Soli Deo Gloria! For the Glory of God Alone

The Reformation reclaimed the Scriptural teaching of the sovereignty of God over every aspect of the believer’s life. All of life is to be lived to the glory of God. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” This great and all consuming purpose was emphasized by those in the 16th and 17th Centuries who sought to reform the church according to the Word of God. In contrast to the monastic division of life into sacred versus secular perpetuated by Roman Church, the reformers saw all of life to be lived under the Lordship of Christ. Every activity of the Christian is to be sanctified unto the glory of God.

As the Scripture says,
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God; Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (1CO 10:31; 1PE 4:11; REV 1:6; 2PE 3:1; EPH 3:21; REV 7:12; ROM 11:36)

We come to this last of the five Solas because truly the other four are summed into the fifth. It is the Scriptures alone that are our only ultimate and infallible source of authority. This is so because God in His mercy and faithfulness has seen fit to preserve the Scriptures down through the centuries. The proper roles of Church tradition or the teachings of the officers within the church are the same; all in submission to the ultimate authority of the Scriptures. God is therefore glorified alone.

It is the incarnate second person of the Trinity to which the Prophets and Scriptures point. It is the ministry of Jesus Christ sent by the Father to accomplish His purposes in His covenant of Redemption. There is no other Mediator nor Redeemer other than the one provided by the Father Himself to fulfill the righteous requirements of His law. God is therefore glorified alone.

It is only by His inestimable grace that we may stand before Him. Through the good pleasure of His mercy, He graciously imputed to us the righteousness of His son and imputed to His Son our sin where it was judged upon the cross. God is therefore glorified alone.

The grace of God has its affect upon us by faith alone. We do not merit the grace (otherwise grace would not be grace) nor is this grace infused in us in order to make us righteous in ourselves. Instead, the grace of God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us and we believe this by faith alone. We have no other basis upon which to rely than the accomplishments of Christ, the imputation of the work to us and the faith given to us so that we may believe Him and these things. God is therefore glorified alone.

Historical Background

There were many battles during the Reformation where this principle was the central issue. The Reformers took on the Catholic church with regard to her glorification of idols and images. They also opposed the glorification of the office of the Pope and the other church officers. Another dispute was the glorification of Mary who was elevated to be above Christ in many ways and parallel to Him in the rest. Soli Deo Gloria was the overarching principle of the Reformation and related to every battle of protest by the Reformers.

Defining Glory

Over the centuries and especially in our days of modernity, we are very accustomed to the word glory but if you were to ask a number of Christians to define glory you would get probably three times as many definitions. We must remember that when we consider the glory of God, we use both a noun term and a verb term. The noun glory is similar to honor but is the outward manifestation of all of the attributes of God. As His goodness or power or righteousness, or whatever attribute it may be, is displayed in the universe, God’s glory is revealed. All of His attributes shine forth His glory or honor. They declare His uniqueness in all ways. Although we were made by Him in His image, we are infinitely not Him.

The second part of glory is the verb to glorify. This is the declaration of high praise, honor or worship to God. It is an acknowledgement of who God is and who we are. All that God does manifests His honor to the universe.

A Biblical Defense of Soli Deo Gloria

• Psalm 148:13;
• Romans 16:27;
• 1 Timothy 1:16;
• Jude 25;
• Revelation 15:4

The Scriptures declare that God is a jealous God and requires that nothing else be worshipped in His place. Whether we substitute the church or ourselves, any substitution of the ascribing of greatness and declaring glory is idolatry.

Sinners Glorifying God?

