Did Jesus teach Salvation by Faith Alone? Yes, but not how you might think.

One thing I love about interacting with Protestants, especially the more intelligent ones, is how often their own claims against Catholicism end up turning into some of my most powerful apologetics tools against Protestantism. Here's a great quick example that I recently came across. A Protestant was trying to point out how Jesus taught the Protestant doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone in the situation with Jarius in Luke 8. The passage is as follows: 

40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 

43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

49 While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” 50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” 51 And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. 52 And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

Now, first of all, contrary to the Grand Protestant Strawman, Catholics fully believe that faith alone saves us. Heretics love to steal orthodox teaching and twist the doctrine and terminology. In fact, it is Protestantism which teaches we are saved by works alone, apart from faith, grace, etc. That's because their completely unbiblical doctrine of "Imputation of Christ's Righteousness" is based on their bad logic which teaches man gets to heaven by living a perfectly sinless life. They say that since Adam sinned man can no longer 'work his way into heaven', showing that in the Protestant mind, works alone are what saved from the very beginning. Protestants compound this error by thinking that in order to be saved, Jesus had to live a perfect life and 'impute' this perfect life to the sinner, so that God can see the sinner as if the sinner lived a life of 100% perfect works. All faith does in the Protestant mind is transfer Christ's perfect obedience to their account. See how works alone, at the very root, is really what the Protestant believes? The Catholic side doesn't believe this terrible logic one bit, and I've written for years against it. 

The above passage of the story of Jairus is fascinating for a few reasons. Jesus does indeed use the phrase "only believe" (Lk 8:5), and thus Jesus teaches salvation by faith alone. But there's a catch that Protestants wont be happy with. Jesus actually says: only believe, and she will be well. In other words, Jesus says Jairus' faith can actually save his 12 year old daughter. This is outrageous for the Protestant mind. How can someone besides Jesus save another person? This is precisely the logic behind infant baptism, and thus this passage is a beautiful Catholic support for both infant baptism and meriting saving grace for others.

Obviously, this passage should catch any good Protestant off guard, so they must scramble for their typical excuses. As good apologetics always goes, I will try to meet their potential objections. The only objection I can see, and likely the most typical, will be that Jesus here is not talking about salvation but rather only physical healing. But this doesn't hold much merit for a few reasons. 

First of all, the Greek word used here is the standard word for "saved". So Jesus literally says: only believe and she will be saved. We know this involves physical healing, since that's what the story is about, but it would be wrong and disingenuous for us to think spiritual healing is not also involved here. Here's why. 

Consider that within this same Jairus account, right between Jairus arriving and Jesus healing, Luke sneaks in another story! This story of the hemorrhaging woman (8:43-48), where Jesus tells the woman "your faith has made you well". The Greek word here that Paul uses is the same word for Jairus: saved. The hemorrhaging woman was most certainly healed from all her sufferings, both spiritual and physical. It's outrageous to think that Jesus - which means "Yahweh Saves" - only performed half a healing. We know that spiritual and physical ills often came as a pair, and Jesus came to heal both. Indeed, Jesus highlights that one reason for the physical healing miracles is to prove to doubters that Jesus has the power to heal the soul (Mark 2:8-12). So if this is the "saved" that Luke has in mind in 8:48, it is most certain the meaning hasn't changed two verses later in 8:50. Luke was a doctor himself, so he loved to emphasize Jesus as the Great Physician. The more a Protestant tries to emphasize a "physical healing alone" here, the more they will insult Jesus and the two healing miracles here.

Lastly, consider that these two healing miracles were one of power entering into the sick person. Grace is infused into us, it heals us from within. Jesus said here: power has gone out from me! Paul loves the emphasize the fact we are spiritually "raised from the dead to new life" when speaking of Justification (e.g. Eph 2:5; Col 2:12-13). In other words, Imputation makes no sense. It contradicts and undermines the imagery and example Jesus and the Apostles use. Jairus' daughter was raised to new life. This is the ultimate image of getting saved. We could even say that Jesus' mysterious instructions to "give her something to eat" was His way of indicating Christians will also need the Eucharist to sustain them, after Baptism/Confession restores their life.