Theological Term of the Week

five solas
Literally, the “five alones,” the “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”,1 consisting of sola scriptura (scripture alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone).  

• From scripture:

  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.(2 Timothy 3:14-17)

  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.(Acts 4:12)

  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins … and were by nature children of wrath…. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:1-8)

  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring….(Romans 4:4-5, 16)

  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.(Romans 11:36)

• From The Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelical, 1996 (pdf):
  

  Today the light of the Reformation has been significantly dimmed. The consequence is that the word “evangelical” has become so inclusive as to have lost its meaning. We face the peril of losing the unity it has taken centuries to achieve. Because of this crisis and because of our love of Christ, his gospel and his church, we endeavor to assert anew our commitment to the central truths of the Reformation and of historic evangelicalism. These truths we affirm not because of their role in our traditions, but because we believe that they are central to the Bible.

  Thesis One: Sola Scriptura
  We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian’s conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.

  Thesis Two: Solus Christus
  We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father. We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ’s substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.
  

  Thesis Three: Sola Gratia
  We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God’s wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life. We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerated human nature.

  Thesis Four: Sola Fide
  We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice. We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ’s righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.

  Thesis Five: Soli Deo Gloria
  We reaffirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God’s glory and that we must glorify him always. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone. We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching, or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment are allowed to become alternatives to the gospel.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What are the five solas?
2. Greg Strawbridge: The Five Solas of the Reformation
3. Monergism.com: What are the “five solas,” and what do they mean?
4. Michael Horton: Five Pillars of the Reformation
5. North Ryde Anglican Church: 5 Solas of the Reformation (pdf with study questions)
6. Tim Challies: Reformed Theology (infographic)
7. Steve Lawson: The Five Solas of the Reformation (mp3)

Related terms:

• sola fide (faith alone)
• sola gratia (grace alone)
• sola scriptura (scripture alone)
• solus Christus (Christ alone)
• soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone)

1From Theopedia

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do. Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

ordo salutis
An ordered list intended to describe the logical order of the saving benefits of Christ’s work which are given to those who are being saved in order to  show the relationships between those benefits in the saved person’s experience of them; literally, the order of salvation.

• From Romans 8:29-30:

  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

• From John Frame’s Salvation Belongs to the Lord, page 183:

  We should be flexible as to what goes into the ordo and what does not. The Bible itself doesn’t use the phrase ordo salutis… And Scripture does not include anywhere a list of all the events theologians typically include under that label. Myself, I think that the ordo is mainly a pedagogical device. As you go through the various items on the list, there is no consistent principle of ordering. Some items precede other items because the first comes earlier in time, the other later. That is the case with effectual calling and glorification. Other items on the list precede others because one is a cause, the other an effect, as with regeneration and faith. Still others come before others not because of temporal priority or causal priority but because of what theologians call instrumental priority, as in the relation of faith to justification. And still other pairs of events are simply concurrent or simultaneous blessings, like justification and adoption. So the order means different things: sometimes cause and effect, sometimes earlier and later, sometimes instrument and object, sometimes mere concurrence. Nevertheless, the order does bring out important relationships between these events, relationships that the Bible does set forth.
  

• From Monergism.com, Ordo Salutis:
  

  Historically in the Church there has been disagreement about the order of salvation, especially between those in the Reformed and Arminian camps. The following two perspectives of God’s order in carrying out His redemptive work reveals the stark contrast between these two main historic views. Keep in mind that both viewpoints are based on the redemptive work which Christ accomplished for His people in history:
  
  In the Reformed camp, the ordo salutis is 1) election, 2) predestination, 3) gospel call 4) inward call 5) regeneration, 6) conversion (faith & repentance), 7) justification, 8) sanctification, and 9) glorification. (Rom 8:29-30)
  
  In the Arminian camp, the ordo salutis is 1) outward call 2) faith/election, 3) repentance, 4) regeneration, 5) justification, 6) perseverance, 7) glorification.
  
  Notice the crucial difference in the orders of regeneration and faith. While the Reformed position believes spiritual life is a prerequisite for the existence of the other aspects of salvation, the Arminians believe that fallen, natural man retains the moral capacity to receive or reject the gospel of his own power.
  

 

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Ordo Salutis
2. Monergism.com: What does the “ordo salutis” mean and why is it important?
3. Here at Rebecca Writes: Ordo Salutis
4. Third Millenium: Ordo Salutis
5. Kim Riddlebarger: Basics of the Reformed Faith: The Order of Salvation
6. Tim Challies: Visual Theology - The Order of Salvation

Related term:

• order of God’s decrees
• historia salutis

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

 

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

creation ex nihilo

Literally, creation “out of nothing,” refering to the tenet that prior to God’s first creative act, only God existed, and there was no material in existence, so that when God created the universe, he did not use preexisting materials.

• From the Belgic Confession, Article 12:

  We believe that the Father by the Word, that is, by His Son, has created of nothing the heaven, the earth, and all creatures, when it seemed good unto Him; giving unto every creature its being, shape, form, and several offices to serve its Creator…

• Hebrews 11:3:
  

  By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

• From Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology:

  Because God created the entire universe out of nothing there is no matter in the universe that is eternal. All that we see—the mountains, the oceans, the stars, the earth itself—all came into existence when God created them….
  
  This reminds us that God rules over all the universe and that nothing in creation is to be worshiped instead of God or in addition to him. However, were we to deny creation out of nothing, we would have to say that some matter has always existed and that it is eternal like God. This idea would challenge God’s independence, his sovereignty, and the fact that worship is due to him alone; if matter existed apart from God, then what inherent right would God have to rule over it and use it for his glory? And what confidence could we have that every aspect of the universe will ultimately fulfill God’s purposes, if some parts of it were not created by him? 

Learn more:

1. Got Questions.org: What does creation “ex nihilo” mean? 
2. Tim Challies: Essential Theology: Creation
3. J. I. Packer: God Is the Creator
4. Theopedia: Creation out of nothing
5. Theopedia: Creation
6. Fred Sanders: Notes for a Doctrine of Creation
7. Wayne Grudem: The Doctrine of Creation, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (mp3s)

Related terms:

• decree(s) of God
• general revelation
• image of God
• fall (of man)

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work.

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.