The Five Solas: Foundation of Christian Faith and Its Impact on Believers Today: Part 1

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What if the foundation of your faith was not as solid as you believed? Journey with us as we uncover the pivotal transformations that reshaped Christianity during the Protestant Reformation. This episode promises an enlightening exploration of the Five Solas, starting with the principle of Sola Scriptura. By diving into the historical context and enduring relevance of Sola Scriptura, we aim to reinforce the importance of Scripture as the ultimate guide for our beliefs and lives.

If you want to read more about the five Solas check out these references

Sola: How the Five Solas Are Still Reforming the Church By: Jason Allen
GotQuestions.org What are the five solas?  https://www.gotquestions.org/five-solas.html

God's Word Alone  The Authority of Scripture  What the Reformers Taught….. and Why it Still Matters (2016)  by Matthew Barrett (The 5 Solas Series)

Sola How the Five Solas are Still Reforming the Church (2019). Jason K. Allen Gen Editor Contributors Wilson. J., Duesing, J., Barrett, M,. Strachan, O.

Grace Alone  Salvation As A Gift Of God  What the Reformers Taught……and Why It Still Matters (2017)  by Carl R. Trueman  (The 5 Solas Series)

Do you want to learn how to study the Bible? Check out the YouTube channel Faithfullyliven youtube.com/@faithfullyliven

Do you want to read about how to live faithfully? Check out the blog http://lyfe102.org

Get a free Road Map to get started learning how to study the Bible https://mailchi.mp/88f9c9405da0/bible-study-road-map

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Faithfully Living, the Podcast where we
learn how to live for Christ inour daily lives.
I'm Dwan, your host, and Iwould like to invite you on a
journey with me to explore andlearn how to be a faithful
follower of Christ.
Hi everyone, welcome toFaithfully Living, the podcast,

(00:27):
where we strive to encourage youto live for Christ faithfully
by offering guidance on how tostudy the Bible, how to
understand the Bible better andhow to remain faithful to
historic Christianity in acontemporary society.
So in this episode I'm going totalk a bit about history.

(00:50):
So history is important andI've always loved learning about
the past.
You know history tells us wherewe've been and how we progress,
and you know sometimes thisprogression is good and
sometimes it's not so good.
So, looking back, we can seethe mistakes that we've made and
how truth has stood the test oftime.

(01:12):
So we're going to look at thefive solas.
One of these times in historywe're going to look at is the
Protestant Reformation.
Is the Protestant Reformation?
This is a time when there was arevolt against the abuses and
controlling nature of the RomanCatholic Church.
So there were people like JurekZingrit, martin Luther and John

(01:36):
Calvin who stood up andprotested against the unbiblical
practices of the Roman CatholicChurch.
And these men and others aroundthe world at various times were
striving to return back tosound biblical doctrine.
So one of these events, thehighlight, is when Martin Luther

(02:00):
, on October 31st 1517, postedhis 95 Theses to the Door of the
Wittenberg Church.
Now there are several productsof the Protestant Reformation
that help define sound biblicaldoctrine more clearly.

(02:21):
So to combat the false doctrineand teachings that they saw in
the church, the Protestantreformers developed like the
five solas.
They kind of did it as theywere trying to combat the
practices of the church.
So these five solars are whatseparated Protestantism from

(02:46):
Roman Catholicism.
So sola is the Latin word foralone.
So the five solars are fiveLatin phrases that distinguish
between the Protestant reformersand, like I say, the Roman
Catholic Church.
So the solas are sola scriptura, means scripture alone.
Sola fidel faith alone.

(03:09):
Sola grata grace alone.
Sola Christo, christ alone.
And sola de gloria, to theglory of God alone.
So each was written to correctthe incorrect practices and
teachings of the Roman CatholicChurch, and so the reformers

(03:31):
wanted to follow what the Biblestated on these matters
implicated in these five solas.
And these five were highlightedto help people know and
understand sound biblicaldoctrine.
So these doctrines wereessential then and they're
crucial for us as believers now.

(03:52):
So, as you can see,christianity has stood the test
of time because of who God is,and believers throughout history
have helped to articulate sounddoctrine a little bit more
clearly.
So we're going to look at eachone to understand its importance
in the life of a believer today, and I will be talking about

(04:16):
them over the next two episodes.
So this is going to be part oneand then the next episode you
hear is going to be part two.
So stay tuned.
The foundation of our religionis the written word, the

(04:40):
scriptures of god, hydro, zinger, all right embracing solar
scriptor, which is scripturealone.
So what is what is scripturealone?
What is solar scriptor?
So solar scriptor is latin forscripture alone.

(05:00):
So we know that the bible isgod breathed, it, it's truthful,
it's trustworthy, it's the wordof God, and scripture is to be
our authority in our life and itshould guide and formulate our
beliefs and affect our lives.
I want to reference this book,sola Sola, how the five solars

(05:28):
are still reforming the churchtoday.
This quote says, as thefoundational principle sola
scriptura is the doctrinalfoundation upon which we erect
the entirety of Christian belief, including our understanding of
the gospel itself.
So what we believe about theBible is very, very important

(05:50):
and it shapes how we think andhow we act.
This is why the Bible should bethe final authority for us as
followers of Christ.
So, to talk about a little bitof history, it was in the 16th
century that the Roman CatholicChurch was the authority on
religious matters, and then youhad men like Martin Luther.

