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What's New
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July 2026
New article: “The Book of Revelation” (Revelation).
New article: “The Letters to the Seven Churches” (Revelation).
New article: “The Liturgy of Heaven” (Revelation).
New article: “The Woman, the Dragon, and the Lamb” (Revelation).
New article: “Babylon and the Judgment” (Revelation).
New article: “The New Jerusalem” (Revelation).
New article: “The Catholic Letters” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letter of James” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letters of Peter” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letters of John” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letter of Jude” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Book of Acts” (Acts).
New article: “Pentecost” (Acts).
New article: “The Church of the First Days” (Acts).
New article: “The Gospel to the Nations” (Acts).
New article: “To the Ends of the Earth” (Acts).
New article: “The Book of Hosea” (Hosea).
New article: “The Book of Micah” (Micah).
New article: “The Book of Jonah” (Jonah).
New article: “The Book of Habakkuk” (Habakkuk).
New article: “The Book of Zephaniah” (Zephaniah).
New article: “The Book of Malachi” (Malachi).
New article: “The Book of Daniel” (Daniel).
New article: “Faith in the Trial” (Daniel).
New article: “The Kingdoms That Pass” (Daniel).
New article: “The Son of Man and the Resurrection” (Daniel).
New article: “Susanna and the Wisdom of God” (Daniel).
New article: “The Book of Jeremiah” (Jeremiah).
New article: “Jeremiah, the Tested Prophet” (Jeremiah).
New article: “The New Covenant” (Jeremiah).
New article: “The Fall of Jerusalem and the Lamentations” (Jeremiah).
New article: “Baruch and the Hope of Exile” (Jeremiah).
New article: “The Song of Songs” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Movement of Love” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Garden of Symbols” (Song of Songs).
New article: “Love Strong as Death” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Senses of the Song” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Book of Job” (Job).
New article: “The Prologue and the Trial” (Job).
New article: “Job and His Friends” (Job).
New article: “God’s Answer” (Job).
New article: “My Eyes Have Seen You” (Job).
New article: “The Book of Ecclesiastes” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “The Quest for Happiness” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “A Time for Everything” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “The Joy That Is God’s Gift” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “Remember Your Creator” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “The Book of Wisdom” (Wisdom).
New article: “The Righteous, the Wicked, and Immortality” (Wisdom).
New article: “Wisdom, the Breath of God” (Wisdom).
New article: “Wisdom, Guide of History” (Wisdom).
New article: “Knowing God and the Folly of Idols” (Wisdom).
New article: “The Book of Sirach” (Sirach).
New article: “The Fear of the Lord, Source of Wisdom” (Sirach).
New article: “Wisdom and the Law” (Sirach).
New article: “The Choice of Life and Everyday Wisdom” (Sirach).
New article: “The Praise of the Ancestors” (Sirach).
New article: “The Book of Proverbs” (Proverbs).
New article: “The Fear of the Lord and the Two Ways” (Proverbs).
New article: “Personified Wisdom” (Proverbs).
New article: “Wisdom for Daily Life” (Proverbs).
New article: “The Valiant Woman” (Proverbs).
New article: “The Psalter, Prayer of Israel” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms of Supplication and Trust” (Psalms).
New article: “The Royal and Messianic Psalms” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms of Ascents and Wisdom” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms on the Lips of Christ” (Psalms).
New article: “The Crisis and the Profanation of the Temple” (1 Maccabees).
New article: “Eleazar and the Seven Brothers” (2 Maccabees).
New article: “Judas Maccabeus and the Dedication of the Temple” (1-2 Maccabees).
New article: “Jewish Independence” (1 Maccabees).
New article: “Tobit” (Tobit).
New article: “Judith” (Judith).
New article: “Esther” (Esther).
New article: “The Return and the House of God” (Ezra).
New article: “Ezra and the Return to the Law” (Ezra, Nehemiah).
New article: “Nehemiah and the Rebuilt City” (Nehemiah).
New article: “Samuel and the Rise of Kingship” (1-2 Samuel).
New article: “Saul and the Rise of David” (1 Samuel).
New article: “David, the Covenant, and the Promise” (2 Samuel).
New article: “Solomon and the Temple” (1 Kings).
New article: “The Schism and the Northern Kingdom” (1-2 Kings).
New article: “Judah until the Exile” (2 Kings, 2 Chronicles).
New article: “The Entry into the Promised Land” (Joshua).
New article: “The Division of the Land and the Covenant at Shechem” (Joshua).
New article: “The Time of the Judges” (Judges).
New article: “In Those Days There Was No King” (Judges).
New article: “Ruth the Moabite” (Ruth).
