with God.

At the same time, I felt like the book was too technical for the average lay-reader and too introductory/cursory to be considered of much help to full-time scholars. This means that the book should have been perfect for someone like me--a seminary graduate. However, the book felt a bit weak when it came to the most crucial element: defending sola fide via Scripture. At the end of the day, what matters is whether or not a doctrine is Scriptural or not. As much as tradition matters, Scripture must have the final say. Thus, I was surprised to find some of the exegetical work in this book confusing if not downright wrong. In particular, the exegesis of Romans 8:33-34 in the section that dealt with justification as forensic vs. transformative--this was a crucial part of the argument of the entire book that just seemed muddled. My surprise/confusion was only compounded by the fact that this book was written by Tom Schreiner--a man who I respect and whose other writings have helped me greatly in the past. For those interested, Schreiner is much clearer in his commentary on Romans when it comes to how we know that "justifies" in v. 33 is forensic. The section that dealt with forensic justification felt weak to me, as did the explanation of James 2:24. Additionally, all of the discussion on Catholic-Protestant statements could probably be summarized thus:
-it's great that people want unity.
-animosity is not as bad as it was during the Reformation/Counter-Reformation
-any ecumenical statement is going to run the risk of ambiguating the doctrines of both sides involved.
- the statements ambiguate the doctrines of both sides involved.

[David Perde · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a marvelous book! Schreiner's work on the subject of sola fide is a detailed and complex elaboration and defense of one of the main principles of the Reformation, justification, our right standing with God.

In order to understand the theology behind sola fide, Schreiner begins by observing the accounts of the Church Fathers where the theology of justification by faith can by found. Schreiner cautions that the texts of the Church Fathers do not contain the key to all the theological problems behind sola fide, as this idea was not a matter of debate in the Early Chruch. Nevertheless, as Schriener shows, there are texts that convey the idea of sola fide, rejecting that works are the basis for justification. Continuing on his tour of history, Schreiner interacts with the ideas of the Reformers, most notably Luther and Calvin, to better understand the theology behind justification by faith alone. These intercations are merely sketches of the Reformers' mindset regarding justification, but nevertheless Schreiner does a good job of capturing the essential.

In the second part of the book Schriener delves directly into the theology behind sola fide, discussing key issues that are relevant to to this discussion, such as whether righteousness is imputed on believers, meaning that God declares believers to be righteous on account of their faith in Jesus Christ, or whether righteousness is infused in believers on account of their behavior, works. One of the more fascinating chapters of this section, and probably of this book in my opinion is the chapter revolving around the idea of sola fide put in perspective with the Letter of James. Here Schreiner proposses that faith and works go hand in hand, because works are the product or fruit of faith. Furthermore, a bare faith, a simple mental assent that only agrees but does not act accordingly cannot save.

In the final section of his book, Schreiner interacts with the more modern challenges of sola fide, primarily the Roman Catholic Church, to see whether or not its view has changed since the time of the Reformation. Moreover Schreiner examines N.T. Wright's understanding of justification, refuting Wright's idea that righteousness is not imputed and further disagreeing that justification, in Wright's view, is more ecclesiological than soteriological.

Overall Schriener's book is a great tool that has aided me to grasp the significance and meaning of justification by faith alone.

[Craig Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We are talking about standing before God on the last day, on the day of judgment, and sola fide answers that question: How will we stand before the Holy One of Israel?”

With the Pope’s recent visit to the US, the differences between Catholic and Protestant theology on a number of key issues has come to the forefront of the internet. It is occasions like this that bring to remembrance those important doctrines that divide us. Doctrines that cut to the heart of the Gospel and our understanding of God’s work in Christ in salvation.

Once such doctrine is justification. The doctrine of justification was the foundational match with which Luther sparked the fire of the Reformation. “Justification by faith alone!,” was the battle cry of the Reformation. But while the Reformation may have popularized and brought to the forefront of Christian’s minds this important aspect of justification, the Reformational mantra of sola fide (justification by faith alone) was not born with Luther. It was already a part of orthodox theology because it was a part of Scripture.