There are many ways that the Scriptures tell us to glorify God:

• All of the nations will glorify Him; Psalm 86:9-10.
• We are to glorify Him through belief as did Abraham; Romans 4:19-22.
• We are to glorify God with our bodies through sexual purity whether single or married; 1 Corinthians 6:20.
• We are to clothe ourselves with good works so that when the ungodly bring false accusations against us, God will be glorified; 1 Peter 2:12.
• Because God has predestined us to salvation by grace through faith in Christ, God is glorified; Ephesians 1:11-12.
• God declares His glorious wisdom by means of the Church; Ephesians 3:8-13

One of the central issues however, during the Reformation was the improper exultation of the officers in the Church. Even beginning during the third century, there began to develop the mindset that the highest form of worship toward God could only be offered by those in full time ministry. The service of God was the only “calling” and all other vocations were mundane and inferior. This is not to say that they believed work to be unimportant; rather they all believed that ordinary working was necessary, but demeaning

By the time of the Reformation, the Reformers saw this principle fully blossomed in the self aggrandizing worship of the saints and officers in the church. The purest form of worship, the highest of all callings, or the vocation which alone glorifies God was deemed by the church to be those offices which performed the “work of God”.

The Protestant Work Ethic

At the heart of this debate were the words “calling” and “talent”. The Reformers began to use the term calling to be any vocation for which God had equipped someone to perform. They believed that whatever work God had given us to do, if done faithfully would be equally glorifying of Him as other faithful work. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 Paul teaches that whatever it is that we do whether mundane or extraordinary, all should be done by faith to the glory of God. They also used the term talent to be that given by God for the purpose of accomplishing work.

The Reformers made no distinction between the spiritual or temporal; sacred or secular. They believed that God had created us to be workers or producers and that whether you were in the pulpit, orchard, or kitchen all that we do when done by faith would bring glory to God. Isaiah 60:21.

Non-Christians have actually complained that in Christianity God is allowed to seek His own glory, but man is not. This attitude reflects the Biblical definition of sin, man seeking to make himself a god. Sinful man selfishly seeks his own glory for his own sake, but God does not. The Triune God seeks His own glory because that is only right and proper. The Father seeks the glory of the Son because the Son is worthy to be honored and praised. The Son seeks the glory of the Father because it would be perverse not to acknowledge the glory of the Father. The Father, Son, and Spirit eternally seek one another’s glory and rejoice in one another because of who they are. It could not be otherwise.

Apart from the fact that man is indebted to God for life, breath and all good things, it is only right for a man to glorify God, just as it is only proper that a man should be moved at the sight of the stars on a clear night, or the sight of beautiful mountains, the ocean or any other spectacular manifestation of God’s glory in the creation. A man who is unmoved when confronted by the beauty of the created world is not merely dull, he is perverse. But God is infinitely more glorious than His creation. He deserves our adoration and praise even apart from the good things He does for us.

Glorify Him

“What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” We were created and redeemed to glorify Him. As a sinner man seeks to steal the glory that belongs to God and take it for himself: “For all have sinned, and are coming short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Paul is speaking of the fact that we do not fulfill our created purpose. We were made to glorify Him, but we fall short of that. We do not glorify Him by our thoughts, words, or actions as we should. Psalm 10:4 says that, “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”

As redeemed sinners we are restored to the original purpose of man. We can now seek His glory and enjoy Him. Though we remain sinners in this life, redemption means that we can truly live for Him. To glorify God should be the passion of our lives. It is our highest calling. For all eternity we will enjoy Him. We will rejoice in His power and greatness, singing His praise. We will be forever amazed by new revelations of the beauty of God. And each new revelation of the wonder of His glory will bring us to a greater appreciation that this great and wonderful God loved us and sent His Son to redeem us from our sins. Blessed be God!

Glorifying God

(1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1)

Pastor Mark Driscoll

(Click here to download the sermon audio)

Also:

The Happiness of God: Foundation for Christian Hedonism – John Piper (click to download)

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. “ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Christian Hedonism:

The most selfless act a being of perfect love can commit is to create other beings to enjoy him.

the singular purpose for which we were created is to glorify god, to make his name great, to honor him.  knowing the truth of the gospel, the finished work of jesus christ on the cross, out of joyous and thankful hearts we respond with glorious worship and discipleship, and we find that this is the secret to happiness:

Our Joy = God’s Glory

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” – John Piper

“Who is Jesus?: The Gospel as Intellectually Credible and Existentially Satisfying”

• a sermon by Tim Keller, lead pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, NY

[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SERMON]

The ‘gospel’ is the good news that through Christ the power of God’s kingdom has entered history to renew the whole world. When we believe and rely on Jesus’ work and record (rather than ours) for our relationship to God, that kingdom power comes upon us and begins to work through us.

