Craig, my point is that the term “sola fide” is ambiguous and can mean a number of things.

Benedict XVI has not been misleading. To be misleading would be to suggest that Rome affirms Luther’s teaching in its entirety. At no place does he do this. Benedict XVI should not be held accountable for those people who are too lazy to read what he writes carefully.

Craig, my point is that the term “sola fide” is ambiguous and can mean a number of things.

It surely can. But to describe it as “Luther’s phrase” is to suggest, rather strongly, that you are affirming Luther’s definition of it.

At no place does he do this. Benedict XVI should not be held accountable for those people who are too lazy to read what he writes carefully.

It’s time for the ad homm to start, is it?

The only misleading thing is the title of this thread
Donna

Pope Benedict XVI -

Luther’s expression ’sola fide’ is true

Thread title -

The pope: “’sola fide’ is true

Donna -

The only misleading thing is the title of this thread

?????

Craig Schwarze - 24 November 2008 07:47 AM

Pope Benedict XVI -

Luther’s expression ’sola fide’ is true

Thread title -

The pope: “’sola fide’ is true

Donna -

The only misleading thing is the title of this thread

?????

Craig
Perhaps you have not read what the Pope said.  Evangelicals are claiming that the Pope agrees with Luther’s faith alone.  When read in context, the Pope is re-affirming 2000 years of Catholic teaching; he does not stop at “sola fide is true”.
Donna

In case anyone interested has not followed up the link I provided earlier to Catholic-Lutheran declaration on justification, the following section might shed some light:

For 4.3:Justification by Faith and through Grace (paras.25-27) (USA, nos. 105ff; LV:E 49-53; VELKD 87-90)

- “If we translate from one language to another, then Protestant talk about justification through faith corresponds to Catholic talk about justification through grace; and on the other hand, Protestant doctrine understands substantially under the one word ‘faith’ what Catholic doctrine (following 1 Cor. 13:13) sums up in the triad of ‘faith, hope, and love’” (LV:E 52).

- “We emphasize that faith in the sense of the first commandment always means love to God and hope in him and is expressed in the love to the neighbour” (VELKD 89,8-11).

- “Catholics ..teach as do Lutherans, that nothing prior to the free gift of faith merits justification and that all of God’s saving gifts come through Christ alone” (USA, no. 105).

- “The Reformers ..understood faith as the forgiveness and fellowship with Christ effected by the word of promise itself .. This is the ground for the new being, through which the flesh is dead to sin and the new man or woman in Christ has life (sola fide per Christum). But even if this faith necessarily makes the human being new, the Christian builds his confidence, not on his own new life, but solely on God’s gracious promise. Acceptance in Christ is sufficient, if ‘faith’ is understood as ‘trust in the promise’ (fides promissionis)” (LV:E 50).

- Cf. The Council of Trent, Session 6, Chap. 7: “Consequently, in the process of justification, together with the forgiveness of sins a person receives, through Jesus Christ into whom he is grafted, all these infused at the same time: faith, hope and charity” (DH 1530).

- “According to Protestant interpretation, the faith that clings unconditionally to God’s promise in Word and Sacrament is sufficient for righteousness before God, so that the renewal of the human being, without which there can be no faith, does not in itself make any contribution to justification” (LV:E 52).

- “As Lutherans we maintain the distinction between justification and sanctification, of faith and works, which however implies no separation” (VELKD 89,6-8).

- “Catholic doctrine knows itself to be at one with the Protestant concern in emphasizing that the renewal of the human being does not ‘contribute’ to justification, and is certainly not a contribution to which he could make any appeal before God. Nevertheless it feels compelled to stress the renewal of the human being through justifying grace, for the sake of acknowledging God’s newly creating power; although this renewal in faith, hope, and love is certainly nothing but a response to God’s unfathomable grace” (LV:E 52f).

- “Insofar as the Catholic doctrine stresses that grace is personal and linked with the Word, that renewal ..is certainly nothing but a response effected by God’s word itself, and that the renewal of the human being does not contribute to justification, and is certainly not a contribution to which a person could make any appeal before God, our objection ..no longer applies” (VELKD 89,12-21).