New article: “Abraham, Father of Believers” (Genesis).
New article: “Isaac and Jacob” (Genesis).
New article: “Joseph” (Genesis).
New article: “The Creation and the Rest” (Genesis).
New article: “The Garden and the Fall” (Genesis).
New article: “From Cain to Babel” (Genesis).
New article: “Personal Responsibility” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Ministry of the New Covenant” (2 Corinthians).
New article: “The Collection for the Saints” (2 Corinthians).
New article: “Strength in Weakness” (2 Corinthians).
New article: “The Decalogue.”
New article: “The Law of the Neighbor.”
New article: “The Law of Worship and Holiness.”
New article: “The Law and Christ.”
New article: “The Law, Gift of the Covenant.”
New article: “Freedom and idols” (1 Corinthians 8-10).
New article: “The charisms and the assembly” (1 Corinthians 12 and 14).
New article: “The Cardinal Virtues”.
New article: “Prudence”.
New article: “Temperance”.
The French Bible of the site is now the Chérubin translation, with section headings in the reader.
New article: “Resentment and Forgiveness”.
New article: “Judging One’s Neighbour”.
New article: “The New Temple and the River of Life” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Restoration of Israel” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Oracles Against the Nations” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Symbolic Actions and the Judgment of Jerusalem”.
New article: “Ezekiel, the Prophet of the Exile”.
New article: “Anger and Meekness”.
New article: “Love”.
New article: “The Desire to Feel the Spirit”.
New article: “The Dark Night of the Soul”.
June 2026
New article: “Consolation and Desolation”.
New article: “Discerning the Movements of the Heart”.
New article: “The Fall of Nineveh”.
New article: “The God Who Judges and Who Saves”.
New article: “Nahum and the Assyrian Empire”.
New article: “Justice, the Day of the Lord, and Hope”.
New article: “The Visions and the Rejected Worship”.
New article: “The Judgment of the Nations and of Israel”.
New article: “Amos, the Shepherd Prophet”.
New article: “The Glory of the Second Temple”.
New article: “The Four Oracles”.
New article: “Haggai and the Rebuilding of the Temple”.
New article: “The Expansion of Christianity”.
New article: “All Under Sin”.
New article: “The Epistle to the Romans”.
New article: “Sinai and the covenant”.
New article: “The deliverance”.
New article: “The bondage and the call”.
New article: “The oracles against the nations”.
New article: “Sadness”.
New article: “Fear”.
New article: “The finger of God”.
New article: “The baptism of Christ”.
New article: “The Resurrection and the Glorification”.
New article: “Holy Week”.
New article: “The third year: the opposition”.
New article: “The second year: popularity”.
New article: “The first year: the inauguration”.
New article: “The preparation for the ministry”.
New article: “The prologues and the coming of Christ”.
New: the “Memorise” tool.
New article: “The Real Presence.”
New article: “The four Servant Songs”.
New article: “Trito-Isaiah”.
New article: “Deutero-Isaiah”.
New article: “Proto-Isaiah”.
New article: “Predestination”.
New article: “The Angel of the Lord”.
New article: “Wars of Extermination in the Bible”.
New article: “Slavery in the Bible”.
New article: “The Nature of God”.
New article: “The Age of the Martyrs”.
New article: “The Abode of the Dead”.
New article: “The Canon and the Deuterocanonical Books”.
New article: “The Deacon”.
New article: “The Priest”.
New article: “Sola Scriptura”.
New article: “The Angels”.
New article: “Sola Fide”.
New article: “Once Saved, Always Saved”.
New article: “Elijah at Horeb”.
New article: “Turning the Other Cheek”.
New article: “Buy a Sword”.
New article: “Let the Dead Bury Their Dead”.
New article: “Jesus before Pilate”.
New article: “Jesus and Nicodemus”.
New article: “Invincible Ignorance”.
New article: “The Prophet and His Time”.
New article: “The Eight Night Visions”.
New article: “Joshua, the Branch and the Crown”.
New article: “Fasting and Restoration”.
New article: “First Oracle: The King Who Comes”.
New article: “The Book of Obadiah”.
New article: “Second Oracle: The Pierced One”.
New article: “The Day of the Lord”.
New article: “The Plague and the Day of the Lord”.
New article: “Conversion and the Spirit Poured Out”.
New article: “The Judgment of the Nations and the Salvation of Zion”.
New article: “The Three Ways of the Interior Life”.
New article: “Freedom and Responsibility”.
New article: “The Moral Conscience”.
New article: “Doubt and the Moral Systems”.
New article: “Doing Evil for a Good”.
New article: “Adoration and Praise”.
New article: “Why God Asks for Adoration”.
New article: “Faith and Science”.
New article: “The Theory of Evolution”.
New article: “The Woes of Isaiah”.
New article: “The Dwelling, the Priesthood and the Sacrifices”.
New article: “The Forty Years in the Desert”.
New article: "The Discourses of Moses".
New article: "The Death of Moses".
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Sola Fide