What has Jesus redeemed you from?

On his record The House Show, Derek Webb talks a lot about what it means to really believe the Gospel, and how that has to show up in the way we live. He talks about how our tendency is to hide our sin instead of bringing it out in the open and boasting in the One who took it away. We have to live as Saints comfortably exposed by the Cross. Here’s how he puts it:

“There is a risk that we run as those who are called into community together… If you divorce the people of God or local community from the Gospel then it CEASES to be the Gospel! There is no other context for your faith as a Christian then to be in community with other people. I’ve heard people say over the years, ‘Its just me and Jesus, and that’s all I need!’ Well that’s not the Gospel in Scripture. If you claim to love Jesus then you and I will be compelled to love what He loved. And He not only loved but He came and gave Himself up for the Church. Not only are we called to love but we are called to preach the Gospel to each other. Now I know that seems like a backwards idea, especially if we grew up in church. You’re saying, ‘The Gospel? We already know that!’ But we just think it’s the words we speak to non-believers in hopes that they might come down the aisles of our church and put their faith in Jesus Christ. Now it certainly is that. But moreover, it has a primary place in the life of believers. We gotta hear it everyday.

“There’s this great story from Martin Luther: He preached to a church week after week about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and a man came and asked, ‘Why do you keep preaching week after week the Gospel?’ implying that he thought they were ready to move on. But Luther said, ‘Well because week after week you forget it.’ Because week after week you look like a people who don’t believe the Gospel, and until you walk in looking like a people who are truly liberated by the truth of the Gospel, I will continue to preach it to you.’ And until his dying day he did.

“BUT if we stop hearing this, we will conform to the culture and we will put up righteousness as an idol, and that kind of flattery, at its very best, will only encourage behavior modification: modifying your behavior to act the way you should, to hide the things you do that are wrong, and to try to amplify the things you do that are right. BUT, see here is the truth: all the behavior modification in the world will never change our hearts, and it will never change our communities. Jesus, however, can change our hearts, and He will change our communities! That’s why boldness is called for.

“We should have no fear about being honest with each other about who we really are. Not just offering up the sins we feel safe confessing but being completely bold, completely forthcoming about who we really are, and saying, ‘I’m going to stop hiding from you. And I’m going to tell you who I really am because I believe the Gospel is true.’ Your never going to be filled with joy unless you truly know yourself for who you are. And until you are a real sinner with a real Savior; you will only be a hypothetical sinner with a hypothetical savior.

“If you confess: ‘Yeah man, I know I’m sinful. Scripture tells me!’ but you can’t honestly put your finger on a real sin you’ve done all day, it’s because your view of sin has just become this cultural hiding game and you aren’t experiencing real joy. Because if all I can express is a knowledge…but not really know I am sinful, then I’m not truly encouraged that I am saved.

“SAVED FROM WHAT? If I don’t believe I’m truly sinful then what’s the big deal? What is the good news? It’s just news. But if you know yourself as exposed by the cross, you will experience true joy. You will be comfortably exposed in your sin and boasting in your GREAT Savior.

“Charles Spurgeon once said, ‘If your sins are small, your savior will be small also. But if your sins are great, then your Savior must be great.’ And guys, I gotta say, our Savior is GREAT. So what does that tell us about our sin….”

