Do you want to learn how to study the Bible? Do you wish you could understand the Bible better? Do you want to know how you can remain faithful to historic Christianity in our contemporary society? Let's take a journey to explore and learn how to be a faithful follower of Christ. Faithfullyliven, the podcast is here to uplift your soul and encourage you to live a life honoring to God
Discover the transformative power of faith that shaped a movement! Join me in part 2 of this enlightening episode of Faithfullyliven as we wrap up our series on the five solas of Christian faith. Learn how the profound doctrines of Sola Fide (faith alone), Solo Christus (Christ alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (to the glory of God alone) not only redefined salvation but also continue to inspire believers today.
Show notes If you want to read more about the five Solas check out these references
References Sola: How the Five Solas Are Still Reforming the Church By: Jason Allen GotQuestions.org What are the five solas? https://www.gotquestions.org/five-solas.html
Faith Alone The Doctrine of Justification What the Reformers Taught……and Why It Still Matters (2017) by Thomas Schreiner (The 5 Solas Series)
Sola How the Five Solas are Still Reforming the Church (2019). Jason K. Allen Gen Editor Contributors Wilson. J., Duesing, J., Barrett, M,. Strachan, O.
Christ Alone The Uniqueness of Jesus as Savior What the Reformers Taught……and Why It Still Matters (2017) by Stephen Wellum (The 5 Solas Series)
God’s Glory Alone The Majestic Heart of Christian Faith and Life What the Reformers Taught……and Why It Still Matters (2017) by David Vandrunen (The 5 Solas Series)
Do you want to learn how to study the Bible? Check out the YouTube channel Faithfullyliven youtube.com/@faithfullyliven
Do you want to read about how to live faithfully? Check out the blog http://lyfe102.org
Welcome to Faithfully Living, the Podcast where we learn how to live for Christ in our daily lives. I'm Dwan, your host, and I would like to invite you on a journey with me to explore and learn how to be a faithful follower of Christ.
Speaker 2:
Hey everyone, welcome to Faithfully Living, the Podcast, where we strive to encourage you to live for Christ faithfully by offering guidance on how to study the Bible, how to understand the Bible better and how to remain faithful to historic Christianity in a contemporary society. Okay, we are going to finish up the last of the five solas. So last time, our last episode, we talked about sola scriptura scripture alone and sola grata, grace alone, and in this time we're going to finish up by talking about sola fidel, faith alone. Sola Christo, christ Alone, and Sola De Gloria, to the glory of God alone. Sola Fidel, embracing salvation through faith alone. So we know that it is through faith alone that we can be made right with God. Romans 1, 16, 17 says For I am not ashamed of this good news about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes, jew first, and also the Gentile. This good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As scripture says, it is through faith that a righteous person has life. So why do we need this good news that Paul is talking about? It's because of our sinful nature before God. God demands righteousness, goodness, perfection and everything that we can't measure up to. So Sola Fidel means faith alone.
Speaker 2:
It's one of the five solas that was defined during the Protestant Reformation and it emphasizes that receiving God's gift of salvation is through faith alone. So during the 16th century, religious practices often veered toward legalism and ritualistic observances, and the doctrine of faith alone called for a return to the true essence of the gospel. So you have reformers like Martin Luther who emphasized faith as a transformative belief that kind of reorients our lives towards God's grace. And in a reference book that I have that I will put in the show news that says sola, how the five solas are still reforming the church. It says god's righteousness is given through faith alone and faith itself is not what justifies us. Christ's righteousness is what makes us right and comes through faith. So humanity it couldn't save her, couldn't save itself. We couldn't save ourselves. So no amount of good deeds or thoughts could remove the debt that we we owe to god. You know, in the old testament god gave his law. It was a standard in which he wanted Israel to live by, and you know we can read throughout the narrative of how people and the children of Israel fell short of God's expectation of goodness. Here's another quote from the same book how Five Souls Are Still Reforming the Church, it says A more helpful metaphor is to think of faith as a bridge.