Sola fide teaches that man is justified by faith alone, without works: believing in Christ would suffice for salvation, and his deeds would add nothing. Scripture says the contrary, and it says so in the very words that seemed to grant this thesis.

The only words “faith alone”

The expression “faith alone” appears only once in all of Scripture, and there it is denied, word for word. “You see that a person is justified by works, and not by faith alone.” James 2:24 The one passage where the Bible joins these two words at once separates them: it expressly refuses that faith alone justifies.

A dead faith does not save

Faith that produces nothing is without life, and what is dead does not save. “What good is it, my brothers, to say one has faith if one does not have works? Can such faith save?” James 2:14 Even the demons believe, and that does not save them. “You believe that there is one God? You do well. The demons also believe it, and they tremble.” James 2:19 To believe that God exists and that Christ is Saviour, without that faith showing itself in deeds, is the faith of demons. “Faith without works is dead.” James 2:26

The faith that works through love

What saves is faith made alive by love. “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” Galatians 5:6 A faith without charity, even entire, is worth nothing. “If I had the gift of prophecy, and understood all mysteries and all knowledge, and had faith in its fullness, the faith that moves mountains, but had not charity, I would be nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2 Faith alone, cut off from the charity and the works it inspires, is precisely the faith Scripture declares unable to save.

What Scripture truly excludes

It is objected that Scripture elsewhere sets faith against works and justifies man without them. “For we hold that a person is justified by faith, apart from the works of the Law.” Romans 3:28 But the works set aside here are the works of the law, circumcision and the rites of the Old Covenant, and every claim to merit the first grace by oneself, as a wage owed. “To one who does a work, the wage is not credited as a gift but as something owed.” Romans 4:4 Salvation begins by pure grace, which none can buy. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. It does not come from works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 What Scripture excludes is the man who would save himself by his own powers and boast of it; what it requires is the faith that, once grace is received, works through charity. Abraham shows it, the very man on whom Paul founds justice by faith. “Abram had faith in the Lord, and the Lord counted it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6 The Scripture that utters this word itself refers it to the act: James cites it after the offering of Isaac, and sees in it its fulfilment. “You see that faith was working with his works, and that by works faith was brought to its perfection. So the Scripture was fulfilled: Abraham had faith in God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” James 2:22-23 The faith counted to Abraham was not a faith without work: it is this living faith, which obeys to the point of offering his son, that God counted to him as righteousness. It is objected finally with the good thief, saved at his last breath without having done anything. But he too did not believe without acting: he acknowledges his fault and accepts his punishment, he rebukes the other criminal, he defends Christ’s innocence. “For us, it is just: we are paying for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” Luke 23:41 Then he confesses him king at the very moment all mock him. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Luke 23:42 His faith breaks out in confession, in courage and in supplication: it is again the faith that works through charity that Christ rewards.

Judged by works

On the last day, each will be judged on what he has done, which would make no sense if faith alone sufficed. “The Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then he will repay each one according to his conduct.” Matthew 16:27 Christ describes this judgement by the deeds done or neglected toward the least, and on these he separates the saved from the lost. “Whatever you did for one of these least of my brothers, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40 To believe does not dispense from acting, and Christ says so himself. “It is not enough to say to me, Lord, Lord! to enter the kingdom of heaven; one must do the will of my Father who is in the heavens.” Matthew 7:21

Made righteous, not merely declared

God makes man righteous by giving him his grace, which renews him within and pours charity into him. This is what the Church defined against sola fide at the Council of Trent, in 1547: justification is not a sentence that covers sin from without, but the real passage from the state of sin to the state of grace, where God pours his justice within man. The same council grants faith a first place, naming it the beginning, the foundation and the root of all justification: it is not alone, but it is first, and from it are born hope and charity. Justification goes beyond an outward declaration that would leave man as he was: God blots out the sin and heals the man. “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5 The grace thus received acts, loves and works: the faith that saves therefore always carries with it the charity and the works it inspires. These works do not reopen the door to pride: born of the grace received, they are still a gift of God before being a merit of man, so that no one boasts of what he did not first receive. In crowning our works, God crowns his own gifts.

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