Today we have yet another entry in our increasingly long list of Bible passages that just plain do not fit the Protestant idea of sola fide:
Once God has spoken, twice have I heard this: Strength belongs to God, to you, Lord, faithful love; and you repay everyone as their deeds deserve. (Ps. 62:11-12, NJB)
It is worth conceding that this may not present a problem for Protestants who deny that Old Testament believers were saved in the same way that we are: by faith in the (coming) Messiah. But for the Reformed, who do say that OT salvation worked the same as for us, this passage presents a problem. Once again it speaks of how our deeds will be the measuring stick by which our heavenly reward is measured. On the Reformed Protestant view this is impossible, really: if Israel was saved by faith alone in the coming Messiah, then this Psalm completely misrepresents things. It speaks of repayment and getting what our deeds deserve, not of a paradise attained by faith alone. I know of no way to make the two fit together. The Reformed view is mistaken.
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