Matthew 4:1-11
Greetings and grace to you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
This coming Lord’s Day we will begin a new reformation series on five fundamental truths of Christianity. These foundational principles of the Christian faith can be summed up with the 5 solas of the Reformation. A right understanding of these teachings will dramatically impact our apprehension of the proper place of Scripture, grace, faith, Christ, and God.
What are the 5 Solas of the Reformation?
The 5 solas of the Reformation (“solas,” meaning, “alones”) are five principles essential to the doctrine of salvation.
Sola Scriptura, or “God’s Word alone,” maintains that the Bible is the highest source of authority in a Christian’s life, the final court of appeal.
Sola gratia, or “grace alone,” says sinners are saved as an unearned gift of God’s grace, “not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
Sola fide, or “faith alone,” affirms that justification—being made right with God—comes only through faith in Jesus.
Solus Christus, or “Christ alone,” emphasizes the exclusivity of Jesus’ role in salvation: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Soli Deo gloria, or “to the glory of God alone,” says that the purpose of creation, salvation, and everything—including our goal as Christians—is the glory of God, “that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).
In this quote from Luther’s famous speech at the Diet of Worms (1521), after being asked to renounce his teachings, we see the sentiments of how sola Scriptura is the hinge that leads to the other four “solas”:
“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; May God help me. Amen.”
Fundamentally then, we begin with sola Scriptura. My prayer for us is that this becomes not simply a slogan for us, but the heart of who we are. May we become a people of one book, as John Wesley pleaded:
“I have thought I am creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf, till a few moments hence I am no more seen. I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven--how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way: for this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God! I have it. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri [a man of one book].”
I hope you can join us this coming Lord’s Day and that your prayer will become, ‘Make me a person of one book.’
The B-I-B-L-E is the book for me,
Pastor Wayne
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