Sola Fide's Absence in the Early Church

In this episode, Trent provides an historical overview of the Church fathers of the first two centuries and the absence of sola fide in their writings.

00:00 Intro and Background
03:23 Catholic View of Justification
06:42 Protestants Admit Absence
10:38 Clement Out of Context
15:50 St Ignatius of Antioch
18:40 St Polycarp of Smyrna
20:18 St Justin Martyr
21:37 St Irenaeus of Lyons
23:24 Strongest Protestant Argument
33:54 Wrap Up

[thegreypilgrim]

I was just watching a video by a Lutheran on why one should be Lutheran, and he was talking about salvation through faith alone. So, I was thinking how absurd it is to be saved through faith alone, and he claimed that Lutheranism was like the early Church, when then I got the notification of Trent's new video. I needed this!

[remonstrant]

Coming across Trent Horns channel has been one of the best things to happen to me in 2024. Amen

[BradleyFear]

I'm in the process of leaving my old protestant church, to begin attending mass at my local Catholic church from December onwards. I've been getting so many queries on issues like this, so this video has been incredibly helpful!
Really looking forward to finally becoming Catholic. My family didn't raise me in any particular faith and yet, somehow, it feels like a homecoming ❤

[TheTransfiguredLife]

My favorite Catholic apologist. Looking forward to this one! ☦️🔥🔥

[lawnchair]

Hey Trent, I remember a year ago when I had so much open hate in my heart for Catholics, and now a year later I’m praying the rosary daily. Funny how that works. Your videos have really helped to open my eyes and leave my Protestant roots, thank you.

[vdetommaso]

Protestants using 1st Clement to defend Sola Fide is ironic considering it's one of the strongest defenses of Apostolic Succession and the Papcy in the Early Fathers. Clement goes so far as to say that rejection of the authority of the Bishops of the Church is equivalent to rejecting Christ.

[Theosis_and_prayer]

Thank you for helping so many Protestants, Atheists, Muslims and LGBT leave their errors and become Christian ✝️ 🎉

[nibs]

It really is Sola Fide when you really think about it. Why do we do what we do as Christians? What is faith, anyway? If we cannot please God without it, does one expect salvation without it?
At the foundation of the Christian life is faith. We come to faith, and so come to the new birth. Faith is individual, which is why we are judged based on our faith life before God. The things done in our bodies, whether they be good or bad is a measure of faith.
Faith relies on God, His person, His promises, and His power to do. If salvation is the work of God, I must trust Him for that. If he commands me to do good works, I must trust that there will be a reward for that.
So then, is it not by faith alone? For faith alone is that from which all things flow. It has a beginning in the life of a believer, when he believes the Gospel. He is then sealed by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1), and new life begins. It all begins in faith, and the just live by faith.
Furthermore, we rely on the faithfulness of God to keep his promises, "faithful is he that promised who also will do it, " and "faithful is he who has begun a good work in you who will also accomplish it until the day of Christ."
"But without faith it is Impssible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
It is all of faith, from faith, and to faith.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We are justified by faith, we are sanctified by faith, we live by faith. We have access to grace by faith (Romans 5).
How could be anything but faith alone if faith is the seed of the Word that grew in a receptive heart?
For it to be anything other than faith, one would have to have an authority other than the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Trust in something else cannot be called faith, in the divine sense.

[josh]

Appreciate this. I'm protestant considering catholicism. This has been hard for me to understand

[joshuabenes]

What a fantastic video! Much of your content has been pivotal on my journey into the Catholic Church, and it's content like this that continues to be affirming and reassuring to me. I'm looking forward to continuing with O.C.I.A. and coming into full communion with the Catholic Church next spring.

[notavailable]

In a way protestant apologetics has been a blessing to me. I have been following White, Ortlund, MacArthur and others and seeing how poor the arguments against the Church are has only reinforced the wisdom of my decision to join her a few years ago.

