That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. (Ezek 18:17)
Commenting on the phrase from Ezek 18:17, "he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live," John Calvin, in his commentary on the book of Ezekiel, wrote the following:
Thus it still remains true, that faith without works justifies, although this needs prudence and a sound interpretation; for this proposition, that faith without works justifies is true and yet false, according to the different senses which it bears. The proposition, that faith without works justifies by itself, is false, because faith without works is void. But if the clause "without works" is joined with the word "justifies," the proposition will be true, since faith cannot justify when it is without works, because it is dead, and a mere fiction. He who is born of God is just, as John says. (1Jo 5:18). Thus faith can be no more separated from works than the sun from his heat yet faith justifies without works, because works form no reason for our justification; but faith alone reconciles us to God, and causes him to love us, not in ourselves, but in his only begotten Son. Now, therefore, that question is solved, when the Prophet teaches that life is reposed in the just, even if they are born of wicked and unholy parents.
Such shows the great difficulty the Magisterial Reformers, and even modern Protestant theologians have with respect to defining the meaning of “alone” in faith alone, let alone demonstrating that they speak from both sides of their mouth to support their false, man-made tradition.