Sola fide is one of five Reformation slogans which form the basis for a new series of books titled The 5 Solas Series from Zondervan and is edited by Matthew Barrett. The first book in this series is Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification by Thomas Schreiner. In the span of just over 250 pages, Schreiner carefully unpacks the historical development of sola fide, the biblical and theological grounds for the doctrine, and the continuing contemporary challenges to the doctrine.

From an historical perspective it would be easy to see the birth of sola fide within the Reformation period. But this would be wrong. The roots of the churches belief in this doctrine runs back much further – to the first century. Schreiner charts a path from the first century church fathers all the way to Edwards and Wesley. While sola fide may not have been the major focus of the church until the Reformation, it was by no means tucked away in a closet.

What will be quite shocking for some readers is to see the diversity of belief, especially among those of the Reformed tradition, on the relationship between justification and faith. For example, Richard Baxter, while believing in single imputation (that there is forgiveness of sins in Christ) did not believe in the imputation whereby Christ’s righteousness is credited to the believer (76-77). Further, after surveying Edwards position on the issue, Schreiner concludes that his “writings on justification lack clarity, and hence he is interpreted in different ways.” (89)

From a biblical and theological perspective, Schreiner goes to work in the second section succinctly hammering out the various aspects of sola fide. He makes a convincing cumulative case that the biblical authors clearly taught justification by faith alone. He shows the reader that justification is needed because of sin (our inability to keep the law), that it is by faith alone and not by works (though works are the fruit of true faith), that, while justification is ultimately eschatological, “the end-time declaration has been pronounced in advance by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” and the “future is revealed and announced in the present.” (156)

In addition to laying out the biblical and theological basis for sola fide, Schreiner takes the time to address a number of challenges to the doctrine. For one, the work of N. T. Wright on justification has forever shaped and permeated the discussion, and will so for generations to come. Schreiner ably responds to Wright’s rejection of imputed righteousness as found in texts like Romans 5:12-19 (see chap. 15). An entire chapter is spent addressing the “faith in Christ” vs. “faithfulness of Christ” controversy. While I think he overstates the significance of the issue and his defense of the “faith in Christ” reading, he fairly presents those who hold to the “faithfulness of Christ” reading.

Closing out the book is a section on the contemporary challenges to sola fide. Here, Schreiner returns again to respond to some of the challenges by Roman Catholic, N. T. Wright, and others to sola fide. While he gave a defense for justification as forensic in chapter thirteen (over against the transformative view), Schreiner returns to this in chapter seventeen with a greater focus on the Roman Catholic documents. The RC church sees it as (like Augustine) an act of sanctification rather than an event and declaration about ones current position before God in Christ. In regards to Wright, Schreiner further parses out the problems with his rejection of imputed righteousness and why it is not enough to locate justification within ecclesiology but must also be tied to (and more primarily so) soteriology. Reading Schreiner list a number of things he agrees with Wright on, it further confirmed for me my thoughts towards Wright – I either really like what he says or really disagree with him; there is almost no middle ground when it comes to Wright.

While recognizing that the doctrine of justification is complex, Faith Alone manages to succinctly lay out a convincing historical, biblical and theological case for justification by faith alone. This is a mid-range level book that will require thoughtful reflection. Schreiner is thoroughly biblical and his confidence in his position shines through as he does not shy away from presenting alternative views to his.

This is an enjoyable book to read that will deepen your faith in sola fide. I look forward to the rest of the books in this series.

I received this book for free from Zondervan for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Jordan Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Thomas makes a compelling case that faith alone has been held to since the earliest of Church Fathers’, and invests many chapters defending from the Scriptures—double imputation, a correct understanding of “works of law”, the righteousness of Christ, and so on.

