The 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘴.

Most movements have slogans; they help promote the movement. The Protestant movement is no different. When it began in the 1500s, the Reformers came up with slogans. Back then the international language of Christendom was Latin, so of course the slogans are all in Latin.

The three I’m writing about today are called the solas—because they all start with the Latin word sola. You’re probably more familiar with the masculine form of it, solo, which is also an English word and means the very same thing: Alone, only, unaccompanied, done by one person without assistance. Anyway, the three slogans are:

Sola fide, “by faith alone.”

Sola gratia, “by grace alone.”

Sola scriptura, “by scripture alone.”

In the 20th century, various Christians created two more slogans which they claim are also part of the solas: Solus Christus, “Christ alone”; and soli Deo gratia, “glory to God alone.” I have no problem with people coming up with new slogans, but they aren’t part of the original solas, so I won’t talk about them as much.

So… why am I bringing up some five-century-old Latin slogans? Because sometimes you’re gonna hear Christians quote them, talk about them, use them… and use them wrong. The early Reformers had specific reasons for coining these slogans, and we gotta know what they meant by them before we just quote ’em haphazardly.

And even if people don’t use the Latin words—if they use the English translations “by faith alone,” “by grace alone,” and “by scripture alone,” or translate ’em into any other language and teach Christians about ’em—again, let’s know what the Reformers meant by them.

Sola fide.

IUSTIFICATIO SOLA FIDE ju.sti.fi'kɑ.ti.oʊ 'soʊ.lə 'fi.deɪ (Latin, “justification by faith alone”). Or sola fide. Belief that God considers people right with him based only on their trust in him, and not their actions, allegiance, nor attitudes.

[Fideist 'fi.deɪ.ɪst noun.]

Since the very beginning, Christians have taught we’re justified—made right with God—by our faith in him.

But we wanna emphasize this faith in God is not mere belief. It’s the sort of trust which spurs us to really follow God—to change our lifestyle, obey him, submit to him, develop the Spirit’s fruit, and transform into new and better people. To become a new creation. Frankly, if we don’t see this level of transformation in a Christian, and our “faith” makes no impact in our lives, it’s dead. Jm 2.14-17

Unfortunately, the way Roman Catholics have chosen to describe this sort of living faith… is to call it “faith plus works.” And they wanna see the good works, ’cause that’s what proves faith exists.

Except good works is not all that reliable a proof. Any pagan can do good works. Many pagans do!—and yet they might have little to no faith in God. Happens all the time.

The Reformers wanted to put the emphasis back on faith. True, living faith produces good works. But good works don’t automatically stem from faith. Pagans don’t do good deeds out of any faith in God; they do it because it makes them feel good about themselves, or it looks good to the public, or they’re gonna get paid or rewarded for it. God’s hardly gonna honor their good deeds by justifying them. He only does that with people who trust him.

Hence sola fide: Good works, though we absolutely oughta do them, don’t get us justified, don’t get us saved, and aren’t a prerequisite for salvation. Only faith in God is. God doesn’t justify us because we obey his commands; he justifies us because we trust him. Ro 3.28, Ga 2.16, 3.11

Of course, Catholics are gonna disagree ’cause James wrote we aren’t justified by faith alone. Jm 2.24 But that’s only because James made a distinction between the faith which produces good works, and the dead faith which produces nothing. Are we justified by the faith which produces good works? Of course we are! Are we justified by a dead faith? Nope! Dead faith is like those devils who believe in one God: They may have correct theology, but it does ’em no good. Jm 2.19

Martin Luther hated how James had to make this distinction, and wanted to toss his letter right out of the bible. It undermined his whole theology. And certain other Protestants likewise hate how James tells us not just any sort of “faith” justifies us to God; it’s much too Catholic for them. But sorry-not-sorry: I’m far more interested in being consistent with the inspired scriptures than with the Reformers. We’re justified by faith alone, but it’s gotta be a living faith. Not just any faith will do.

Now here’s where various Christians are gonna misuse sola fide: Quite often they’re gonna tell you we’re saved by faith alone—it’s salvatio sola fide. Yep, they mixed up the solas. We’re not saved by faith; we’re saved by grace. That’s the next sola.

Sola gratia.

SALVATIO SOLA GRATIA sɑl'vɑ.ti.oʊ 'soʊ.lə 'grɑ.dɪ.ə (Latin, “salvation by grace alone”). Or sola gratia. Belief that God saves people, not based on merit nor will nor actions, but based only on his favor.

When the Reformers first coined this term, they thought they were proclaiming something Catholics didn’t. On the contrary: Christians have always taught salvation is the product of God’s grace. No orthodox Christian disagrees with this.

As for heretic Christians, there are Pelagians, who claim we are saved by merit. If we do good deeds—especially the good deed of seeking God and his salvation—we’ll get his salvation. Pelagianism was declared a heresy by the Council of Carthage in 418, the second Council of Orange in 529, and by Roman Catholics ever since the Orthodox/Catholic schism, which was formalized in 1054. When the Catholics met to discuss Protestantism in the Council of Trent in 1545, they noted the Protestants were really emphasizing sola gratia—but they reaffirmed sola gratia themselves. They’ve always taught it.

So why’d the Reformers think the Catholics didn’t teach that? Because the sort of Catholics they kept constantly butting heads with, were kinda legalist. They tended to demand the Reformers repent, denounce and recant their teachings, and submit to them, lest they get kicked out of the church and go to hell. Sound like legalism to you? Certainly does to me.