(06:14):
John Calvin, zingrit, to name afew, were questioning some of
the church and the Pope'spractices, and then they also
questioned the church's belief.
That Also questioned thechurch's belief, the Pope and
the traditions that hadauthority over God's word.

(06:40):
So as time passed the reformersthey began to stress the
infallibility and authority ofthe scripture, and this led to
the bible being translated soordinary people could read it,
and just not the you know, justnot the bishops and popes
themselves, and it was becauseof what they believe as

(07:04):
scripture alone.
It's how Protestantism kind oftook root, as they were trying
to spread the Bible where itcould be accessible to ordinary
people and they can read it.
So what is this meaning for ustoday?

(07:25):
I think it's important to youknow.
Think about.
What do you truly believe aboutthe bible?
Is it the final authority foryour life?
You know how.
How are you demonstrating thisin your daily life like are you
looking at your experiences morethan you're looking at the

(07:47):
authority of scripture?
You know it's always importantto know that.
You know we have to study thebible diligently and believe
that it is the guidebook.
It's god's word, it's his wordfor us, and we have to know what
it teaches in order for it tochange our hearts and minds.

(08:07):
So when we believe something,it it's going to change us.
It's going to change how wethink and then how we act, and
then it's important that westick with the change in which
we are trying to make.
Knowing the Bible is great, butif we don't believe its
authority over us, we're notgoing to have any fruit in our

(08:31):
life to show that we truly dobelieve what the Bible says.
So let's be diligent studentsof the word and then also
faithful doers of the word.
All right.

(08:58):
Next solo is Sola GatuaEmbracing Grace Alone, amazing
grace.
How sweet the sound that saveda wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'mfound.
I was blind, but now I see JohnNewton.
So grace, you know we can'tearn it.

(09:18):
So sola grata is one of thefive solas and it means grace
alone.
Salvation is a gift of God andis given us through grace alone,
and grace is the basis for oursalvation.
You know grace is God'sunmerited favor to us.

(09:41):
So there are two types of graceyou got special grace, where
God offers unmerited favorthrough the work of Jesus Christ
, where God offers unmeritedfavor through the work of Jesus
Christ.
And then there's common grace,where God shows unmerited but
non-salvific favor towardspeople in general.
Meaning common graces doesn'tsave anyone.

(10:03):
So our focus is on the salvificgrace, the one that saves us.
No-transcript.
I like this quote by Chudman.
It says Grace is at the heartof the gospel.

(10:24):
It is the doctrine that touchesthe very heart of human
existence, because it not onlyreveals to us the very heart of
God but draws us back into thatprecious communion with him that
was tragically lost in the fall.
So our relationship was brokenduring the fall.

(10:46):
You can see that, read that inGenesis 3.
And the condition of our hearts, you know, are wicked.
Jeremiah 79 says the humanheart is the most deceitful of
all things and desperatelywicked.
Who can really know how bad itis.
So that's how.
That's why we say we can'tfollow, follow our heart,

(11:08):
because it is wicked and it'ssinful, and we couldn't restore
our relationship with god afterwe had sinned.
It is only through theinitiation of God, through the
sacrifice of his son, that wecould be reunited with God.

(11:28):
So the doctrine of sola gratagrace alone was championed by
reformers like Martin Luther andJohn Calvin.
Luther and John Calvin and atthis time the prevailing
religious practices that werefostered in the Roman Catholic
Church was a works-basedrighteousness that one had to

(11:50):
earn their way to God.
The idea that salvation bygrace alone ignited the
transformational movement of the16th century and kind of
redirect, directed the focusback on understanding the
biblical nature of salvation.

(12:10):
So, of course, what does thismean for us today?
Or how does it point us to?
To god.
It lets us know and lets us seethat God's grace saves us and
keeps us living in grace to dohis good works.
So Sola Grata liberatesbelievers from the burden of

(12:33):
legalism and thenself-righteousness.
By recognizing that salvationis not a reward for good deeds,
we are set free to experienceGod's love without fear of
falling short.
So this freedom is not licensedor not, a free pass for us to

(12:53):
be complacent.
We should encourage others andencourage ourselves to be
grateful and to do good worksbecause of the grace we have
received through Jesus Christ.
God save you by his grace.
God save you by his grace whenyou believe, and you cannot take

(13:20):
credit for this.
It is a gift from God, andthat's Ephesians 2, 8 through 10

(13:44):
.
All right, so that was the wastwo of the five solas that we're

(14:08):
going to talk about.
Stay tuned for the rest of thefive solas.
If you want to read more aboutthe five solas, check out the
references in the show notes.
And until next time, god isalways good and he's always
faithful.
Thank you for listening to thepodcast.
Do me a favor by following thepodcast and leaving a review to

(14:30):
help spread the word.
I look forward to hearing fromyou.