The Five Solas & Why They Matter To Your Faith
Are you familiar with the Five Solas?
If not, you should be. They carry significant weight in understanding correct theology.
This post will explain what the Five Solas are, why they matter to your faith, and why you should seek out a Reformed church that believes in them.
The Five Solas Explained
The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was one of the greatest revivals in the history of the church. It was a notable recovery of biblical truth in the face of theological and moral corruption in the Church.
A compressed form of the theology of the Reformation is the Five Solas:
- Grace alone (Sola Gratia)
- Christ alone (Solus Christus)
- Faith alone (Sola Fide)
- Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura)
- To God alone be the glory (Soli Deo Gloria)
Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)
God saves us entirely by His sovereign grace.
His sovereignty is the application of his supremacy as King over all. If God were not sovereign, He would not have power and dominion over all. He would not be God.
Because God is sovereign, He can do as he pleases. He is answerable to no one.
As sovereign, God alone initiates the salvation of individuals. Without His initiative to save, no one would be saved. Furthermore, He is under no obligation to save anyone–That He does save is by His grace, and His grace alone.
In other words, we are saved solely and entirely by the good pleasure of the will of God, as an outworking of His eternal decrees and His eternal covenant of redemption.
God loved us in eternity past. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to affect redemption, and his Spirit to apply it. There is no other reason than by sovereign grace that God did this for us. As corrupt sinners, we are underserving of this sovereign action, but He did it for us sovereignly to the praise of the glory of his grace.
In other words, as sinners, we have done nothing to deserve salvation. There is nothing within us that caused him to be gracious to us.
A reason for sovereign grace is the fall of Adam who represented us in the Garden of Eden. Because of the fall of man, we were rendered guilty and corrupted, and we lost communion with God.
This corruption resulted in a total inability for individuals to seek or know God. Therefore, God acted in total sovereignty and intervened to save. Again, that He does this is based entirely on the sovereign good pleasure of His will–by His grace alone.
The Roman Catholic Church and most contemporary Protestant denominations hold to grace, but not grace alone. They deny total depravity and total inability of the individual. They hold that the individual has some good within themselves to merit salvation, and some ability within themselves to seek after God.
They hold that individuals are able to seek after God and come to know him on their own–God’s grace is present, but it is not entirely the cause of salvation. Some of the individual’s salvation comes from within themselves.
In other words, salvation is not by God’s grace alone.
This is wrong. It denies both God’s sovereign dominion over all and the complete corruption of the individual brought on by the fall of man.
For reference, see:
- Acts 13:48, 16:14
- Romans 3:10-12
- Ephesians 1:4-5 & 2:1-5.
Christ Alone (Solus Christus)
Since individuals cannot achieve salvation on their own, salvation must be accomplished by a mediator between the individual and God, to act on the individual’s behalf. That mediator is Christ, and he acted on our behalf by paying the penalty of the sins of his people.
Christ alone was qualified to be our mediator because he was, and is God. Because of this, he was perfect and impeccable, unable to sin. As such, he was able to be our mediator. He was also qualified to represent us because he was man.
By dying for our sins, Christ rendered a sacrifice of infinite value to satisfy and propitiate the demands of a holy God. His death was an act of substitutionary atonement, meaning that Jesus Christ died for His people.
Christ became our substitute in death. He took upon himself the penalty that we deserve and became our ransom. Because of His active and passive obedience in this world, God accepted His sacrifice.
Furthermore, as the God man, His humanity suffered the eternal wrath of God, thereby paying in full what we as individuals cannot pay. He eliminated our debt, totally and finally, through His one-time sacrifice of himself. Because of sin, no other sacrifice is acceptable– all are unable and disqualified. Therefore, our salvation is attained by Christ alone.
Again, many churches vacate the adjective alone. They believe that Christ is important, but rather, the Church and the individual supplement Christ’s sacrifice. Therefore, the individual participates in their salvation.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the sacrifice of Christ is repeated every Sunday in the Mass to supplement the perfections of the one time sacrifice of Christ which is not repeatable. You do not repeat perfection.
Additionally, the Roman Catholic Church holds that works of the saints, Mary, and works done in the sacrament of penance are salvific. Furthermore, they believe that while in purgatory, the sinner renders payment for future salvation.
In other words, salvation is not by Christ alone, but rather, the Church and individuals of faith supplement His sacrifice.
This is wrong. It ignores the enormous sacrifice of Christ on our behalf and the corrupt imperfection of all individuals.
For reference, see:
- Acts 4:12
- John 6:38-40
- Ephesians 5:2
- Hebrews 10:10-14
- Revelation 5:2-10.
Faith Alone (Sola Fide)
The means by which we apprehend the work of Christ is by faith alone.
Faith, or belief in Christ is the only requirement.
The works of individuals are not acceptable because they are temporal and done by imperfect individuals.
Christ, as God, was and is eternal with infinite perfection. We believe that His sacrifice for us is the only deserving work that is acceptable to God.
The Reformers defined faith for individuals as:
- Consisting in knowledge of the redemptive work of Christ
- Conviction that it was historically and objectively true
- Reliance upon faith (trusting in it alone)
This faith is a gift from God via the Holy Spirit.
We are regenerated; we believe; we trust; we have faith because God made us alive.
As such, faith is a necessary element of our salvation as it the product of the sovereign grace of God.
Salvation is a gift from God, and we receive it by faith alone.
