Jesus: The Only Way
The 5 Solas
As we approach this final week of our study of Christology, we are going to talk about how Jesus was not just a necessary sacrifice, but how He’s the only sacrifice that has ever been made or ever will be made for the propitiation of our sin. We have seen in our previous studies that Jesus was God, that He was the only sacrifice for sin, and that we must believe this if we are to consider ourselves Christians. However, the question must be asked, ‘What if I believe something else?’ ‘Is there another way to salvation with God without believing in Christ at all?’ To address this point, we are going to look at what the Reformers framed as the ‘5 Solas’. Back in the days of the Reformation, when Christianity was falling off its path of scriptural accuracy, the reformers came up with the 5 Solas in order to separate themselves from other groups that considered themselves Christian when they weren’t. These five standards acted as guardrails to the followers of Christ who claimed to believe in God’s Word alone over other rules and regulations that people put into play.
So what exactly are these 5 Solas? Ligonier Ministries defines the 5 Solas as follows, “The five solas were not exactly Reformation slogans, but they serve as a good summary of the Reformed faith. Neither Martin Luther nor John Calvin nor any other Protestant Reformer summarized his teachings in a tidy list including Scripture alone, Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone, to the glory of God alone. Taking flight in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this fivefold summary became the shorthand version of what is known as Reformed theology.” Scripture alone, Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone, and to the glory of God alone is what separates Bible-believing Christians from other groups and denominations. And as we can see, one of these points is ‘Christ alone’. There is no ‘Christ and’ or ‘Christ with’ or even ‘Christ plus’. We are saved solely because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Solus Christus
This is seen nowhere clearer in scripture than in John 14:6 “6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” It is clear that if we are to believe the scriptures, Jesus is not just a way to get to get to God, He is the way to get to God. One cannot claim to be a follower of Christ, while at the same time, believing in a type of universalism that states every religious path leads to God. This is simply not true. As a matter of fact, this is why the reformation started in the first place. When you look at history, the Catholic Church and the rise of Monks were taking the name of Christianity and running it through the dirt. You had Catholicism which believed in a more traditional, law-keeping, grace-earning practice, and you had the Monks who believed that if we are to truly live for Christ, we must seek for suffering ourselves, rather than live with it in our day-to-day lives of being Christ-followers. These practices and many more like them are why men like Martin Luther decided to take a stand and say, “Either you believe the Bible is the Word of God or you don’t.” As National Geographic says, “Broadly speaking, most of the challenges to the Catholic Church revolved around the notion that individual believers should be less dependent on the Catholic Church, and its pope and priests, for spiritual guidance and salvation. Instead, Protestants believed people should be independent in their relationship with God, taking personal responsibility for their faith and referring directly to the Bible, the Christian holy book, for spiritual wisdom.” The idea of Christ being our sole hope for salvation has not just been attacked by other religions outside of Christianity but has been attacked by denominations that consider themselves to be Christian inside of Christianity.
Jesus 100%
Furthermore, the route that views like Catholicism and many other religious groups take, is that you have to live to some sort of level of good in order to reach salvation. In other words, it’s not solely because of Christ that you can achieve salvation, you have to do some part of the work. As Paul reminds us in Romans 3:10-12 “10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” As we can clearly see, there is no amount of good that we can produce in order to earn salvation. That means that even if you rely 99% on the righteousness of Christ and 1% on your goodness to achieve salvation, you still won’t get there. God has made it crystal clear in His word, you are either saved 100% by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross or you aren’t saved at all. Jesus is the only way, not because reformers said so, but because God says so. No other payment for sins and no amount of our own righteousness could ever achieve this goal. Despite what you may have been taught growing up or what religion you claim to believe, if we are dependent on our fallen nature for salvation, we are in big trouble. If you or someone you know does not believe in the sacrifice of Christ alone for salvation, I pray that during this Christmas season, that will change. May we remember what our Lord told us about the Holy Spirit, and may He lead the lost to total faith in Christ this year. John 16:13-14 “13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
Sources
[1] “Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.Com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., www.biblegateway.com/. Accessed 2023.
[2] What are the Five Solas? (n.d.). Ligonier Ministries. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-are-the-five-solas
[3] The Protestant Reformation. (n.d.). https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/protestant-reformation/
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