The Five Sorta's

You've likely heard of the five solas of the Reformation. Just for review, they are Latin phrases -- sola gratia, sola fide, solus Christus, soli Deo gloria, and sola scriptura -- which translate into English as "grace alone," "faith alone," "Christ alone," "glory to God alone," and "Scripture alone". If you string them together, you would say, "We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone all on the basis of Scripture alone." Sort of. I will refer to them as the five sorta's because "sola" -- alone -- is not quite accurate.

You can see at the outset that there is a problem. If we are saved by "grace alone" through "faith alone," then we aren't saved by grace or faith alone, are we? And so on. So what exactly are these intended for? Each of these five is written for the purpose of refuting a particular error. The "alone" means "in opposition to that idea."

So, we are saved by grace "alone." That is, we are saved by God's unmerited favor and not some earned favor. We don't work for it. We don't merit it. It's not because we're just so cuddly or whatever. Without merit (Rom 11:6); grace alone. We are saved on the basis of faith "alone." That is, "We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ" (Gal 2:16). We are saved by faith apart from works; faith alone. Sure, we are saved by unmerited favor and, sure, we are saved by faith apart from works, but that's certainly not the basis by which we are saved. Instead we know that our only means of salvation is Christ. Not by works or merit or the church or dispensations or purgatory or ... any other salvation. Just Christ. "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). So the three -- grace, faith, and Christ -- work together for our salvation. None of them are "alone," but they are alone in their categories, alone in competing theories.

Often overlooked is that soli Deo gloria thing -- glory to God alone. As it turns out, it's almost not necessary, except that we overlook it. The fact is that all of creation is about God's glory alone. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth for His glory. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork" (Psa 19:1). All that has followed that is ultimately for His glory. There is no higher purpose. So our salvation is not for our glory, but for His. And yet, the suggestion, again, is not that God's glory is all there is. We know this because Scripture says we are "heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him" (Rom 8:17). That we will be glorified is part of the Gospel (Rom 8:28-30). So while the ultimate glory is all God's, it doesn't mean that His glory is the only glory.

Given all these "alones" that are not, technically, alone, what about that last? Does sola scriptura really mean "Scripture alone"? The Reformers believed that Scripture was the only infallible source for revelation. As such, they believed it was the primary source for instruction on matters of faith and practice. The bottom line source. This was, again, in opposition to contenders for this role. The Roman Catholic Church argued that Tradition was a second infallible source and the Magesterium (the Church's authority) was a third infallible source. The Reformers denied the other two as infallible ... as infallible, not as valuable. Paul himself urged Corinth (1 Cor 11:2) and the Thessalonians (2 Thess 2:15) to hold to the traditions he had passed on. Scripture says that church leadership has "charge over you" (1 Thess 5:12-13) and you should "obey your leaders and submit to them" (Heb 13:17) with reference to church leadership. It's not that they have no authority or value; they do. It's that their ultimate source is Scripture. So, again, not alone. Christ is the head of the church (Eph 5:23), so Scripture's authority itself is derived ... from Christ. Not alone.

All of these "alones" are not actually alone. Each refers to a particular error that they address. Each points to the correct version -- grace, not merit, faith, not works, Christ, not any other source, God's glory as ultimate and not mine. Even Scripture is not alone; it's just primary, predicated entirely on the authority of Christ. So on one hand when we understand these to mean absolutely "alone," we make a mistake, and on the other hand when we let one or another of these correctives go because "It's not alone," we make an equal mistake. When we discard Christ as our basis for salvation and substitute works, we are in error. When we set aside Scripture as primary authority and substitute our own personal judgment, we are in error. We should be careful to correct those errors in either direction.