5 Solas
Christ Alone
The Five Solas:
Sola Scriptura: Scripture Alone
Sola Gratia: Grace Alone
Sola Fide: Faith Alone
Solus Christus: Christ Alone
Sola Deo Gloria: Glory to God Alone
As Martin Luther began to teach Romans, the Psalms and other books of the bible, he noted the teachings of Scripture contradicting the teachings of the Pope and the church.
Indulgences were just the “straw that broke the camel’s back”.
Example:
Doctrines about Mary
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/mary/general-information/the-four-marian-dogmas
- Divine Motherhood – Mother of God (Council of Ephesus 431 AD)
- Perpetual Virginity – Remained a virgin before, during and after birth
- Immaculate Conception – Mary was conceived in such a way that she was preserved from original sin…sinless at birth thus capable of having Jesus.
- Assumption – All of Mary, at her death, body and soul, was taken up into glory with Christ.
This logically leads to the most recent component…the argument to add a 5th…Co-redeemer with Christ.
https://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/z5mardogm.htm
To Declare Mary as Mother of Humanity
ROME, 11 FEB. 2008 (ZENIT) {a non-profit Catholic news agency}
Five cardinals have sent a letter inviting prelates worldwide to join them in petitioning Benedict XVI to declare a fifth Marian dogma they said would “proclaim the full Christian truth about Mary.”
The text, released last week, includes the petition that asks the Pope to proclaim Mary as “the Spiritual Mother of All Humanity, the co-redemptrix with Jesus the redeemer, mediatrix of all graces with Jesus the one mediator, and advocate with Jesus Christ on behalf of the human race.”
Confession
The Mass
All of these things were considered to be effectual in salvation.
Luther found no such Scriptural evidence, and was by conscience (informed by Scripture) convinced there were things that needed to be changed.
Our passages will show us that “Christ alone” is the bible’s stance and show us exactly what “Christ alone” means.
Yahweh alone is the basis of Christ alone since Jesus is Yahweh
(God alone in the sense of no other “gods” and God alone in the sense of God alone saves apart from “piety”…the outward expression as effectual…the outward expression is evidence of faith not effectual means (see Isaiah 1; 2 Chronicles 30)
Exodus 20:2-3 (ESV) I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
Lest we think God was affirming there are other “gods” but that he was to just be the one Israel worshiped…
Isaiah 45:1-7 (ESV) Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
2 “I will go before you
and level the exalted places,
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
I name you, though you do not know me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
John 8:58-59 (ESV) Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
John 5:18 (ESV) This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus alone is the sole mediator of the new covenant
1 Timothy 2:5-6 (ESV) For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
Hebrews 9:11-15 (ESV) 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Jesus alone is the object of saving faith
- Remember: faith is the work of grace that is the work of God so that that faith may rest in the one who can actually save. Jesus saves, and faith is his instrument, and faith’s object is Jesus, who is its author and giver.
Faith is not the work we do to get saved. It is not faith that saves, but the object of that faith that saves…Jesus alone.
This is not contradictory to “grace alone” and “faith alone”. Grace comes from God to give the gift of faith. Ephesians 2:1-10 presupposes you are paying attention to the “in Christ” repetition going on. Faith has an object. That object is “Jesus”.
(Illustration: Sitting in a chair…its not your trust in the chair that makes the chair stand up, it’s the engineering and quality of the chair that holds you up, not your faith. You faith is exercised as you place your weight on the chair, but that faith does not hold you up. The chair holds you up. The object of your faith in this instance is the chair. It’s the object of your faith that saves not faith. Faith in Jesus is the expression that one is trusting in Jesus to save them)
Jesus alone satisfies God the Father’s anger at man’s sin
Romans 3:21-26 (ESV) But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
The Holy Spirit witnesses to Jesus alone
John 14:26
John 15:26
John 16:13-14
How can we obey?
Rest in Christ alone…stop working to earn salvation / favor / blessing…all of our salvation and subsequent provision of grace in abundance and want was earned by Jesus for us.
Romans 8:28-30 (ESV) And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Romans 8:31-34 (ESV) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Fan into flame your evangelistic passion for God’s glory that people may be saved.
Romans 10:1, 9-15 (ESV) Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
- Put yourself where there are non-Christians
- Tell the good news to someone
- Invite someone who needs Jesus to church
- Be the best and most hospitable greeter on the planet
- Be happy and kind
- Love each other…don’t assume the worst
- John 13:35 (ESV) By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
In multi-faith dialogue in the public square hold firm to Jesus alone not as a joy killer but as the great hope to rescue from sin
John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus alone kills inclusivism and universalism.
- Inclusivism being that all sincere followers of a religious system get in because of Jesus work. They were worshiping Jesus even if they didn’t know it because they sincerely were seeking “God”.
- Universalism being the belief that all get in because Jesus atonement is universally applied regardless of people’s religious beliefs either present or not.
Worship hard and watch Jesus be glorified among the nations.
Psalms 96:9-10 (ESV) Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.”
- We worship who/what we treasure. When we treasure Jesus alone, he is glorified and the nations will hear.
Theology in the Dirt 