The Reformation began in AD 1519. The teaching of justification by faith alone is powerfully proclaimed in the New Testament. However, we have no surviving documents which indicate that anyone between AD 100 and AD 1519 believed in justification by faith alone.
This has led to an interesting logical argument. We have no proof of anyone who believed in justification by faith alone for nearly fifteen centuries. The Lord promised that there will always be at least a remnant of people who proclaim the saving message (Rom 10:8-21; 11:1-6). Therefore, we know that justification by faith alone is not a doctrine that one must believe to be justified. It could be written out in this way:
Major premise: There are always many justified believers in every generation.
Minor premise: No one believed in justification by faith alone for nearly fifteen centuries.
Conclusion: Belief in justification by faith alone is not required to be justified.
That argument is well received by some Evangelicals. Many people who believe in justification by faith alone have family members and friends who are professing Christians, but who believe in justification by faith plus works.
We have all heard people say something like this: My parents were the most wonderful Christians you could ever meet. But they were Roman Catholics from birth to the grave. They never believed in justification by faith alone. Their story shows that belief in justification by faith alone is not required to be born again. One simply needs to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died and rose again.
Of course, how could anyone possibly know that his parents never believed in justification by faith alone? He cannot.
The historical argument about the pre-Reformation period is an extension of this argument about family and friends who supposedly died never having believed in justification by faith alone. But the argument seems a lot more powerful because instead of talking about a few people, we are talking about billions of people.
However, there are a number of major flaws in this historical argument.
First, the minor premise is untrue and unproven.
It is not possible to prove a negative. It is impossible to prove that no one from AD 100 to AD 1519 believed in justification by faith alone. We do not possess everything that was written during that time. We have no audio or video from that time. No one has been able to travel back to that time period to do surveys.
It is pure conjecture to say that no one believed in justification by faith alone during that time.
Second, the conclusion is directly contradicted by the Word of God. See, for example, John 3:16; 5:39-40; 6:28-29; Rom 3:21–4:25; Gal 1:6-9; 2:16-17; Eph 2:8-9; 1 Tim 1:16; Titus 3:5; Rev 22:17. One cannot be justified by faith plus works. The Scriptures are clear on this point.
Third, a more Biblical syllogism is obvious:
Major premise: One must believe that justification is by faith alone in order to be justified.
Minor premise: There are always many justified believers in every generation.
Conclusion: There has never been a generation lacking many people who believed in justification by faith alone.
A principle of Bible hermeneutics, interpretation of the Bible, is that we interpret our experience in light of the clear teaching of the Word of God. We do not interpret the Word of God in light of our experience. At least we should not do that.
However, many people violate this principle and interpret the Bible in light of their own experience.
For example, some people say that they know wonderful Christian people who are homosexuals. They are not simply saying that homosexuals can be born again just as they are—which is true (John 3:16). They are saying that it is possible to be a practicing homosexual and at the same time be walking in fellowship with God. They then interpret Bible verses dealing with homosexuality in light of their experience. Homosexuality, they say, must not be sin, because my experience clearly shows that it is not sin.
The opposite should be done. We know from the Bible that homosexuality is sin and is displeasing to God. Therefore, no matter how nice a homosexual is, he is not pleasing God in his lifestyle.
In the same way, this historical argument about justification is a way of interpreting Scripture in light of the perceived experience of billions of people over fifteen centuries. Instead of studying the Bible and determining what it says about justification, we can assume we know what people believed before the invention of the printing press, and we can then infer that justification by faith alone is not true, or that it is true, but that it has never been a condition of everlasting life.
One of the cries of the Reformation was sola Scriptura, the Scripture alone. Our doctrine should arise solely from the Word of God.
Sadly, many today base their understanding of Scripture on their experience. That should not be.
