Sola gratia
Protestant Reformation |
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Sola scriptura |
Sola fide |
Sola gratia |
Solus Christus |
Soli Deo gloria |
A series of articles on |
Grace in Christianity |
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Sola gratia, meaning by
History
The Catholic Church teaches salvation by grace alone in contradistinction with salvation by faith alone:[3]
The Catholic Church teaches that good works done after regeneration (at baptism) and justification are (if certain conditions are met) meritorious and can contribute to salvation and attainment of eternal life, but only hand-in-hand with, soaked in, enabled by, grace, which alone saves us. Catholics believe in sola gratia. It’s a faith that is not separated from works (per James). Faith inherently includes these works. But we’re not saved by faith alone (that’s where Protestantism errs); we’re saved by grace alone. We may describe Catholic soteriology as follows: By the grace of God, we are saved through our faith; this faith entails by its very nature, good works, always enabled by prior grace, without which this faith is dead.
During the
Consequently, they argued that a sinner is not accepted by God on account of the change wrought in the believer by God's grace, and indeed, that the believer is accepted without any regard for the merit of his works—for no one deserves salvation; at the same time, they condemned the extreme of antinomianism, a doctrine that argues that if someone is saved, he/she has no need to live a holy life, given that salvation is already "in the bag".[4] It is also linked to the five points of Calvinism.
The Eastern Orthodox Churches affirm salvation by grace, teaching:[5]
So we, as Orthodox Christians, affirm as clearly and unambiguously as any Lutheran, for example, that “salvation is by grace” and not by our works. Unlike medieval Catholicism, Orthodoxy does not hold that a person can build up a “treasury of merits” that will count in our favor at the Judgment Seat of Christ. What will matter then is our having surrendered our sin to God through confession, and our gestures of love (Mt. 25), together with the unshakable conviction that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” and the unique Way to eternal life.[5]
Being
Recent activity
In November 1999, the
On July 18, 2006, delegates to the World Methodist Conference voted unanimously to adopt the declaration. The Methodists' resolution said the 1999 agreement "expresses a far-reaching consensus in regard to the theological controversy which was a major cause of the split in Western churches in the 16th century" about salvation.
Some conservative Protestants still believe the differences between their views and those of the Catholics remain substantial, however. They insist that this agreement does not fully reconcile the differences between the Reformist and Catholic viewpoints on this subject.[8][9][10][11][12]
See also
- Christian views on the Old Covenant
- Conditional security
- Expounding of the Law
- Imparted righteousness
- Irresistible grace
- Justification (theology)
- Law and Gospel
- Paul the Apostle and Jewish Christianity
- Sanctification in Christianity
References
- ^ Griffith, Howard (Spring 2018). "Luther in 1520: Justification by Faith Alone". Reformed Faith & Practice: The Journal of Reformed Theological Seminary. 3 (1). Orlando, Florida: Reformed Theological Seminary: 28-37. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ISBN 9781933146348.
The message of the Lutheran and Reformed theologians has been codified into a simple set of five Latin phrases: Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), Solus Christus (Christ alone), Sola Fide (faith alone), Sola Gratia (by grace alone) and Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone).
- ^ a b Armstrong, Dave (5 February 2018). "Is Grace Alone (Sola Gratia) Also Catholic Teaching?". National Catholic Register.
- ISBN 9780199646920.
- ^ a b Breck, John (2 August 2010). "Salvation Is Indeed By Grace". Orthodox Church in America. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- ISBN 9780830874439.
Arminians do not think so; they hold a form of evangelical synergism that sees grace as the efficient cause of salvation and calls faith the sole instrumental cause of salvation to the exclusion of human merits.
- ^ Joint declaration on the doctrine of justification, by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church on The Holy See home page
- ^ "Welcome to WELS". Archived from the original on 3 February 2014.
- ^ The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in Confessional Lutheran Perspective
- ISSN 1047-5141. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ^ "News & Media". WELS. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
- ^ An Appeal to Evangelicals, by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Inc.
External links
- Articles on the five solas from a conservative Protestant perspective