When a Roman Catholic – or any religious person – attempts to contribute something to their salvation they are trying to steal God’s glory.
The 5 slogans made famous during the time of the Reformation help to show that Glory belongs to God alone.
1. SOLA SCRIPTURA = Bible Alone
2 Timothy 3:16 says that all of the scriptures are breathed out by God. This means that when we hear the Bible – we are hearing the voice of the creator of the universe. While we may learn from our traditions, experience and human reason – our final authority is the Bible. The Bible helps us to understand when other authorities get it right and when they get it wrong. Elevating any authority to be equal or above the Bible is to try and steal God’s glory.
2. SOLA GRATIA = Grace Alone
Ephesians 2:4-5 says that people are saved by the grace of a God who is rich in mercy. Mercy = not being given something bad you deserve (rescued from God’s just judgement). Grace = being given something good you don’t deserve (eternal life in Jesus). To suggest we need to do anything to earn grace or earn any part of our salvation is to try and steal God’s glory.
3. SOLA FIDE = Faith Alone
If we are saved by grace, then the only possible response is to have faith in what Jesus has already done. We don’t add anything by our good works. Ephesians 2:8-9 shows that even our faith is a gracious gift from God. What then of living differently? Ephesians 2:10 says that we live differently because we are saved – and NOT that we are saved because we live differently! To say that we need to DO anything but trust in what Jesus has done is to try and steal God’s glory.
4. SOLUS CHRISTUS = Christ Alone
It’s all about Jesus. We are dead (Ephesians 2:1-3) and powerless to save ourselves. The only way to be made alive is by being IN CHRIST JESUS (Eph 2:4-5). God raises us up with Jesus (Eph 2:6) and in Jesus (Eph 2:6) and to show his incredible grace and kindness through Jesus (Eph 2:7). The only way anyone can be okay with God is by having faith in the gracious gift of Jesus and his death and resurrection. To suggest salvation is possible by adding to or taking from the work of Jesus is to try and steal God’s glory.
And the 5th slogan? Stay tuned for more…
PS – a warm fuzzy for naming the structure in the above pic…
PPS – Phillip Jensen smashed it on two fronts today:
- In his sensitive sermon at the HMAS Sydney Service today (broadcast live on ABC Radio)
- and his Article on World Catholic Youth Day, Protestantism, Secular and Secularism. Here’s a clip:
But Protestantism is not tribalism. It is the belief in the sole authority of the Bible. The Bible explains to us that salvation is only by the Grace of God. This salvation comes through Christ alone, and is received by faith without any works on our part. So all is to the glory of God alone. It is the belief that Christ’s death was sufficient to pay for the sins of the whole world. In his death Christ turned away the anger of God. Our Prayer Book describes Christ’s death as “a full, perfect sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.” Read the rest
Hey Dave
I believe that that’s the Sydney Opera House.
Anyway, I’ve always found it hard to understand the difference between the ‘grace alone’ and ‘faith alone’ slogans. When I’ve heard them preached they always seem to be very similar sermons. What’s the key difference between these (ie what does having two add to simply having one slogan). They both seem like “there’s nothing you can do for salvation but trust in God”.
Cheers, big ears
warm fuzzy for matt: you are an incredible drummer with cute eyes…
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in doing lots of thinking and reading on the 5 solas… i’ve found it difficult to articulate the differences. are they not just the 1st and 2nd half of the same sermon?
the direction i went in my talks last week was:
GRACE – salvation. I spoke from Ephesians 2.
FAITH – justification. I spoke from Romans 3.
Being saved and being justified are obviously closely related concepts – but there’s enough differences in the two passages that the talks and the ideas are different.
when i started the talk on faith – i said that it was really part 2 of the night before.
i guess another what i tried in the above blog post was: “If we are saved by grace, then the only possible response is to have faith in what Jesus has already done.”
ie – GRACE is what God has done for us in Jesus. We respond not by earning it – but by having FAITH in what has already been done.
does that all make sense?
Yeah, I think so. I think I’m just trying to separate out the two in my head, when really they shouldn’t be.
Maybe an example of a church who teaches the second but not third slogan would be one that says “Yes, it is only by grace and God’s mercy that we are in relationship with him. There’s nothing we can do to earn that. However, once you are a Christian you MUST be baptised, and comfirmed, and go to church, and take part in communion, and …”?
i gave a talk last night on this stuff.
i did Bible alone from 2 Tim 3:15-17.
and GRACE, FAITH and CHRIST all from Ephesians 2.
i think your example is good… saved by grace – but living by works. Jerry Bridges has a called “transforming grace” it’s very good in showing that just as we are saved by grace – we continue to live by grace… not by our performance.