Sola Gratia – Grace Alone

“Two things that every human being absolutely must come to understand are the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.”

R.C. Sproul

We have already considered the first of the Five Solas, Sola Scriptura, which addressed the church’s teaching on authority.  The Papacy claimed final authority, but the Reformers insisted that final authority belongs to the Bible, the Word of God.

We now turn to the next of the five Solas, Sola Gratia (Grace alone).  The question at the heart of this debate was whether human beings contribute anything to their salvation.  The Reformers taught that sinners are saved by God’s grace, His unmerited favour, alone and that there is nothing they can do to make themselves worthy of salvation.  By nature, we are rebellious toward God.  The Roman Catholic Church also taught that salvation comes by God’s grace, but it rejected the word sola (alone), suggesting that people could in some way make themselves more acceptable to God and so merit His grace.

If we look to the Bible as our authority, these verses make God’s teaching on this matter clear.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Ephesians 2v8-9

As this debate has continued through the centuries, false teaching about how salvation is received has often seemed more acceptable than the truth.  For that reason, the doctrine of Sola Gratia remains just as relevant today as it was during the Reformation.  James Montgomery Boice, a Reformed theologian and minister, wrote in Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?

“Today, large numbers of evangelicals undermine and effectively destroy this doctrine by supposing that human beings are basically good; that God owes everyone a chance to be saved; and that, if we are saved, in the final analysis it is because of our own good decision to receive the Jesus who is offered to us“.

Boice’s point is that if salvation ultimately depends on our decision, then we place human choice above God’s power.

Sola Gratia teaches that our salvation rests not on our goodness or intentions, but entirely on God’s power and grace, made effective through Jesus Christ.

“What He (Jesus) did was not to make it possible for them to save themselves.  No, He did far more than that.  He saved them.  He saved them with completely resistless power.  Every step leading to the salvation of God’s elect has been carried out in accordance with His eternal plan.  That is the central thing that we want to make clear in our whole treatment of the biblical doctrine of salvation.  Let me repeat, and if by mere repetition I could impress it forever on your minds and hearts, I should love to repeat it 100 times.  God, I say, by His saving work, did not make it possible for sinners to save themselves; He saved them.”

J Gresham Machen; ‘Christianity and Liberalism’

“So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.  And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”  Romans 11v5-6

“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,” 2 Timothy 1v9

First published 2024, revised.