So we’re all agreed: God saves us by his grace. Ac 15.11, Ep 2.5, 2Ti 1.9

Where we’re not all agreed, is exactly how God dispenses his grace:

• Calvinists insist God only offers it to Christians, and no one else.
• Catholics say God particularly dispenses his grace through sacraments, which is why we particularly gotta do them.
• The rest of us figure God offers grace to everyone. Tt 2.11 So accept it!

Sola scriptura.

SOLA SCRIPTURA 'soʊ.lə skrɪp'tu.rə (Latin, “by scripture alone”). Belief the bible is the supreme and final authority in every matter of doctrine and practice.

Ironically, sola scriptura isn’t biblical. The bible doesn’t describe itself as our final authority. It describes Christ as that authority. Mt 28.18 But as sola scriptura fans regularly point out, “And where do we find out what Christ expects of us? From the bible!”

Scripture is inspired by God. But its role, as Paul stated to Timothy, is to give us the wisdom which leads to faith in Jesus, teach us, correct and rebuke us, and train us to be righteous.

2 Timothy 3.15-17 NASB

15…and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.

“The true rule is this,” taught Martin Luther, “God’s word shall establish articles of faith, and no one else, not even an angel, can do so.”

So, everything we Christians do and preach must be consistent with bible. All our practices, traditions, bylaws, prophecies—everything must submit to the bible’s infallible authority.

Of course certain Christians and churches take sola scriptura a bit further. To them, it doesn’t just mean everything must be consistent with the bible, but everything must be proscribed by the bible. In other words, if it’s not in the bible, don’t do it. So they won’t sing popular worship songs or hymns, ’cause the words aren’t from the bible. They won’t do Christian art. They skip holidays, like Christmas, which aren’t in there. They keep slaves… okay, no they don’t, but slavery is in the bible, y’know. Like most Christians, a lot of their prohibitions have more to do with their personal tastes than actual fealty to scripture.

Other churches object to sola scriptura. Partly ’cause it’s not biblical, as I said: Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit are higher authorities than bible, and are likewise infallible witnesses to the truth.

And partly because sola scriptura folks have a really awful habit of ignoring or dismissing the Holy Spirit. They may not mean to, but they regularly do. They don’t trust prophecy; they think there’s way too much of a chance for deception, error, and confusion to take place, so they dismiss it altogether and claim God only speaks through bible. Which, I should point out, certain Christians regularly bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate, and use it to deceive, teach error, and sow confusion.

For those who object to sola scriptura—and yep, I’m one of them—we prefer prima scriptura, “scripture first.” The bible’s still an authority; still something we regularly gotta double-check against our teachings, beliefs, and traditions. Something we gotta use to confirm any prophecy is legitimately from God, because no revelation is gonna supersede nor invalidate scripture. It’s the Holy Spirit’s bible, after all.

But because Christ, not the bible, is our final authority, it means we’re not gonna be so quick to simply rule out every other revelation we get from God. The Holy Spirit remains in charge.

“The five solas.”

The other two solas are relatively new. And not bad teachings!—but they weren’t taught by the first Reformers, so you’re not gonna hear about them in every church. In fact some preachers are gonna look at them funny: “That’s new. Where’d you hear that? I never heard that in seminary.”

Solus Christus, “Christ alone,” is about how Christ Jesus is the only mediator between God and humans. 1Ti 2.5 A growing number of Catholics claim Jesus’s mother Mary is also a mediator between God and humans—that we can pray to her, and she’ll forward those prayers directly to our Father. Solus Christus was meant to reject that belief.

Now, not every Catholic believes that about Mary. They believe when they pray to saints, it’s just like when a Christian goes to another Christian and asks, “Can you pray for me?” We intercede for one another. There’s nothing wrong with intercession! But when we pray to the Father, we do it in Jesus’s name, because—again—he’s our mediator. He’s everybody’s mediator. His mom’s mediator too.

There are some Protestants who think solus Christus is about bashing the Catholic priesthood for daring to act like mediators between people and God. It wasn’t coined for that reason. But they wanna bash priests… forgetting all Christians are priests, ’cause when we share God with people and pray for them, that’s priestly behavior. And legitimate for Christians. We’re meant to do that. Don’t bash people who are trying to share God’s grace!

Lastly there’s soli Deo gratia, “glory to God alone.” The saying was coined long ago, but only recently have Protestants used it to object to Catholic teachings. These Protestants are pretty sure Catholics venerate saints, angels, and especially Mary, way too much. Crosses the line into worship and idolatry. We’re only to glorify God; no one else.

Before Protestants starting meaning that by it, Christians of all stripes used soli Deo gratia as a way to honor God. Artists would create a symphony, a concerto, a painting, a book, and say it was done soli Deo gratia, only for God’s glory—and not their own. Artists still use the term to mean that.

As do many authors. I know plenty of writers and preachers who sign off with soli Deo gratia because they only wanna glorify God with their works. Depending on the preacher, it can sound either humble or pretentious; some of ’em are obviously interested in self-promotion, and soli Deo gratia sounds like pure hypocrisy coming out of their mouths.

I come across that meaning far more often than I do the anti-Catholic meaning. But do be aware that’s why Protestants claim it’s one of the “five solas”—despite many Catholics using the term too.