Sola Fide

No doubt many are aware that Luther's addition of the word "alone" in his translation of Rom. 3:28 caused quite a row. And to this day, it is frowned upon by Roman Catholics. A literal rendering of the verse reads thus: "For we reckon that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (translation mine). The word for "alone" is not there in the original. Yet Luther saw that the sense of the verse, the meaning intended, warranted it. 

But not all see this (I almost said, "not all have faith," 2 Thess. 3:2). Some still object to Luther's temerity to add a word where there isn't one to be found in the corresponding Greek. Moreover, increasing the temerity, it isn’t to be found anywhere in Pauline usage: Paul never explicitly says "justified by faith alone," or the like. To the shock of some Protestants, James alone does, only he adds the negative "not" to "justified by faith alone" (Jas. 2:24). But that's another post for another time.

So it'll be of interest to some that others preceded Luther in this "temerity": namely, Thomas Aquinas, Origen, Theodoret, Hilary, Basil, Ambrosiaster, Chyrsostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Bernard, and Theophylact (Joseph Fitzmyer, Romans, 360-361). These "fathers" used the "alone" language in their discussions of justification, and they weren't all expounding Jas. 2:24. It should be duly noted that Fitzmeyer, after listing these names in his commentary on Romans, appears to doubt the propriety of using "alone," stating that "it is a theological extension of Paul's teaching that presses beyond what he states" (362). He also asks "whether Luther meant by 'only' what his predecessors meant" (362). Nevertheless, such usage antedating Luther brings intrigue, even if only to point out that Luther was not the first to introduce it.

In any case, each has to reckon with whether or not Luther's translation and this Reformation sola bona fide comport with apostolic teaching. As for me and my house, the judgment of Moo undoubtedly stays the gospel course: “A serious erosion of the full significance of Paul’s gospel occurs if we soften this antithesis; no works, whatever their nature or their motivation, can play any part in making a sinner right with God” (Douglas Moo, Romans, 251).