This is a very important and pleasant comfort with which to bring wonderful encouragement to minds afflicted and disturbed with a sense of sin and afraid of every flaming dart of the devil...your righteousness is not visible, and it is not conscious; but it is hoped for as something to be revealed in due time. Therefore you must not judge on the basis of your consciousness of sin, which terrifies and troubles you, but on the basis of the promise and teaching of faith, by which Christ is promised to you as your perfect and eternal righteousness.--Martin Luther

[Valerie Romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow! great book... much broader and deeper than i was expecting in comparison to the other 2 i've read in the series. while the title says "FAITH ALONE"... boy did the author demonstrate how this doctrine is both vital and instrumental in other areas of our understanding of the Gospel and the ripples that flow into other areas of both doctrines and living. i also really appreciated the historical perspectives. i had a lot to learn there.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schreiner does a good job with comparison and contrasting various views on faith. He does get into the weeds rather quickly and does not frame things out as well as I would desire. A lot of time is spent on modern arguments instead of the protestant view from the reformation. Good overall. Chapter on Owen and Baxter in particular was helpful.

[Dillon Reinkensmeyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good look at the doctrine of justification. He is a very in depth researcher and it shows. Deals with the topic with a grace. Able to distill high level thinking into a simpler format

[Steven Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful book. Dr. Schreiner is his usual thorough, irenic, theologically astute self.

[Graham Heslop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid biblical presentation and defence of the Protestant view of justification. Schreiner handles history very well, refusing to smooth over the nascent doctrine of the early church. But his historical tour is far too brief. His book instead shines in his handling of Scripture and more contemporary debates.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part 2, "A Biblical and Theological Tour of Sola Fide," is one of the most strong and detailed presentations of the Lordship Salvation Theology's stance on the key soteriological texts in the New and Old Testaments. His is a positive biblical account of Sola Fide, not a reaction against the claims of Rome or some other tradition. This part of the book therefore ought to be commended for developing a strong argument for its stance alongside Schreiner's humble candor regarding his position's weaknesses and the verses that seem to disprove that stance.

But the first and third parts, though not poorly written, leave much to be desired in terms of content.

The first part, "A Historical Tour of Sola Fide," quotes church fathers out of context, glosses over key soteriological differences between the major Reformers, and manages to read the exact same position into each one without much further explication: that you are saved by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone. Particularly glaring is Schreiner's work on the Finnish School. The entire point of rebutting the Finnish School, according to the LCMS and WELS theologians I know, is to reject the idea that we should expect works to flow from faith. But while Schreiner critiques the Finnish school, he then pivots not to the alternative within Lutheranism, but rather his own Reformed soteriology—subtly reading that soteriology into Luther using the exact same Finnish School sources he was just discrediting.

The third part, "Contemporary Challenges to Sola Fide," only covers three perspectives: a straw-manned Catholicism, Francis Beckwith, and N.T. Wright's New Perspective on Paul. Schreiner's failure to understand the Catholic distinctions between initial and final justification led him to be utterly baffled by, for example, how salvation can be both based on works while also preparing us for heaven (236-7). If he had properly represented his primary opponent, this section would have been worth reading. But it also neglects to provide a strong response to key critics not of Sola Fide precisely, but Schreiner's version of Sola Fide (such as Free Grace theologians), which would deny the premise of his entire book just as Catholics would, yet on very different grounds.

[Sean Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were many helpful sections in this book. I enjoyed Schreiner’s historical reviews most of all: seeing sola fide in the church fathers was interesting, and Schreiner was forthcoming about the fact that not all articulations of the doctrine were as clear as others in those early generations.

I thought his chapter on the nature of saving faith was very good, and he rightly emphasises the *necessity* of good works for justification, even though it is not the merit of those good works that justifies us.

Some parts of the book, however, I thought were not as good. While his exegetical sections were usually fine, there were a handful of instances where the readings were either unconvincing (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:21) or where he simply failed to show why the text said what he said it was saying.

