By Grace, Faith, Scripture alone

Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, and Sola Scriptura are Latin words. They have come to be called the "motto" of the Protestant Reformation. In English they mean "Solely by Grace, Solely by Faith, Solely by Scripture." These three principles define the children of the Reformation.

Solely by grace—by grace alone. What does the word 'grace' mean? Grace is a gift, the giving of something that has not been earned or deserved. When you go to work, you earn money—when you get your paycheck, you have earned it through your time and sweat. But if the boss gives you a Christmas bonus, that is an act of grace; he was under no obligation to give you that bonus because you had done nothing to earn it.

Grace is an action. Grace isn’t the gift, it is the choice to offer the gift. An act of giving is only gracious when the person receiving your gift cannot give you something in return for your generosity. At Christmas we are in the habit of exchanging presents; but when you give a gift fully expecting to receive a gift in return, there is no grace involved in your giving—it is merely an exchange of goods. If you give money to a charity but then take a deduction for it on your income tax, that is not gracious giving either because you are benefiting from making your donation. Gracious giving is when you offer a blanket to a homeless man. Gracious giving is offering forgiveness to someone who has hurt you, with no expectation that they will do anything in response beyond replying "thank you." Our Lord illustrated the principle of gracious giving in Luke chapter 14: Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Grace can also be rejected. No one is forced to accept a gift if it is unwanted. A homeless man who is filled with pride might very well reject your offer of a blanket; a person who has wronged you might feel perfectly justified in her actions and spurn your offer to forgive her. There is no obligation to offer grace, nor is it automatic that a person accepts an act of grace.

We are saved solely by God’s grace. It is our decision to reject God and His way of life on a daily basis. We could devote every waking hour of our lives to God by constantly working for Him, praying to Him, and studying His Word, but we don’t. We could immediately forgive every person who wrongs us in some way, but all of us lose our tempers from time to time. We anger God with our thoughts, words and actions every day, and He is under absolutely no obligation to forgive us and take us back—yet He does. God forgives us because He is gracious—He is willing to offer us His mercy, expecting nothing in return except our reply of "thank You." In fact, it is impossible for us to earn God’s mercy in any way—Isaiah tells us, all our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). In Galatians chapter 2, Paul writes that no one will be made righteous by their efforts to obey God’s law. God knows that we cannot repay Him for His generosity towards us, yet He forgives us anyway—that is the grace of God.

And yet, that grace can be rejected. In the Gospel of Luke chapter 7, we read that the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John. They rejected being baptized because John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3). The Pharisees did not believe that they were sinners; in their deluded minds they led holy and perfect lives, so they had no need to be forgiven. Their pride caused them to reject God’s offer of grace—and with that rejection, they rejected God’s purpose for them--to be His own, to represent Him to those dying lost in their sins, and to spend eternity with Him in Paradise. Without God’s grace, life has no worthwhile purpose and can only end in tragedy. It is only by God’s grace that the blessings of personal worth and eternal life can be ours.

The second sola is solely by faith—by faith alone. God wants us to come to Him, but our sin is like a stormy ocean separating us from God. We cannot get across to the Almighty, because the storm of our sins constantly drives us away from Him until we finally become exhausted from the constant struggle and drown. The only way that God could get His offer of grace to us was by sending it with someone who was stronger than the fury of our sins. That bringer of grace was His Son Jesus. Jesus came into our world and withstood every temptation to sin that Satan could throw against Him. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that He has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. When Jesus was condemned to death, He was not condemned for His sins but for ours. When Jesus suffered rejection and torture, He was suffering the punishment for our sins. When Jesus died on the cross, He died the death that was the penalty due for our rebellion against God. But when Jesus rose from the dead alive again, He proved that He had more than compensated for all our failures—He had paid the full price for all our crimes of thought, word and deed, and still could return to life everlasting! He ascended back into heaven, where He represents our needs to God the Father; in Job 16:19-21 we read, Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.

Jesus is God’s chosen means by which His grace is offered to us. In Acts 4:12 Peter said, Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Without Jesus there is no way for our sins to be forgiven, no way for us to access God’s offered grace. But with Jesus being in heaven where we cannot see Him, how can we have a relationship with Him? By faith. Jesus connects us to Himself by creating faith in our hearts. In Romans chapter 10 we are told, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. It is Jesus’ words that create faith in us—faith which believes in Jesus as God’s one and only Son, faith which believes that Jesus made full atonement for our sins through His suffering and death, faith which believes that Jesus is alive, that He loves us, and that He will forgive us the moment that we sincerely beg for His mercy. Without faith, we cannot trust in a living Savior who is invisible to our eyes; it is by faith alone that we have access to God’s grace and are saved.

The third sola is solely by Scripture—by Scripture alone. 'Scripture' is another word for the Bible. Scripture is the complete collection of God’s teachings written for us by His prophets and apostles. We cannot receive God’s grace except by believing in Jesus Christ. But since Jesus is invisible to us, the only way that we can experience His faith-giving words is through the one book that has them on record—the Bible! Only the Bible contains eyewitness accounts of what Jesus did and said. Only the Bible can be trusted to speak about Jesus with 100% accuracy, because God has ensured the accuracy of every word. In 2nd Timothy 3:16, Paul wrote that all Scripture came forth from God’s mouth. Peter wrote, no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).

It is by Scripture alone that we know who Jesus is, what He has done for us, and what He has promised to us. Jesus gives us His words in the Bible so that we might gain faith in Him, and thus receive God’s grace. Human teachings have no value in comparison. As a matter of fact, keeping God’s words in the Bible pure is so important that near the beginning of the Bible, God said: Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, and again at the end of the Bible Jesus said, I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book (Deuteronomy 4:2, Revelation 22:18-19). God makes it clear that everything in His written word is important; no part of it is to be disregarded. The Lord also makes it clear that no human teachings are to be added to the divinely-revealed word of God, because human teachings are faulty and can mislead; only God’s word is useful for teaching, opposing evil, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is by Scripture alone that we can hear Jesus’ words and gain the faith that welcomes God’s gracious offer of forgiveness.

Which brings us to one final sola—soli Deo gloria. This is Latin for "Solely to God the glory." When we understand Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, and Sola Scriptura, it is clear to us that our rescue from captivity to sin and its curse of death is entirely due to God. We have no ability to save ourselves, all has been done on God’s initiative: He decided to save us, He sent His Son to achieve His purpose for us, and He caused the Bible to be written for us to bear witness to it all. Without God, we would still be lost in our sins, so when we give credit for our rescue from sin and hell, all glory goes to God alone.