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Faith is Not Enough To Save Someone
In the King James Version, James 2:14 reads, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” This verse was quoted to me in high school by a Mormon who was arguing that faith alone is not what saves an individual. According to my Mormon friend, and others who perhaps read the KJV, James 2:14 teaches that faith alone cannot save an individual. Some readers will be initially discouraged to hear that the Greek language makes the point even more strongly. In Greek, the phrase, “Can faith save him?” is μὴ δύναται ἡ πίστις σῶσαι αὐτόν. The presence of the μὴ particle assumes a negative reply. This means that when we read the question, we are supposed to know that the answer is “Of course not.” In other words, James has telegraphed the answer to the question—faith is…
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Zwingli’s Separation of Faith from Baptism
Prior to the Reformation, faith was always associated with baptism. This obviously raised issues for infant baptism, since it is difficult to see how infants can exercise faith. To deal with this difficulty, Augustine taught the concept of fides aliena, an alien faith that belonged to others was applied on behalf of the infant. Usually, this was the parent’s faith, but sometimes the church’s. However, many theologians viewed this as an unsatisfactory answer. So, the Catholic church developed the idea of fides infusa baptisme, faith or power which was “infused” to the infant through baptism. It was into the world of fides aliena and fides infusa that Martin Luther was born. Although Luther broke away from the Roman Catholic church in many key areas (one such area being justification by faith alone),[1] he largely embraced Rome’s view of infant baptism. One major difference was that Luther saw no problem with…
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Faith and Infant Baptism in Augustine and Aquinas
The historical evidence shows that infant baptism was regularly practiced from at least the 3rd or 4th century until the present day. One of the topics of discussion in the early church was how baptism could be an expression of faith when infants are not capable of expressing their own faith. Of particular importance in this discussion was Augustine, who is well known for being the most influential theological figure of that time. In Augustine’s discussion of baptism, after having explained that baptism belongs to those who repent of their sins, Augustine addresses the obvious problem of what are infants repenting? “Now, inasmuch as infants are not held bound by any sins of their own actual life, it is the guilt of original sin which is healed in them by the grace of Him who saves them by the laver of regeneration.”[1] In other words, although infants do not have…