Sola Gratia | Grace Not From Ourselves
The five solas of the reformation are intrinsically tied to one another. Each of the solas, which formed the foundation of the theology of the reformation, intertwine with one another feed off of and building each other up. Understanding the notion of grace apart from the person of Jesus Christ would be an impossible task. Nor would we have the revealed mind of Christ who spoke to us through his word as the authoritative source of divine revelation. Sola Gratia is no exception. Grace must be understood in light of the other doctrines of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done throughout the whole of human history revealed to us by the inerrant and sufficient word of God.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:1-10 , ESV
The idea of Sola Gratia depicts the notion that we are saved by grace, with grace being the unmerited favor of God. The history of the church, while giving verbal service to grace, heaped on the requirements for salvation and forgiveness of sins. Confessions booths turned into prescriptive actions in which people must do in order to be saved. Furthermore, this act echoed the actions of the Pharisees, who understood salvation through God alone would heap the requirements of holiness beyond what God had Himself directed, on the people. Even today, most Christians would openly say they hold to this belief but still struggle with the notion of grace and how our salvation is given. the idea of grace tends to be pervasive to the every day Christian attempting to either earn the favor of God or define ourselves by our own egotistical standards of holiness. Sola Gratia means we are saved by grace alone, not by our actions or anything we do. Salvation does not mean that man attempts to approach God but instead that God elected and returned mankind to Himself.
Not Of Ourselves
Paul, in his letter to the church in Ephesus, make the case for grace abundantly clear. We were dead in our sins. Not unclean in our sins or in need of a polish because of our sin, but dead. Yet, we attempt, time and time again, to paint the picture that we must bring our best to God in order for God to be pleased with us. This idea has been present through out all history. The sacrifice to gods in other religions sought to perform good enough to slake the blood thirst of whatever god they feared. This belief, although fully incompatible with the God of the bible, can still drive a fair amount of Christian’s beliefs. We feel that we must always be performing well, on point, and on proper brand or God’s love for us will depart. Thus, we strive for perfection, not as a means of glorifying God through our action but in an attempt to show we are worth of the affections of God. Yet, in doing so, we miss the core of the Gospel and the beauty of grace. As Jonathan Edwards once said “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”
Too often we attempt to say that we need to clean up our act in order to approach God. We worry that we will not gave the necessary qualifications in order to merit salvation. Grace, however, assures that we do not have the qualifications but that God’s love for us still persists. When we seeks to make an idol of our image and actions, we set ourselves up as on par with God who would be obligated to give us salvation. Yet, to do so imprisons ourself in our own actions. Deep down, our soul will never feel the relief when we attempt to earn our salvation or paint a consistent picture of our own inadequacy. Furthermore, no one else beliefs the perfect projection a person depicts of himself. Our actions will never be enough to obligate God to provide salvation and yet God, by willfully offering Jesus Christ as the propitiation of our sins, makes a way for those who would make Jesus Christ Lord to obtain salvation.
Salvation As A Gift
The question comes from the directionality of salvation. As we noted above, salvation is not man’s attempt to gain access to God by proving themselves good enough. Rather, the origin of salvation comes from God to man. The process is a highly top down process where a sovereign God reaches out to mankind for their sake. God’s desire remains to rescue His beloved creation from their sins. Furthermore, this rescue process comes solely out of the goodness and graciousness. God’s sovereign will dictates the salvation of mankind. Nothing is earned or determined by man but solely by God who seeks the redemption of His people. Grace is an unmerited gift given by God through the works of Jesus Christ on the cross to fully pay for our sins. Our own works produced only pain but the grace of God looks to return us to our right relationship with Him.
Where we once strove to obtain the love of God through our good works, instead, the love of God permits is to do good works. Part from the love of God, we can do no good works from the depths of our dead heart. It is only when the Spirit of God enters our hearts and saves us for Himself that we can produce good works. The fulfillment coming from being good enough that evaded us for so long will be given freely and openly through the grace that comes from Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift from God. The more we attempt to justify ourselves, the more we will find ourselves at odds with our heavenly Father. Just as Christ is the only way to salvation as only He could meet the requirements of holiness, grace is the only means by which we will find salvation as only God can save.
