I want to get back to a minor controversy that happened on the blog a couple of months ago. Ryan Lassiter made the statement that “you are saved by faith alone.” One commenter took great exception to this phrase. Even though Ryan had previously rejected the idea of biblical being merely intellectual, this commenter said:
My point is that when the majority of people, see the words “saved by faith alone”, it is understood to mean without repentance, confession, baptism, or anything else.
So I’d like to hear your thoughts. Do you think that most people think “faith alone” excludes the thing the commenter mentions? Or do most people think that saving faith includes a certain response? (We’ll talk more about what that response might look like. For now, I’d like to know if you see most people as viewing “faith alone” as mere intellectual assent to certain religious propositions.)
I understand the limits to this first query. And in responding, my ears and eyes read the phrase “saved by faith alone” with guarded suspicions. The placement of the word “alone” is my problem. And, my heart’s ears have to perk up and re-listen to the moment and gauge the context in its moment. Which is hard to do when I am in a more debative mood. However, my heart also issues a “mercy warning” and I need to remember that I ask others to listen to me with respectful mercy.