Most contemporary churches accompany faith with works. The idea is that individuals qualify themselves for salvation with both faith and good works, and that God accepts their qualifications. The Roman Catholic Church holds that the church mediates grace in the sacramental system in which the priest forgives sins and gives salvation to the repentant.
This is wrong. Neither the temporal works of sinners nor clergy (imperfect individuals) can provide salvation. Salvation is a gift from God, and we receive it by faith alone.
For clarification, Reformed churches do not reject good works. They stress, for example, the importance of obedience. After all, Christians filled with the Holy Spirit will “bear fruit”, indicating that their outward actions are a reflection of their heart.
But these works are not meritorious of salvation.
Additionally, while individuals participate in works, they are caused by the grace of God and His sovereignty.
The point here is that saved individuals are justified by grace alone, through faith alone.
The doctrine of justification’s entire focus is on the works of Christ. The merits of His obedience are imputed to the Christian as the entire basis of salvation. Individuals are saved by Christ’s works, not our own.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines justification as an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.
Finally, it is important to note that in regeneration, individuals are made alive and are enabled by the Holy Spirit to do good works. They are part of the individual’s sanctification and are evidence of regeneration and the indwelling Spirit.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines sanctification as the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
For reference, see:
- Isaiah 64:6
- Acts 16:31
- Romans 4:1-10
- Ephesians 2:4-10
- Philippians 1:29 & 2:12-13.
Scripture Alone (Sola Scriptura)
The final authority of all matters in our faith is God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture.
The Scriptures are defined as the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments and the directive is that Scripture interprets Scripture.
This is not to deny that the Church has other forms of authority, for instance, appealing to councils, commentaries, or elders. But the final authority of all matters is Scripture alone.
The Roman Catholic Church holds to three forms of authority:
- Scripture
- The church Fathers or the traditions of Rome
- The Magisterium, or the teaching authority of the church
This is dangerous, because individuals are imperfect and corruptible. Additionally, it denies the sole authority of God’s word, which He gave to us to govern our lives. It also places human authority on par with the divine.
For reference, see:
- Acts 20:27
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17
- 2 Peter 1:20-21
- Jude 3
To God Alone Be the Glory (Soli Deo Gloria)
Because salvation is all of grace and all by God, for God, and of God, He gets all the glory.
If individuals were participating in some way, or if there was some ability within us that enables us to qualify ourselves before God, then we would share in the glory.
But our corrupt natures do not allow us to quality ourselves before God. So, to God alone be the glory.
For reference, see:
- Isaiah 42:8
- Romans 11:36
- Ephesians 3:20-21
- Jude 24-25
The Importance of the Five Solas
These five declarations summarized the Reformers break with the Roman Catholic tradition in the 16th century.
Rome and many contemporary Protestant Churches hold to grace, Christ, faith, Scripture, and God and his glory. But they reject the adjective alone.
The contention of the Reformers was that if the adjective alone was eliminated, then the noun (Grace, Christ, Faith, Scripture, and God and His Glory) and the Gospel would be completely redefined into something different. The reason for emphasis of alone is to clarify that our “faith” is the product of a supernatural God.
Benjamin Warfield, the 19th Century Presbyterian scholar, captures the essence of this: “The core of the Christian profession is the confession of a supernatural God, who may and does act in a supernatural mode, and who acting in a supernatural mode has wrought out for us a supernatural redemption, interpreted in a supernatural revelation, and applied by the supernatural operations of his Spirit.”
Therefore, when the adjective alone is eliminated from salvation, a sense of naturalism is implicitly introduced into the individual’s salvation. This makes justification the product of an infused righteousness, instead of the imputed righteousness of Christ.
An example of this is in Eastern Orthodoxy, which proclaims that both faith and works save us.
However, Acts 4:12 refutes this: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”
Furthermore, if alone is vacated from Scripture alone, like the Roman Catholic Church belives, then church councils and the teaching authorities are co-equal with Scripture in authority. This would imply that Scripture, God’s word, is not sufficient. Would this imply that God is not sufficient enough?
The Gospel, the good news that God has provided a way of escape in Jesus Christ, who is the entire provision for our salvation, is also re-defined. The Gospel, and faith in Jesus Christ, becomes a way, but not the only way.
When alone is eliminated from Grace, Christ, Faith, Scripture and God and His Glory, individuals begin to believe the fallacy that imperfect, corrupted man and his institutions have a part in qualifying themselves for eternal salvation.
Are corrupt individuals and their institutions sufficient enough to achieve salvation and glory?
No.
Furthermore, when alone is eliminated, Christian theology runs the risk of becoming another self-help religion like all of the other religions of the world. It ceases to be unique and the sole product of God.
Over time and in degree, naturalism becomes man’s religion.
We just need to be good and moral. That is enough. God’s word has an answer for this in Acts 4:12.
In Conclusion
The Five Solas and the adjective alone were a primary reason for the 16th century Protestant Reformation.
The Church had retreated into moral and theological darkness and it needed light.
That is why the motto of the Protestant Reformation was “Out of darkness Light” (Post Tenebras Lux).
Unfortunately, many churches and denominations are in opposition to the Five Solas, and some churches in the Reformed confessional tradition are silent in their pulpits.
As the contemporary church separates itself from the principles of the Protestant Reformation and the doctrines of the sovereign grace of God, it begins a slow retreat back into theological darkness.
The church begins to believe the individual, has a part in salvation.
That is why it is important for you to attend a church that upholds the theology of the Reformation. It is the clear teaching of the Bible.
Succinctly, the truth preserves the church. In our Lord’s high priestly prayer in John 17:17, Jesus says: “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.”
