The Solas

   You may be familiar with the "solas" of the Reformation.  Sola is Latin for "alone" or "only."  The three most familiar solas are sola scriptura (scripture alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and sola fidei (faith alone.)  Which is to say, we teach that scripture alone is the basis for what believe.  We believe that we are saved solely by God's grace, through faith in the saving work of Christ alone and not through our own works.  

There are a couple other solas that were prominent during the Reformation that you may be less familiar with.  The first is Solus Christus, or Christ alone.  In a sense, this is the most important sola.  We are saved through the atonement that Jesus made when he died on the cross.  "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).  Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). 

The last of the five solae comes to prominence about a century after the Reformation.  Soli Deo Gloria means to God alone be the glory. J. S. Bach wrote the initials S. D. G. and the bottom of all his sacred compositions, short for soli deo gloria.  Bach understood that his vocation was God-given, and he hoped that when the music was played and sung, it would point toward God.

The truth of Scripture rediscovered during the Reformation is that according to Scripture alone, we are saved by God's grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.  To God alone be the glory.