Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, unto the glory of God alone, according to the Scriptures alone.
The Five Solas
We’re celebrating The Wittenberg 500, or five-hundred years since the start of the protestant reformation, when Martin Luther, reputedly nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church. Perhaps the most well known of these points are the Five Solas:
- Sola Gratia – by grace alone
- Sola Fide – by faith alone
- Solo Christo – through Christ alone
- Soli Deo Gloria – glory to God alone
- Sola Scriptura – by Scripture alone
Upon these rests the basic tenets of our faith – and Pastor Ben spent five weeks unpacking them. While I can’t do each justice here, I want to give a single highlight of each. Be sure to listen to each sermon podcast, listed in each point below, when you get the chance.
By Grace Alone
There is nothing you can say or do, to make God love you more, or to make God love you less. You can’t impress God with a bunch of good works, or earn your way into heaven. It’s a gift from God.
Sola Gratia
By Faith Alone
Your salvation is based on who your faith is in. It’s about who Jesus is, and what he did for you. Out of gratitude, we strive to live lives that honor Jesus, but those things don’t stack up to what God has already done.
Sola Fide
Through Christ Alone
Jesus is all we need. When Christ is our absolute everything, we lack absolutely nothing. He is enough, and there’s no halfway Jesus – he wants us all-in.
Solo Christo
Glory to God Alone
We were created to give glory to God. As we know from the last year (and more) of sermons from Pastor Ben, the problem is always Eden, and the decision to worship ourselves instead of God, and the world is always Rome – the false glory it falsely places on sex, money, and power instead.
Soli Deo Gloria
By Scripture Alone
Everything we need is sufficiently taught within the Scriptures. The Bible is clear enough in the necessary things that anyone can understand it through ordinary means.
The Bible is shallow enough for a child not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.
-Augustine
The point of a Sunday sermon, is not to dumb-down the scriptures, but rather to illuminate them.
Sola Scriptura
We know from the totality of Scripture, that God’s grace was his choice instead of obliteration. Likewise, we know his plan of Salvation through Christ, and faith in Christ. Finally, we know that we are created to live lives of worship, giving glory to God.