Along these lines, the treatment of Romans 6:7 (“the one who has died has been set free [justified] from sin") was most noticeable, and Schreiner weakly suggests that “it is possible” that this verse does not teach a transformative view of justification. I really wish he’d given that text a fuller treatment, if only because of his critiques of Leithart and others that justification includes the concept of “setting free”.

Despite criticising Leithart and others for stretching out the meaning of certain terms to encompass other concepts related to them, Schreiner avails himself of this very move a few times: he stretches out “the righteousness of God” to cover the related concept of the active obedience of Christ, and stretching out Christ’s “one act of righteousness” to cover Christ’s entire righteous life. Of course, the related concepts shouldn’t be *divorced* from each other, but as Schreiner himself observes, we must avoid “confusing terms, so that everything means everything” because “words still have distinct meanings”.

I thought Schreiner’s critiques of Wright were generally fair, though the whole debate seems to take the form of false dichotomies set up by Wright. Even where Schreiner will resist Wright’s “either-or”, he tends to emphasise the opposite horn of the dilemma to Wright.

This is a decent book with some very good sections, but others were fairly disappointing.

[Cole Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few words I’d use to describe Schreiner’s work are comprehensive, precise, balanced, humble, and persuasive. This complete overview of sola fide will have an accessible spot on my shelf, though I would not recommend it for those without academic interest .

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, readable, enjoyable, worshipful.

[Steve Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some helpful thoughts, but I could not disagree more strongly than his invented idea of Final Justification being dependent upon works.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. I think this is the best entry in this Five Solas series.

[Xavier Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good survey of the doctrine of justification. The first 6 chapters provide a "historical tour" from the early church to the Reformation, Counter-Reformation (and Council of Trent), Puritans, and finally modern evangelicals Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley. Chapters 7-16 then go through Biblical text and theological issues concerning sola fide, including the questions of whether Paul speaks of faith in Christ or faithfulness of Christ, the meaning of the phrase "the righteousness of God", and the role of good works. The last 4 chapters cover contemporary issues such recent dialogues with the Roman Catholic Church and the New Perspective on Paul.

I found Schreiner's book a good read, and each chapter is short enough as to not feel too overwhelming. I am confused, however, concerning the amount of wiggle room he is willing to grant this doctrine. He submits that the recent agreement between Protestants and Roman Catholics is "superficial" because of the ambiguity of the statements put out, but yet he lets the early church fathers go with a similar ambiguity because "they didn't blatantly deny the truth as Trent did" and "It is one thing to be fuzzy or inconsistent regarding a truth in the Scriptures, but it is quite another thing to explicitly deny it altogether." The former supposedly refers to the fathers, while the latter refers to Trent. So is ambiguity and fuzziness unacceptable? I'm sure Schreiner will not agree that his overlap with the early church fathers is merely "superficial". Perhaps Schreiner is unhappy that the Roman Catholic Church is not admitting that Trent was erroneous, but I think that we should encourage the direction the Roman Church is heading in, rather than condemning it for not going far enough. After all, its ecclesiology does not allow for an admission that Trent was in error, and if it decides to reinterpret Trent and substantially walk back the Council's anathemas, the outcome is similar if not identical. The Roman Catholic Church needs an honourable way out (eg. by apologising for persecuting proto-Reformers like Jan Hus, speaking positively of Luther and sola fide, and now, reinterpreting Trent), and I think Protestants should not deny it to them. While perfect unity is unlikely on this side of eternity, I think we should take all that we can get, and acknowledging our agreement on justification (and tugging our Roman friends in the right direction) is a good step in that direction. There is a place for pressing on the pain points of our differences and demonstrating the errors of Rome, but endeavours between Rome and Protestantism to seek unity and head together towards the truth ain't it.

[Curby Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 4th book in the series I have completed. They are uniformly excellent.

