The Five Solas are five Latin phrases (or slogans) that emerged during the Protestant Reformation and summarize the Reformers' basic beliefs and emphasis in contradistinction to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church of the day.

Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
: Salvation comes by God's grace or "favor" only—not as something merited by the sinner. This means that salvation is an unearned gift from God for Jesus' sake. This doctrine is the opposite of works' righteousness and conflicts with some of the aspects of the Roman Catholic doctrine of merit. This doctrine asserts divine monergism in salvation: God acts alone to save the sinner. The responsibility for salvation does not rest on the sinner to any degree as in "synergism" or Arminianism. Lutheranism holds that this doctrine must not be maintained to the exclusion of gratia universalis (that God seriously wills the salvation of all people).

Sola fide ("by faith alone")
: Justification (that is, being declared guiltless by God) is received by faith only, not good works, though in classical Protestant theology, saving faith is automatically accompanied by good works. This doctrine can be summarized with the formula "Faith yields justification and good works" and is contrasted with the Roman Catholic formula "Faith and good works yield justification." This doctrine is sometimes called the material cause or principle of the Reformation because it was the central doctrinal issue for Martin Luther and the other reformers. Luther called it the "doctrine by which the church stands or falls." This doctrine asserts the total exclusion of any other righteousness to justify the sinner other than the "alien" righteousness (righteousness of another) of Christ alone. Sola fide excludes even the sinner's own righteousness of sanctification or his "new obedience" from his justification.

Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
:The Bible is the only inspired and authoritative Word of God and is accessible to all (that is, perspicuous and self-interpreting). This doctrine is directly opposed to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that the Bible can be authentically interpreted only by Holy Apostolic Tradition, the Magisterium (that is, the Pope and bishops), and the ecumenical church councils. This doctrine is sometimes called the formal cause or principle of the Reformation, since it is the source and norm of the material cause or principle, stated above. The adjective (sola) and the noun (scriptura) are in the ablative case rather than the nominative case to indicate that the Bible does not stand by itself but is an instrument of God by which He comes to man.

Solus Christus ("Christ alone"; sometimes Solo Christo, "by Christ alone")
: Christ is the only mediator between God and man. Neither Mary, the saints, nor priests (other than Christ himself as "the Great High Priest") can act as mediator in bringing salvation. This doctrine is contrasted with the Roman Catholic doctrines of the intercession of saints and of the function of priests.

Soli Deo gloria ("Glory to God alone")
: All glory is due to God alone, since salvation is accomplished solely through his will and action—not only the gift of the all-sufficient atonement of Jesus on the cross but also the gift of faith in that atonement, created in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit. The reformers believed that human beings—even saints canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, the popes, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy—are not worthy of the glory that was accorded them.

External links

* Articles on the Five Solas from a conservative Calvinistic perspective
* FiveSolas.com a Reformed page devoted to the Solas
* "What do Lutherans believe?" a Lutheran exposition of three of the solas
* Catholic Encyclopedia on the Reformation including the Five Solas

Category:Protestantism
Five solas
Category:Latin religious phrases
Category:Christian theology
Category:Lutheranism
Category:Calvinism