Sola fide — "by faith alone" — is the Reformation confession that sinners are justified before God by faith alone, apart from works of the law. Faith itself is the empty hand that receives Christ and his righteousness; it justifies not because it is virtuous, but because of the object it lays hold of.
“The presence of this forensic element in the teaching of Paul is universally or generally recognized; and it is usually admitted to be not Greek but Jewish. But there is a tendency among recent scholars to minimize its importance. According to Wrede, the forensic conception of salvation, the complex...”
“Verse 18.
For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
"I have not preached to the end that I build again the things which I destroyed.
If I should do so, I would not only be laboring in vain, but I would make myself guilty of a great wrong.
By the ministry of...”
That God declares sinners righteous because they trust in Christ — not because of anything they have done. Good works follow faith as its fruit, but they contribute nothing to our justification.
Where is sola fide taught in the Bible?
Most directly in Romans 3:28 ("one is justified by faith apart from works of the law"), Ephesians 2:8-9, and Galatians 2:16.