Just how alone is faith alone?

(Finally found the blog post I wrote a couple of weeks ago while at work.)

Sola Fide, or justification by faith alone, is often said to be the central tenet of the Protestant Reformation and the heart of the Gospel. Martin Luther said it is "the article by which the Church stands or falls" (articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae). Some writers have challenged the traditional Protestand soteriology that makes a distinction between justification and sanctification; others, like N.T. WRight, have challenged traditional ways of understanding jsutification. I'm not going to go into that here, though they're interesting questions. Assuming the traditional statement of sola fide to be accurate and true (forensic justification of the believer by the Father based on the imputed righteousness of Christ, the merits of which are appropriated by the believer through faith--or something like that), I'm interested in how one understands the "alone" part of faith alone.

Is it that we're saved by faith, alone, in Christ? Or is it faith in Christ alone? That is, am I saved by my faith in Christ, and any other belief is immaterial? Or must I believe that Christ alone (and nothing else)can save me? First of all, it is clear that we are saved, as Wright has so keenly observed, by faith in Christ, not faith in faith alone. The one who has never heard of the Reformation and doesn't know the difference in significance between "faith alone" and "go Yankees!" is still made righteous in God's sight and gains eternal life when he hears the gospel and trusts in Christ.

But what of, say, the Roman Catholic who does believe and trust in Christ for forgiveness of sins and salvation, but also thinks that works are necessary, who believes that the merits of Christ are obtained by the sacraments as well as faith? DOes the fact he does believe in Jesus make his faith a saving one? Or is he damned nonetheless because he doesn't believe in the right way? If the latter, what does that mean for those whose faith is less than pure and perfect (which group of course comprises all of us, sinful as we are)?

The answer, I think, is that the blood of Christ is sufficient to cover all sins--even impure faith. If the individual in question is the object of God's electing mercy, His grace is effectual to reward and perfect his faith. I suppose, then, that this means I must disagree with those who say that Roman Catholics cannot be saved if they believe their Church's official teachings. If the RCC teaches "Christ, plus" (as most Protestants claim, a claim many Catholics deny and about which I am skeptical), then the believing Catholic has met the the necessary and sufficient condition of salvation: faith in Jesus Christ. This doesn't mean that the RCC is any less wrong or its teachers in any lesser degree of sin for their distortion of the Gospel, but it does mean that evangelicals should be a little more careful in assuming that Roman Catholics aren't our Christian bretheren.