Speaker 2:
Faith is a bridge over which we cross to salvation. It is the channel through which we sail or the vessel on which we travel to salvation. So our faith and trust is given to us by God and it is what draws us to his call. And this call is from God and provides us with the knowledge of the saving gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. And we are made righteous through God and through this transformation we are called to do good works for the glory of God.
Speaker 2:
So at the heart of the Protestant Reformation is the powerful principle that kind of reshapes the landscape of Christian theology as far as faith alone, so faith alone, so Faith alone, sola. Fidel Underscores a pivotal role Of how faith is in our relationship with God. So it proclaims that we are justified, meaning that we're made right with God by our faith in Christ, rather than our own, than our own deeds. And this principle, as we saw, is rooted in the Apostle Paul. That reminds us that salvation is a gift that can't be earned and we can receive it through a sincere trust in the redemptive work of Jesus. So one of the liberating aspects of faith alone is the assurance that it offers us as believers. You know, the burden of trying to earn salvation through our actions is removed and replaced with the confidence that our trust in Christ's sacrifice is sufficient.
Speaker 2:
Next is going to be sola Christo is Christ alone. So what is sola Christo? It's Latin, it means Christ alone. So it's important to understand that our salvation is in the work, in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So as sinners, you know, we can't pay the penalty needed to save us from our sins. There's nothing we could do to pay the debt that we owe God, and our sins render us guilty before the righteousness of God that he requires. So Christ stepped in, paid our debt.
Speaker 2:
1 John 2 says my dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the only true righteous one. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins, and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. So christ died on the cross to to pay the penalty of our sin and to live in who, and he lived in perfect obedience to the will of god. So it is christ's righteousness that that justifies us.
Speaker 2:
I like this, this quote from this book Christ Alone, the Uniqueness of Jesus as Savior, what the Reformers Taught and why it Still Matters. It says Christ alone is Lord and Savior. Therefore, he alone is able to save and his work is all sufficient is able to save and his work is all sufficient. So it means that what Christ did on the cross for us is enough to pay the debt of penalty of our sins. So in the 16th century, christ alone. That phrase was embraced by doing the Protestant Reformation.
Speaker 2:
And while the church believed that christ as believe christ in christ as savior for salvation, they also thought that in order for people to receive grace through, but they also believe that people um could receive grace through the church and through the church, people could receive grace through the church and through the church, people could receive the sacraments such as baptism, the Eucharist, penance, and through these sacraments one could receive grace, could receive grace necessary for salvation. And these requirements left people without a genuine assurance of their salvation. So, as it pertains for us today, it's important to preach the gospel to ourselves often. You know, sola Christo is a part of the gospel that reminds us that salvation is nothing that we have done or can receive on our own merit, and it is through the unchanging truth that salvation is a gift freely given and is not earned. The gift of grace and mercy is only found in Christ alone. So, just to recap so, sola Christo means Christ alone.
Speaker 2:
So, just to recap so, solo Christo means Christ alone. And at the heart of solo Christo underscores the significance of Jesus Christ as the sole mediator between humanity and God and emphasizes his unique role in salvation and spiritual connection. And it stands as a counterpoint to the notion that salvation can be attained through the means other than the person and work of Jesus Christ. So, as you know, this concept emerged during the Protestant reformation in the 16th century and it challenged the prevailing idea the religious institutions, rituals that there's a necessity for salvation, but it's something that it was only through christ's sacrifice on the cross that will be sufficient to reconcile us to God, and it eliminates the need for us to try to be good and do, and do good works, all right.
