A Protestant Twitter page, “Faith Alone Saves ✟,” recently posted a list allegedly showing (in their words) that “[THE] EARLY CHURCH FATHERS TAUGHT FAITH ALONE SAVES.” The list is typical in that it’s (a) poorly sourced; (b) stripped of context; and (c) riddled with falsehoods, factual errors, and misleading claims. So how should Catholics respond to lists like this?
1. Ask, “Is this worth responding to?” If you want to save yourself a lot of time and frustration, start by trying to figure all this out: does the person you’re engaging with really care about the truth? Is he interested in trying to learn from the Church Fathers? Or is he just trying to score some points online?
Here, the author lays his cards on the table, saying, “This is only important because Catholics lie & say ‘faith alone is a new idea.’” That “only” is a great clue.
You could spend hours showing that the Church Fathers didn’t really believe in the Protestant doctrine of sola fide, and that they were Catholic through and through, but to what end? He doesn’t care what the earliest Christians believed; he’s only trying to make Catholics look like liars. (On the other hand, if someone shares a list like this with you and really does care about the truth, it’s worth investing the time to set the record straight.) If it’s unclear, give him the benefit of the doubt, but you’re not responsible for correcting every error on the internet.
2. Ask, “Does the evidence prove the conclusion?” Here, the question is about justification by faith alone. That word “alone” matters, because even Martin Luther conceded that Catholics believe in “justification by faith,” which is what Scripture explicitly teaches. In his words, “the true gospel has it that we are justified by faith alone, without the deeds of the Law. The false gospel has it that we are justified by faith, but not without the deeds of the Law.” So both sides believe that we’re “justified by faith.” This means that compiling a list of Church Fathers who also believe that we’re justified by faith doesn’t actually help the Protestant case, since it’s only “proving” a point both sides already agree upon.
3. Double-check the evidence. I’d recommend three ways.
a. See if any reputable scholars have already done the work for you. What do historians (including non-Catholic historians) have to say on the subject? Here, the well respected Church historian (and Protestant theologian) Philip Schaff is explicit that if anyone tries to find “the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone” being taught within the early Church, “he will be greatly disappointed.” Schaff even makes a point that this is true of the writings of St. Augustine, the Church Father most claimed as teaching sola fide. That leaves two possibilities: either some anonymous Twitter account understands the Church Fathers better than Schaff (the author of the twenty-eight-volume Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series), or the online person is probably wrong.
b. See if Catholic apologists have already answered the critique. No need to duplicate someone else’s research. Even if you find the apologist’s explanation incomplete or unconvincing, it can often point you toward helpful context or resources.
c. Go dig yourself! In this case, the Twitter user includes not only the (alleged) author, but also the (alleged) work. You can easily look these works up online and find where they allegedly said these things. This helps establish when a text is being misquoted, mistranslated, or quoted out of context.
If you follow that method here, you’ll discover that:
- There’s no “chapter 4” to Cyprian’s On the Vanity of Idols. It’s a short work, only fifteen paragraphs. And paragraph 4 says nothing like what this tweet claims. Googling this “quote” reveals only this tweet. That’s why Step 3c is important.
- Chapter 25 of St. Augustine’s On the Spirit and the Letter also doesn’t say what this Twitter user falsely claims. But Augustine does have a lot to say in chapter 22 on justification by faith . . . just not justification by faith alone. Remember Step 2.
- Chapter 32 of 1 Clement is taken out of context, since, in chapter 31, St. Clement is clear that justification also involves works, and he gives the example of the sacrifice of Isaac, taken from James 2:21. Schaff actually points this out, which is why Step 3a can be helpful.
- Finally, this list gives a “quotation” allegedly from Book 4 of Tertullian’s Against Marcion but in fact found nowhere in the work. Once more, googling part of the quotation turns up only this list.
I could continue, but you get the idea. This is a pastiche of quotations that appear to be either invented or at least so misquoted and mis-cited that it’s impossible to find the originals. I’d be violating my own Rule 1 if I wasted any more time on this.
With that, I’ll lead you to one last step:
4. Point other people to the Church Fathers. Anti-Catholic Protestants don’t want people reading the early Christians in their own words. They want to lie to them about what the early Christians believed, and then to deter them from finding out for themselves. As Catholics, we believe that “the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Instead of engaging in a “he said, she said” about what the early Christians believed, let people know that their writings, in their own words, are freely available online.