Theological Term of the Week: Soli Deo Gloria
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at 3:30AM 
Literally, “glory to God alone.” The reformation slogan meaning that all glory is due to God alone. It is the overarching sola in the five solas, for it is becausesalvation is by grace alone (not earned or merited by us, but given to us by the Father), in Christ alone (grounded completely in the merit or work of Christ), through faith alone (by the instrumental means of faith in Christ and his work, with this trust in Christ itself being given to us by the work of the Holy Spirit), that all the glory for salvation goes to God, since it is He alone who works it.
- From scripture:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making knownto us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:3-14 ESV).
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”(1 Corinthians 1:27-31 NASB)
- From The Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelical:
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.
- From Living for God’s Glory by Joel Beeke, pages 146:
The seraphim declared in Isaiah 6:3, “The whole earth is full of [God’s] glory.” They affirmed that God is to receive glory in everything, even the damnation of the wicked, but the ultimate glory of God is that the earth is to be filled with the display of His saving grace. As Romans 5:21 says, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” So the greatest display of God’s glory in the world is shown through the person of His Son. As Acts 3:13 says, “The God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus.”
Learn more:
- Got Questions: Why is soli Deo gloria important?
- R. C. Sproul: What Does “Soli Deo Gloria” Mean?
- Ligonier Ministries: Glory to God Alone
- Stephen Nichols: Soli Deo Gloria: Glorifying God in Everything (video)
- D. A. Carson: Soli Deo Gloria (video)
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