The guardians of ‘free-will’ have exemplified the saying: ‘out of the frying-pan, into the fire.’ In their zeal to disagree with the Pelagians they start denying condign merit, and by the very form of their denial they set it up more firmly! By word and pen they deny it, but really, in their hearts, they establish it, and are worse than the Pelagians upon two counts. In the first place, the Pelagians confess and assert condign merit straightforwardly, candidly and honestly, calling a spade a spade and teaching what they really hold. But our friends here, who hold and teach the same view, try to fool us with lying words and false appearances, giving out that they disagree with the Pelagians, when there is nothing that they are further from doing! ‘If you regard our pretences, we appear as the Pelagians’ bitterest foes; but if you regard the facts and our hearts, we are Pelagians double-dyed.’ (Luther, Bondage of the Will)
‘Justification by faith only’ is a truth that needs interpretation. The principle of sola fide is not rightly understood till it is seen as anchored in the broader principle of sola gratia. (“Historical and Theological Introduction” to Bondage of the Will)
The doctrine of justification by faith alone does not stand out from all the other teachings of the Bible and is not superior to them all. No, it fits with all the other teachings of the Bible and must fit with them. It must also be directly parallel and actually flow out of the teachings of Scripture on the attributes of God. A doctrine must be seen as it comes from Scripture, but also how it flows from a fits with God Himself. It is God alone who saves and so justification by faith alone must be consistent with the character of God.
Romans 3:21-31 and Ephesians 1:1-2:10 are very clear passages of Scripture which set out salvation as the work of God. God is the One who justifies sinners, but He is just and justifier. God is the One who declares sinners righteous, but He does so in a way that declares His righteousness. God is the One who saves sinners by grace alone, and He does so to the praise of the glory of His grace. God is the one who raises dead sinners to life, but He does so to magnify His love and grace for eternity. As one reads the passages listed at the beginning of this paragraph, it is clear that God saves sinners for His own reasons and for His own glory. The causal reason for salvation is God Himself and not what the sinner provides. Faith is part of what God provides by grace and the sinner does not have to look to self in order to work it up. In fact, if the sinner tries to work up faith in order to be saved that is doing nothing less than trying to be saved in a way apart from grace alone.
The Bible is quite clear that the entirety of what God does He does to manifest His glory and to shine forth the glory of His name. The Gospel is part (large part) of how God manifests His glory and how He takes sinners who are opposed to His glory and live for themselves and makes them lovers of Him and to live for His glory. The Gospel is always according to the glory of God. “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God” (I Tim 1:11). It is the Gospel of the glory of God. We also see that in II Corinthians 4:4 and 6.
4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Justification by faith alone must never be yanked from the context of the glory of God. It must not be interpreted apart from the sovereignty of God, but instead in light of the sovereignty of God. It must never be interpreted apart from the grace of God, but instead interpreted in light of the grace of God. It must never be interpreted apart from the satisfaction of the wrath of God, but instead in light of the satisfaction of the wrath of God. It must never be interpreted apart from the self-sufficiency of God, but instead in light of the self-sufficiency of God. The list could go on and on, but this should suffice to make the point. When justification is interpreted outside of the sovereignty of God, the grace of God, the satisfaction of the wrath of God, and the self-sufficiency of God, it will not be a biblical teaching of justification by faith alone. When justification is taught apart from the truth of the sovereignty of God and the sovereign grace of God, it will not be taught according to what Luther and Calvin taught but will by default be a form of Pelagianism. Those who teach a form of Pelagianism in their doctrine of justification by faith alone which may sound Reformed but is not, are dangerous teachers regardless of how nice, gracious, and winsome that they are. While not many would want to admit that, in terms of what Luther would say that might even make them more dangerous. Not only do they condemn Pelagianism and then teach a form of it, they actually believe their Pelagianism is Reformed. But again, if justification is the teaching by which all churches and all people stand or fall, a false teaching of justification is dangerous to all.
God Loves... Himself 
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