Christ vs Trent on Sola Fide
I'm going to make two contentions in this post. First, there's a necessary connection between true faith and salvation.1 This is Paul's point. Second, there is a necessary connection between true faith and works. This is James' point. The council of Trent denies both of these claims by saying people can have true faith through which they are put into a state of grace and lose their state of grace through mortal sin, while remaining true believers. This is because Trent denied "sola fide" - charity must be added to faith. The Necessary Connection between True Faith and Salvation Christ promised that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. In John 6:35, Christ says “he that believes on me shall never thirst at any time.” Christ uses what Dan Wallace calls an Empathic negation”, which denies not only the occurrence but the possibility of any uncertainty about the occurrence.2 But Trent says true believers sometime perish.