Shreiner is a Baptist professor and preacher who was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.

In this volume he defends Sola Fide and breaks the book into three sections.

I. Historical Tour of Sola Fide
In this section he presents a very solid case that multiple church fathers did hold to Sola Fide and the doctrine is not a late invention of the Reformation. He points out that the early church did not receive any significant challenge or theological controversy over soteriology or the role of faith and works as they did over the Trinity and Deity of Christ. Also the early fathers were rightly concerned with antinomianism. But looking at 1 Clement, Ignatius, the Epistle to Diognetus, Odes of Solomon, Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho and others such as Origen and Theodotus of Cyrrhus you can see the doctrine of Sola Fide and forensic justification in a true, if fully undeveloped sense.

Schreiner also gives a strong overview of Luther, Calvin, Council of Trent, John Owen, Turretin, Baxter, Wesley and Edwards' views on Sola Fide for historical context.

II. A Biblical and Theological Tour of Sola Fide

The author makes a very detailed case for Sola Fide from Scripture. I found the chapters on how justification is both eschatological and forensic to be particulary helpful.

III. Contemporary Challenges to Sola Fide

Schreiner's last section deals with the modern challenges of Rome as well as spending a chapter on Francis Beckwith's return to Rome as well as NT Wright's challenge to forensic justification.

An excellent volume and should be part of any pastor/theologian/historian's library.

Highest possible recommendation.

[Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually a very different book than I thought it would be. Having read two other books in the Five Sola series, I thought I knew pretty much what to expect from Schreiner's volume on Sola Fide. Not so. Instead of a sweeping biblical survey of the doctrine of justification of faith alone, Schreiner spends most of his space interacting with and critiquing New Testament scholars over the past hundred years who have sought to reinterpret the apostle Paul in such a way as to deny the doctrine that Martin Luther trumpeted (primarily Roman Catholic interpreters and representatives of the "New Perspective on Paul"). This is by no means a criticism of the book, however, as Schreiner gives a tight, exegetical response to attacks on this extremely important doctrine of the Christian faith. Some sections I found particularly helpful were (1) his chapter on the early church fathers' view of justification, (2) his discussion of "faith in Christ" versus "the faithfulness of Christ," (3) his treatment of the concept of "righteousness" in the Old Testament, and (4) his response (given throughout the book but especially in the final two chapters) to N. T. Wright's arguments against justification. The only chapter I felt was unnecessary was his chapter on the beliefs of Edwards and Wesley, which I felt was somewhat confusing and did not really add anything to the overall argument of the book. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend the book to anyone looking for a rigorous, exegetical defense of Sola Fide against the claims of much of modern New Testament scholarship.

[Andrew Vance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, worth multiple reads. I love the tri-division of the layout, and parts 1 and 2 were especially strong. Part 1 gave me comfort and inspiration, comfort because I now have read for myself that Sola Fide is not something that originated in the 15th century, and inspiration since I now know my way around the primary sources of the church fathers for further study. The second part was a great systematic approach to a biblical defense and definition of faith alone, and I greatly benefited from the reading of it, and am better equipped to have a wide biblical approach to encouraging believers and defending the truth with regard to the beauty that is our salvation by faith. However, part 3, “Contemporary Challenges to Sola Fide,” was not as thorough as the others. Though I benefited from the New Perspective section, as I was very unfamiliar with it, and appreciate the Roman Catholic section, I believe that the best content for part 3 was found in part 1 and 2 regarding Roman Catholic interactions with Sola Fide, which may have been intentional, but it left me wondering if more could have been added. I feel that the rise in “Christian” cults and their challenges to Sola Fide could have been more valuable to the believer, and constitutes as a contemporary challenge, but that may be just my misunderstanding of the scope. Overall, I am thankful for this work and would recommend it to anyone as an introduction to the depth of the glorious truth that we are saved by grace through faith alone, in Christ

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Ephesians 2:8-9