#five solas

The Five Solas of the Reformation Sola Scriptura Sola Fide Sola Gratia Solus Christus Soli Deo Gloria

What are the Five Solas, well lets state them.

Sola Fide (faith alone)

Sola Scriptura(scripture alone)

Sola gratia(Grace alone)

Solus christus(Christ alone)

Sola Deo Gloria(glory to God alone)

So what do these mean and why do they exist? Back before the reformation (Luther and his 95 theses) the church and its doctrines where governed by the Catholic Church and the Pope. so the Catholic church has the Bible but it also has its Canon Law and the some other non biblical doctrines Such as Purgatory and Indulgences.

These extra things came about because of the Pope being able to add to the Cannon Law and various other things without referring back to the bible.so when the Reformation came, a new set of founding principles had to be stated en-order to separate the Protestant movement from the Catholic movement, thus we have the Five Solas.

so these five points of principle state what we base our creed on in protestant world.

We are saved by faith alone and no amount of good works can save you without faith. 

Romans 1:16 NIV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[f]

The Bible is the one source of Scripture we use and is the source of all our doctrine. 

2 Timothy 3:16 New International Version (NIV)

“16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”

Grace alone is responsible for allowing you to choose god and salvation and it is not possible to choose with out grace due to our sinful nature, we are no long under the law.

John 1:17

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. “

Christ alone is the only way to god, praying to saints or Mary will not allow you to speak to god and serves no purpose.

John 14:6 New International Version (NIV)

“6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

God Alone is to be Glorified, no being dead or alive is to be set above God 

Revelation 15:4 New International Version (NIV)

5 SOLAS 

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Did you ever notice that our society celebrates everything?  In September alone we celebrated “Random Acts of Poetry Day” (September 6), “Video Games Day” (Sep 12), “White Chocolate Day” (September 22), “Punctuation Day” (Sep 24), and every parent’s favorite—“Quiet Day” (Sep 12).  Somehow my kids missed that last one.

But October 31--what many people celebrate as Halloween--should be remembered and celebrated by Protestant Christians, because it is the day we celebrate a huge moment--when a monumental change occurred in the church.

We call it "Reformation Day"--because on that day 502 years ago, a German monk, pastor and seminary professor named Martin Luther published 95 complaints against the Catholic church practice of selling reductions to the penalty of sin (called indulgences). In a sense, Luther had the boldness to share what the church should and shouldn't be.

What Was Wrong 

Imagine coming to church, but you don't learn to lean on the Bible and base your life accordingly--but instead you had to rely on tradition and opinion and just follow all the rules someone made up.

Imagine coming to church where the Gospel isn't preached. Ever.

Imagine coming to church where you could buy forgiveness. Literally.

Imagine coming to church and if you were put outside of the church--kicked out--that meant to them that you were literally going to hell. There was no salvation at that point—just the expectation of condemnation.

Imagine coming to church where the leader of the church was also a political ruler who was incredibly corrupt--so that all the church was doing was to generate money and was wicked to the core.

That was the condition of the Catholic church when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg.

Martin Luther wasn't the only one who felt this way. Many others were concerned with where the church had gone, and were desiring to come back to a place that honored God and that returned to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Five Big Ideas

The Reformers believed differently than the Catholic Church. They distilled their core beliefs into what we call the “Five Solas”.

Imagine you were asked to sum up your identity in five words. It sounds relatively easy--but try doing it. What if you had to distill your LinkedIn profile down to merely five identity describers—what words would you eliminate? How would you adjust your Instagram or Facebook profile, your Match or eHarmony profile (no I’m not judging), or your Tinder profile (ok now I’m judging). What five words would best characterize you?

I started thinking about words that describe me, and initially I thought this would be easy:

Father | Husband | Son | Brother | Pastor | Teacher | Church Planter | Friend | Apple Enthusiast | Star Wars Fan #episodenine | Left-Handed | Coffee, Bacon, and Donut Inspector | Child of God

Obviously that’s a lot more than five! Now imagine having to do that same exercise to sum up not your own personal identity, but all of orthodox Christianity--but you can only use five identity words. That's exactly what the Reformers did when they sought to distinguish themselves from Catholicism.

What are the foundations of the Gospel? What would be the pillars that are holding up the building, so to speak?

