Basic Beliefs of Christianity: The Five Sola’s

For the next few week on the blog we are going to look at something called the Five Sola’s. The word Sola is latin for alone. These 5 beliefs are essential parts of Christianity that talk about God’s plan of salvation. These 5 beliefs were best articulated (put together) at the Reformation (1500’s-1600‘s AD). These 5 beliefs are fundamental to the faith and understanding of Christians, they are very important things to get right. 

Whilst we are going to look at each of the Sola’s in individual posts, I thought I would spend this post giving you an overview of how the Five Sola’s fit together. The diagram above will be really helpful in understanding this. 

The bottom line has four key beliefs that Christians hold. What are these beliefs?

• Salvation is found in Christ Alone
• Salvation comes by Grace Alone  
• Salvation is received by Faith Alone
• Scripture Alone is the authority on matters about salvation

At the top, above these ideas is one final idea. It is that all things should be done for God’s glory alone. What this means we will look at in more detail soon. But there are some important things we can see from looking at all these beliefs together.

1. These are Ideas found in the Bible

You probably won’t find these exact words of the Sola’s in the Bible anywhere but you will find these ideas throughout the Bible. The Sola’s are a summary of what the Bible teaches and what Christians believe. This makes them very important.

2. These Beliefs are Linked

Whilst all these beliefs/ideas are individual concepts they are also linked to all the other Sola’s. If you change one of them you will change all of them. If you say that salvation is not received by faith (trust) alone than how can you say that it comes by grace (mercy/an undeserved gift) alone? It is crucial that we understand all of the Sola’s for to change one will likely change them all.

3. The Four Bottom Sola’s give God Alone the Glory

One good test to see if you have understood the Sola’s correctly is to ask yourself whether they give God all the glory. If your understanding of these ideas gives you or any other person something to boast in then you probably haven’t understood the Sola’s correctly. Let’s say we change the idea that salvation comes by Faith Alone. If salvation was to come by me doing lots of good stuff wouldn’t that mean I have something to brag about. If I didn’t get to heaven by just receiving God’s grace, if I got there by being a good person, I would be giving myself glory. This means God alone is not being glorified and this is a good indication that this belief is wrong.

So What?  

To you the Five Sola’s might sound like something that stuffy academics talk about. This is not the case at all. Getting these 5 things wrong can be the difference between eternal torment and eternal life for some people. For others not having a strong grasp on these ideas can mean they are missing out on some of the great joys and blessings of the Christian life. So make sure you tune in and find out about these important beliefs.