The Gospel and the doctrine of Sola Fide

Frank Beckwith's reversion to Rome has seen a so-called 'Reformed' doctor attempting to do the impossible by defending him, as we can see in the original exchange here, and the reply posts by Dr. James R. White here, here and here. I use inverted commas because Dr. Bauman obviously is not Reformed by conviction, as he believes that a person can be saved even while believing in works-salvation.

I would here like to respond to a simple allegation that Dr. Bauman here makes. That is his ridiculous assertion that we are saved by having faith in Christ and not be a belief in the doctrine of Sola Fide (Salvation by faith alone). That is the most stupid thing I have ever heard so far from someone who calls himself Reformed. This is analogous to saying that we are saved by mouthing the words Jesus is Lord and believing that God has raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 10:9) while still for example remaining a Greek pagan (who can do this because they can just accept Jesus as another god in their pantheon of gods). In other words, Dr. Baumann's words do not make any sense whatsoever. As it is, they remind me of the similarly nonsensical argument by the "free-grace" Dispensational Antinomians like Zane Hodges who has said that to believe that repentance is part and parcel of salvation is to add works to the Gospel, and thus deny salvation by faith alone.

Sola Fide is the descriptive formulation of how salvation by believing in Christ alone is done. As such, to deny Sola Fide is to deny the Gospel as you have denied the stated biblical means of salvation. To engage in stripping of the truth to its bare surface propositional content is ridiculous, as well as stupid. That a person who calls himself Reformed and is a professor in theology makes such statements just goes to prove how mentally degenerate professing Christianity has become in the age of the illogical and irrational, that even her professors would make such errors that even a person with basic training in logic and logical training could see through. Is it any wonder then that all manner of heresy flourish while these 'shepherds' slumber on? Part of the blame for the flourishing of heresy must surely be blamed on such useless shepherds who can embrace all manner of contradictions and call themselves enlightened.

Anyway, as has been said, the doctrine of Sola Fide is vital to the Gospel. Remove or sideline it and you would have removed the Gospel. Granted, new believers do not know much about it, but those who are truly regenerate will believe it, in the sense that they have just gone through the process experientially even without knowing the details of it cognitively.