[RealTradChad]

Great video as always, so glad i converted from being a fundamentalist baptist earlier this year

[IdiotaDaniel]

You have my 'suscribes and likes' other than that all I can offer is my prayers. Thank you for service to our Lord, amen.

[rexlion]

Like Clement, Paul wrote extensive exhortations in his letters regarding blameless living; yet Paul also wrote Romans 4, which unequivocally explains justification by imputation apart from works.
The question underlying the justification 'debate' is this: what is our authority? Protestants believe that the Bible is God's word written, so the Bible's teachings are paramount and early church commentaries are secondary. Roman Catholics give lip service to the Bible, but when push comes to shove they allow the early church commentaries to overrule the Bible's teachings in this area (and in some others). That is why we see this video examining the early fathers and making their words authoritative, rather than relying on the Bible's clear language.

Jesus never said (John 3) that he who believes in Him and also does many pleasing works will have eternal life. He simply said, "whoever believes in him may have eternal life, " and, "whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life, " and, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already." Do you really need to crack open early churchmen's opinions in order to figure out what Jesus meant? Why can't you let the words of _God the Son_ rule your doctrine, instead of countermanding His words with those of fallible human beings?

Of course it is implicit that when we believe in Jesus Christ, it means we believe that Jesus made full propitiation for every one of our sins while He was on the cross. For if we do not believe that we are lost in sin and need a Savior from sin's penalty, we will not believe that Jesus paid our sin-bill in full and be grateful to Him for it! A true Christian will want to please God through proper behavior; however, he will not try to self-justify by his deeds or try to help pay his own debt of sin, because God's grace is a gift (Eph. 2:8-9) and trying to pay someone for the gift they gave you is insulting and futile!


Need more proof? Look at what is recorded in Ch. 6 of John's Gospel:
Joh 6:28  Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 
Joh 6:35  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Joh 6:40  For this is the will of my Father, that *everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”*
Joh 6:47  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

What part of 'everyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life' don't you understand?

Do you doubt the veracity of our Lord?

[zacharyboudreau]

By faith alone - the 5 bridesmaids who didn’t bother to fill their lamps so were locked out of the wedding feast. If only they had worked to fill their lamps.

[gregorybarrett]

Thanks, Trent. Your video provides occasion for people to encounter both material and lines of thought which both might not have occurred to them and can help them revisit meaningful questions. Here is an instance of five talents making five more | one talent making ten, as others go on both to pursue and to share further insights.

[KingPoseidon]

Bishop Robert Barron also proved that Paul did not teach Faith Alone the way the Protestants argue.

[timmcvicker]

As for me, I'll take the word of God. Scripture teaches over and over again that we are saved by God's grace, which we receive through our faith.

[DaveundseineGitarre]

I'm a pentecostal. Walking with Jesus for just five years. Just abandoned sola scriptura and sola fide. The doctrine sola fide makes you anxious and makes you hide your sin or worse, explain it away. Or even worse, it makes you ignorant to the point that you don't even bother obeying Jesus. Been there, done that, basically turning right now. Don't talk the faith, walk the faith. That's the pill to swallow for all my Protestant brothers out there. I'm too scared to hear the words "I never knew you, depart from me", to not put my own efforts into walking like Jesus. The Holy Spirit is a counsellor, but you're the one responsible. That's why it says that those who endure until the end will be saved. And who wins a race but the one who finishes it?

[ninjason]

Trent I'm not sure if you'll see my comment but I appreciate the work you do as a Catholic apologist. You're the only Catholic apologist I subscribe to and listen to regularly. I grew up as a first generation Iranian American. My parents converted to Christianity through their local Baptist church which is the church I grew up in. As I've personally grown in my faith I couldn't ignore the wisdom of the entire church history, including Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Sometimes you frustrate me and I have a hard time agreeing with every Catholic doctrine but videos like these make me realize that true Christians regardless of background have more similarities than differences. With God's love and grace I believe we can all be united in Christ.