Justified by faith alone in Christ alone Justification is God’s verdict. He declares the ungodly righteous because of Christ’s obedience and death, received by faith. Paul states it without qualification: a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law (Romans 3). To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness (Romans 4). The ground is Christ. The means is faith. Nothing else contributes. Faith alone does not mean faith that remains alone. The faith that receives Christ produces works. But the works do not justify. They follow the verdict. They do not complete it, increase it, or restore it when it is lost. Christ alone means his righteousness is sufficient. No merit of the believer, no sacrament, no cooperation is added to the ground of acceptance. To deny justification by faith alone is to deny that a sinner is saved by Christ alone. It is to say that something else - works, rites, endurance, the Church’s mediation - must be joined to Christ before the sinner is fully accepted, or must be maintained so that the acceptance is not lost. That something else becomes part of the ground. Christ is no longer enough. The gospel is no longer the announcement that the ungodly is justified by faith in the finished work. It becomes a process in which the sinner contributes to, or cooperates toward, the final verdict. The denial is not merely a different emphasis. It is a different gospel. If righteousness comes through the law, or through the sacraments, or through meritorious cooperation, then Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2). To reject faith alone is to reject the sufficiency of the cross. It is to say that Jesus is necessary but not enough. Scripture says he is enough. Faith receives him. That is justification. Anything added denies it.

🎃 Everything is possible at Halloween, even on a live stream. Trick or treat, plus maybe a lesson on compounding and value investing on today's @tbpn show. Live with Restream.

Austin City Limits (@acltv) is the longest-running music program on American TV, and the only one to receive the National Medal of Art. Next Wed, Lily Angelle and Jeff Boer from Austin PBS join us to talk about it. Set a reminder; bring your questions 🎙️

Great journalism goes live with Restream: @theinformation's 2026 WTF Summit (Women in Tech, Media and Finance) from Napa Valley. Two days of one-on-one CEO interviews: @bariweiss on running CBS News, @lynnmartin on the IPO pipeline at @NYSE, @KimPosnett on dealmaking at @GoldmanSachs, @SarahHeck on policy at @AnthropicAI.