Here is a question that was asked on Christianity StackExchange, as linked at the end of this article:
One of the key points of the Reformation was the doctrine of Sola Fide: that salvation is by faith alone, apart from works. The Reformers thought this was in contrast to the doctrines of the Catholic church.
What, then, is the biblical basis against the doctrine of Sola Fide?
Here is the answer I posted there, as also linked at the end of this article:
The doctrine of Sola fide (Latin for “by faith alone”) holds that:
God’s pardon for guilty sinners is granted to and received through faith alone, excluding all “works.”
And that:
God, on the basis of the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ alone (solus Christus), grants sinners judicial pardon, or justification, which is received solely through faith.”
This doctrine is also commonly expressed as:
Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ’s righteousness alone.
(Source for these three quotes: the Wikipedia article on Sola fide)
Belief in Sola fide is confined almost entirely to Protestants, who constitute about 37% of the world’s Christian population (Source: Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population – Pew Research Center). In fact, it was the defining doctrine by which Martin Luther distinguished his new form of Christianity from the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, with which he was making a decisive break. Luther said:
This one and firm rock, which we call the doctrine of justification, is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the understanding of all godliness. (In Commentary on Galatians)
He said, further, that:
If this article stands, the Church stands; if it falls, the Church falls. (In In Quindecim Psalmos Graduum Commentarii)
The doctrine of Sola fide has therefore been adopted as an essential doctrine, if not the essential doctrine of Christianity by Lutherans and by Protestants in general.
However, the Biblical basis for this doctrine is exceedingly thin. Further, key parts of it are explicitly rejected by the Bible. Its adoption depends upon an ahistorical reading of the Bible, anachronistic definitions of key Biblical words, and hair-splitting ratiocination that has no clear basis in the Bible.
For more on the Biblical case against faith alone, please click here to read on.
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