The Reformers wrestled with that question, in large part because the church at that time was broken. The Catholic church—whatever your thoughts are about it—was a mess at best, or absolute apostasy and a brainchild of Lucifer at worst, so essentially three things had happened.

Overly Traditional, Political, Comfortable

The church had gotten:

Overly traditional

Political

Comfortable

(Sadly, those three things are still plaguing the American church today, both in Catholicism and Protestantism. In fact, those are three things that will kill any church given enough time).

An overly traditional, political, and comfortable church can always look ahead for a season of reforming, and renewal. The Catholic church had departed from the foundations of the faith and believed many things outside of the Scriptures. They held tradition on par with the Bible. They believed there were other mediators through which sin could be forgiven or atoned for. They had a different take on how one is justified--made right--with God. The church itself was the dispenser of divine favor--so if you found yourself politically outside of the church for any reason, you were excluded from the divine favor of God.

Now enter the Reformers.

They wanted to get back to the basics, back to the pillars, and thus we have what are called the Five Solas of the Reformation. "Sola" of course means "only". The idea is that we need this alone for the basics, the pillars, the foundation, of the Gospel.

Christ | Scriptures | Grace | Faith | Glory of God

The message of the Protestant Reformation was that our faith is in Christ alone, revealed through the Scriptures alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, to the glory of God alone. 

Think about those for a moment:

Christ: the only Mediator Scriptures: the only Message Grace: the only Means Faith: the only Method Glory of God: the greatest Meaning

In the following five blog posts this month, we will unpack and explore each of these concepts in a deeper way. Shoreline Church, along with Northwest Bradenton Baptist, and Cornerstone Baptist of Sarasota, is excited to be hosting a:

“Night of Reformation: Celebrating the Five Solas” on Saturday, November 2nd at 6pm at The Port Coffee. RSVP on Facebook will be posted soon!

Consider these five solas for a moment: Christ Alone: Jesus is the only Mediator. Because Jesus is the sole meditator between God and man, salvation is possible only by His atoning death and triumphant resurrection.

Scripture Alone: The Bible is the only Message (or foundation). The Bible alone is the highest authority for governing issues of life and doctrine. We don't just listen to church tradition or the priest's opinions.

Grace Alone: Grace is the only Method. There isn't a special act or condition that man does to be saved--it is a sovereign act of God on behalf of sinners. It isn't birthright, but the grace of God.

Faith alone: Faith is the only Means. It isn't by works that we are saved, or through church attendance, but by faith in Jesus.

Glory of God Alone: The greatest Meaning, the greatest ambition. The purpose of our creation is to give glory to God. All glory and honor is due to God alone. We don't give glory to a man, a church, a denomination, a pope, etc. We give glory to God, and everything we do is for Him.

On October 31 every year, as children are dressing up in costumes, the Protestant church is praising God for the boldness of Luther and others, for the return to the Gospel and the importance of building our lives and doctrine from the Holy Scriptures. Every year we can celebrate by thanking God for the work of His Holy Spirit in reforming the church to honor Him and to share this message of reconciliation with a lost and needy world.

The Five Solas and Today

You and I who are born again are a part of a great tradition--but the church isn't done yet. Today we live in a time when the church today is falling into apostasy and compromise. The church didn't conquer Rome in the first millennia: no, Rome conquered the church. And today, it may not be Rome, but it is the philosophy of this age, the secular humanism and postmodern thought, coupled with a feel-good message that appeals to the senses and is soft on doctrine, that is conquering the church you and I are growing up in as a generation.

And yet, with every generation since Christ, it has taken bold men and women of the faith to stand up and be willing to speak truth even when there is great opposition. For centuries, people were silent as the church drifted further and further from God's design, and it finally took someone like Luther--and others--to stand up and stop it. Will you celebrate the Reformation with me by being absolutely sold out for the Gospel--being willing to die proclaiming the truth about Christ? Will you be willing to offer your life to the Lord and worship Him above yourself or others? Will someone stand up in this generation and live their life for God's glory alone, resting in the grace of God, trusting Christ, building their doctrine, hope and life upon the unchangeable word of God, walking an amazing and dangerous life of faith?

May we have the boldness of Luther to stand up among people of this generation and speak truth! When people who claim to be Christians try to stop or silence us, may we be willing to say alongside Martin Luther: I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.

Pastor Pilgrim Benham