Speaker 2:
The last one is sola de gloria, so this means to the glory of god alone. So god is, he's the supreme being over everything, he's the creator of heaven and earth and because of his greatness and who he is, he deserves all praise and glory, because nothing is in existence without him. I like this quote in one of the references that I have, which is called how the five solas still are reforming the church, and the quote says the bible is a is at base a true story of death struggle between sworn enemies god and satan. Both of these figures want glory, but only one of them is only one of them. God deserves it. So before God created the earth, you know, he had a plan to save humanity from their sins. And salvation is God's gift to us. So it's through faith alone given to us by God, through grace alone given by God, through Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. And in salvation glorifies God. Only he can provide it and he can choose to give it to us.
Speaker 2:
Have men like Martin Luther, john Calvin, you know, sought to reform the practices of the Catholic Church and yeah, and sola de gloria was kind of like one of the pillars that they were trying to reform, saying that the things that we're supposed to do are to give, to be glorifying to God. Particularly, we use this latin phrase, sola de gloria. They, they had a heart and a desire to give glory to god. Um, you can often see in the end of musical compositions by the composer johanna sebastian bach and then george frederick handel. They were often put to the glory of God at the end of their compositions.
Speaker 2:
So this is during a time, during the reformation, that the church was entangled with corrupt and distorted biblical teachings and sola de gloria kind of refocused attention on the centrality of god's glory. So what is this? How this, how should this affect us today? You know we are, we're naturally selfish people. You know the world is into like self-love, self-care, self-preservation. You know that's real popular today. But as followers of christ, we we were to die to ourselves. You know, take up our cross and follow christ. So we're not supposed to be necessarily looking out for. You know, number one, which is supposed to most people think, oh, number one is me. But the number one thing we're supposed to do is, you know, love god with all of our heart and then love our neighbors, so we're supposed to sacrifice you know our needs to bring glory to God.
Speaker 2:
You know, in this quote From the book, how the five solos are still reforming the church. It says God wants to take self-centered glory seekers and make them God-centered glory seekers. So God deserves all of the glory, honor and praise because of who he is. And we are to live our lives to glorify God, to make his name great, because this is our highest purpose. You know, god's glory is deserved by him because, like I say, because who he is and because of who he is and what he's done. All right. So here's one final word to kind of help us put glorifying God in perspective.
Speaker 2:
Glorifying god in in perspective, and this is from um, one of the one of the references I have and this will be in the show notes. It's from the book god's glory alone, the majestic, the majestic heart of christian faith and life, what the reformers taught and why it matters today. And so this is the quote from them. It says While God's glory should indeed be Christians' chief motive and glory in all our conduct, we must remember above all that glory is the Lord and that in all His work he glorifies Himself, which is true. At the center we're able to recognize our call to glorify God for what it really is God's work in us, that he magnifies his glory through us.
Speaker 2:
So, you know, often in the world today, you know, we're driven by personal achievement and the pursuit of individual glory and fame or wanting to be known. And Sola Dei Gloria, you know, is a reminder for us as Christians that we have a higher purpose, a higher calling to. You know, give glory to god and to give it, to give it alone to him, so to the glory of god alone, is, like I say, one of the five solas. And you know there are foundational principles of the protestant reformation in the 16th century and this sola de gloria particularly emphasizes that all should be done with the ultimate aim of bringing glory and honor to God.
Speaker 2:
So I will challenge you to examine your motives behind your actions, your endeavors. You know, instead of trying to seek self-glorification, fame and kind of shift your focus on dedicating your talents and achievements to glorifying God in everything we do. So that wraps up our look at the five solas. You know, when we look back at at history, it gives us a perspective of how christians fought to understand god's word rightly and try to share that with other people around them. So it's important for us as believers to continue to study the bible for ourselves. You know, many of the doctor errors we see today are just a repeat from, you know, earlier time in history, and it's important to know what we believe and what the Bible has said.
Speaker 2:
So, I hope this kind of like short series it's just two parts was helpful for you. I will put some references in the show notes that I referenced in the podcast, but some also some others that I used so you can check them out if you want to. And until next time, remember God is always good and he's always faithful.
