The Five Solas: SOLA GRATIA

…even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…Eph.2:5

Over the following five pastor pens, I will cover the Five Solas. They are Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone), Solus Christus (Christ Alone), Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be Glory). You may be surprised that the term  Five Solas  did not originate with Luther, Calvin, Knox, Bunyan, or any other reformer. While the Reformers of the 16th century wrote of all Five Solas in various period  writings, they are not all mentioned together in one place and were not systematically brought together until the 20th century.

All of the Solas are primary issues when it comes to Biblical Christianity. These are not secondary issues  that we can disagree on and still have fellowship with other believers. For example, we are a Doctrines of  Grace Church, but we can still fellowship with a free-will church. Our Presbyterian brothers hold to Covenant    Theology and do not believe in a literal Millennial reign of Christ, yet they are still brothers and sisters in Christ.

To be a Christian, you must believe it is by God’s grace alone that you are saved. What is grace? Grace is a gift    of forgiveness from God. Paul declares, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being  justified as a gift being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; (Romans 3:23-24). God’s grace is underserved, “who    has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (1 Tim 1:9). To put it plainly we  do not deserve Gods grace. We deserve justice for our sins against a Holy God. Because of God’s grace, His     elect gets mercy and not justice.

God’s grace gives us the ability to persevere through trials and persecution, “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal  glory in Christ, will Himself restore, strengthen, confirm,        and ground you” (1 Peter 5:10). It is Gods grace that allowed the martyrs to go to their deaths praising the  Lord.

I confess that God’s Grace saved me and realize that  without His free gift I would be lost and destined to hell.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark