The Five Solas part 4

The issue of authority was the other great controversy during the Reformation. Besides justification by faith, the authority of Scripture came to the forefront and rightfully so. Today this is known as sola scriptura, one of the five solas.

This issue became so prominent for Martin Luther and others as the traditions of the Roman Catholic church at the time (and now) for justification were rooted in penance and merit and works. Scripture teaches none of the methods as a way to salvation, only justification by faith. Rome set these traditions as equal to Scriptural authority.

Mark 7:9 tells us that we are not to observe the traditions of men should they make us disobey Scripture. And so, Protestantism, the Reformed, holds to sola scriptura. Yes, we embrace creeds and confessions but the bible will always take precedence in any conflict especially in conflicts with traditions of men. Scripture is and always will be our highest authority.

An outstanding explication of sola scriptura can be found in the video below by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.

The Five Solas part 3

Moving into our third study of the "solas" we come to solus Christus. If justification comes to us by faith alone and from God’s grace alone it cannot be forgotten that it is all through the work of Christ alone. Here we see it all come together through the finished work of Christ on the cross. It is the gospel story, plain and simple.

Adam, being the first man was required to keep the law but he did not and fell into sin. He and all of his descendants came under the curse of God’s wrath (Genesis 2:15-17; Romans 5:12-21). God intervened with a covenant of grace with the people of his choosing. God reckons these as righteous based on the work of Christ who came and lived a perfect, sinless life, died on the cross and rose again in three days and ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God. God made him to be sin who knew no sin (Corinthians 5:21). His righteousness is imputed to his children and they are reckoned as sinless. God did not, of course have to provide this covenant and yet he did so because of his great love for his people.

In the closing of his sermon, The Sufficiency of Christ Alone, John MacArthur stated, You come to Christ, you receive the forgiveness of sins. You come to Christ, you receive a new nature, a new disposition, a new heart that loves righteousness. You come to Christ and you die to the past and you rise to new life. You come to Christ and you’re delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. You come to Christ and you literally come to the truth that transcends, the truth you’ll never find anywhere except in the Word of God and even this truth you’ll never understand until the Spirit of God takes up residence and becomes your teacher, and then you know the deep things of God. It’s all in Christ. All truth, all wisdom, all knowledge, all understanding, all peace, all joy, all value, all fulfillment, all satisfaction, all purpose, all deliverance, all strength, all comfort, and all eternal hope is in Christ. To have Him is to have everything. Not to have Him is to have nothing. What a powerful proclamation. Read the whole sermon here.

"The Sower" Sermon on Mark 4:1-20

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In the Care of the Good Shephard

I'm always on the lookout for good, Reformed, devotional material and so I was happy to see that Iain Campbell has just publishhed his latest work, In the Care of the Good Shephard.

Learn more about it here.

Piper on God's Sovereignty

As we ready ourselves for worship tomorrow, let us meditate on God's sovereignty described by John Piper in this post:

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is an anchor for the troubled soul, a hope for the praying heart, a stability for fragile faith, a confidence in pursuing the lost, a guarantee of Christ’s atonement, a high mystery to keep us humble, and a solid ground for all praise. And oh so much more. O Lord, turn this truth for the triumph of your saving and sanctifying grace.

The Five Solas part 2

As we move into our study of the next sola, "sola gratia" (grace alone), we should first take note that grace is initiated by God, not by ourselves. It is God who changes the believer’s heart and gives him the ability to believe or have faith. We have nothing to do with it and yet we want to. The Reformed faith holds fast to the fact that our salvation, every step of the way, is and can only be attributed to God. As man is dead in his sins, it is God who must work in him to bring him to saving faith. We know this from the book of Ephesians where we read in verse one, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins" and in verses 8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." So we see that salvation cannot be achieved by anything that we do, it is a gift from God.

It is a common misconception that if a man takes the first step in faith, so to speak, and prays a prayer of some kind that he is saved and a new life has begun. This is sometimes called "percentage theology’ or "percentage salvation" meaning that, even though very small, man has a part in his salvation. But this passage in Ephesians makes it clear that that is just impossible. God initiates it – it is a gift. And, left to himself in his sin, man would never choose God. Verse one above states that man is dead - dead men cannot make decisions. Hence, it is the work of God, regeneration precedes faith.

Moreover, we see how just how special and the great import of this doctrine. God chose his people before the foundations of the earth (Eph. 1:4). We should not take this lightly.

The Sacrifice Has Been Accepted

If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these thing. (Judges 13:23)

This is a sort of promise deduced by logic. It is an inference fairly drawn from ascertained facts. It was not likely that the Lord had revealed to Manoah and his wife that a son would be born to them and yet had it in His heart to destroy them. The wife reasoned well, and we shall do well if we follow her line of argument.

The Father has accepted the great sacrifice of Calvary and has declared Himself well pleased therewith; how can He now be pleased to kill us! Why a substitute if the sinner must still perish? The accepted sacrifice of Jesus puts an end to fear.

The Lord has shown us our election, our adoption, our union to Christ, our marriage to the Well-beloved: how can He now destroy us? The promises are loaded with blessings, which necessitate our being preserved unto eternal life. It is not possible for the Lord to cast us away and yet fulfill His covenant. The past assures us, and the future reassures us. We shall not die but live, for we have seen Jesus, and in Him we have seen the Father by the illumination of the Holy Ghost. Because of this life-giving sight we must live forever. - From Faith's Checkbook by C.H. Spurgeon

The Five Solas part 1

The Reformed faith can be defined by the well known acronym T.U.L.I.P. However, another way it can be defined is by the five "solas" which are Soli Fide, Soli Gratia, Solus Christus, Soli Scriptura and Soli Deo Gloria. Perhaps these are familiar and then again perhaps they are not. These may also be more commonly known as "by Faith Alone", "by Grace alone", "Christ alone", Scripture alone" and "Glory to God alone." These phrases were born of the Protestant Reformation and were used to define the Reformers basic beliefs. The Latin sola means "only" or "alone". Each bears its name as a testimony to the heart of the true Reformed faith and each is worth at least a brief examination.

First, a look at Sola Fide which is often called "The Heart of the Gospel" because it answers the basic question of all mankind which is, how can sinful man be justified before a perfect and righteous God? This teaching comes to us through the book of Galatians and particularly, chapter 2, verse 16, which states, "... yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law no one will be justified."

Contrary to others, the Protestants (Reformed) add the word alone. There is nothing we can add to attain our salvation for our works are nothing but "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). "Only the merit of Christ can set us right with God and we access this merit by trusting in Christ alone" (Tabletalk, August 2009, pg. 46). We should also note that we are justified first, the Lord does not wait for us to be righteous first or we would never be justified.
As each sola is tied to one another, a brief study of each is required. Next time: Sola gratia, by Grace alone.

Want more? Here’s a short video from R.C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries on "Faith alone."