What are the 5 "solas" of the protestant reformation
The word "sola" is Latin for "alone" or "only."
The Five Solas of the Reformation are:
Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)
Solus Christus (Christ Alone)
Sola Fide (Faith Alone)
Soli Deo Gloria (To the Glory of God Alone)
Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)
What is the Protestant Reformation?
The Protestant Reformation was movement in the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe which tried to "reform" the Roman Catholic Church because of perceived doctrinal and moral corruption that undermined the Christian gospel. The upshot was not reform by exclusion. The Reformers were not tolerated in the church. Today, within Christianity, Roman Catholics and Protestants are the two largest groups among 2.2 billion professing Christians.
The five solas are important because they served as foundational principles of the Protestant Reformation, they summarise theological convictions about the essentials of Christianity and are Biblical principles held as the central to the doctrine of salvation.
Salvation? From What? What is the problem that make the five solas necessary?
'What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ' Romans 3:9-10,23
because of our sin none of us has a righetous standing before God, if we have to depend on our own righteosness all of us are in BIG trouble. we have fallen short of the glory of God; we have not treasured, we have not loved, we have not esteemed, admired, honoured the glory of God as the supreme value of our lives which is the very essence of sin.
'For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Romans 6:23
'By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. ' Romans 5:2,9
'Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.' John 3:36
We are by nature so rebelious to God that we live in a natural state of deserving wrath and are spiritually unable to solve our own problems because we are spiritualy dead.
'The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ' 1 Corinthians 2:14
We are spiritually dead; we love our sin more than we love God.
'For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.' Romans 8:7-8
Is there hope that we could live, and God could be 100% for us forever?
YES
YES
YES
This is the good news of Christianity. And the answer that the Protestant Reformation found in the Bible was this; Our being made alive in Christ, and God's being 100% for us forever, is
by God's grace alone,
on the basis of Christ alone,
received through faith alone,
so that all things lead ulimately to the glory of God alone,
with Scripture alone as the only final, decisive authority for discerning, teaching and defending these truths.