Questions:

• What is the worst thing about you? What is your deepest secret? Your greatest sin?
• Have you shared this freely and openly in Christian community, with brothers, sisters, pastors or elders who care about you?
• Are you walking in the light, or are there parts of your life that are stuck in the darkness?
• Have you come to the place where you can be comfortably exposed by the Cross? If so, how has your relationship with Christ changed as a result?
• What has Jesus redeemed you from? Where would the trajectory of your live have taken you had it not been for the grace of God and His redemptive power?
• Because of the Cross of Jesus, we cannot settle for the simple behavior modification, self-help, self-righteous, holier-than-thou spirituality that characterizes so much of Christianity. Are you wearing a “righteous mask,” are you constantly checking the knots on the “suit of fig leaves” that you’ve sewn for yourself?
• What do you need redemption from right now?
• God constantly is reminding us in Scripture that His power shines forth strongest in our weakness. How is Christ using your weakness, transparency, and humility to attract others (friends, family, peers, acquaintances) to himself?

Christ on the Cross:

[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SERMON]

Jesus Died for Our Freedom (Redemption)

“…we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Titus 2:13-14

What is redemption not?

Sadly, it has been commonly taught by some Christian theologians since the early days of the church (e.g. Origen) that the concept of redemption was adopted from the pagan slave market where a price was paid to free a slave. This led to wild speculation that Jesus died to pay off Satan which is preposterous as Jesus owes Satan nothing. Present-day liberal theologians have wrongly said that because redemption was a concept taken from paganism that the Bible endorses paganism. Therefore, to accommodate current paganism they re-cast Jesus’ work on the cross according to modern pagan thinking such as goddess worship, radical environmentalism, and other religions.

What is redemption?

Redemption is synonymous with being liberated, freed, or rescued from bondage and slavery to a person or thing. The word and derivatives thereof (e.g. redeemer, redeem) appear roughly 150 times in the English Bible, with only roughly 20 occurrences in the New Testament. The prototype for redemption is not the pagan slave market, but rather the deliverance of God’s people from slavery and tyranny under Pharaoh also known as the Exodus. There, God liberated His people but in no way paid off the satanic Pharaoh but rather simply crushed him.

Exodus 6:6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.”Other verses providing the Exodus as the prototype of redemption include Exodus 15:1-18, Deuteronomy 7:8 and 15:15, 2 Samuel 7:23, 1 Chronicles 17:21, Isaiah 51:10, and Micah 6:4.

Who is our redeemer?

The theme of God the Redeemer echoes throughout the Old Testament (Ps. 78:35; Isa. 44:24; 47:4; 48:17; 63:16; Jer. 50:34; Hos. 7:13; 13:14). In the New Testament at the birth of Jesus it is prophesied that He is God the Redeemer (Luke 1:68; 2:38).  Paul also speaks of Jesus as our Redeemer (Rom. 3:24; 1 Cor. 1:30; Gal. 3:13-14; 4:4-5; Eph. 1:7; Titus 2:13-14).

How has Jesus redeemed us?

Hebrews 9:12 He [Jesus] did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

How do we receive Jesus’ redemption?

Romans 3:22-24 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

What has Jesus redeemed us from?

• The curse of the law (Galatians 3:13)
• Satan & demons (Colossians 1:13-14)
• The flesh (Romans 6:6-7)
• The world (Galatians 6:14)

What redemption still awaits us?

• Life forever with God (Psalm 49:15)
• The return of Jesus (Job 19:25)
• A resurrection body (Romans 8:23)

[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SERMON]

Jesus Died to Crush Our Enemies (Christus Victor)

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Slavery to our Enemy

Scripture attributes many names to Satan including the Dragon, Serpent, Enemy, Devil, Tempter, Murderer, Father of Lies, Adversary, Accuser, Destroyer, and the Evil One. His knowledge, presence, and power are limited because he is an angelic being created by God for the purpose of glorifying and serving God (Ezekiel 28:14). Motivated by pride, Satan declared war on God and was kicked out of heaven along with a third of the angels who joined his rebellion and became demons (Isaiah 14:11-23; Ezekiel 28:1-19; Revelation 12:3-4, 7-9).

Beginning with our first parents, Adam and Eve, Satan continued his war on God. Fortunately, he need not defeat us if we are aware of his schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11).

Some of Satan’s common tactics include:

• sexual sin (1 Corinthians 7:5)
• sex and marriage between Christians and non-Christians (2 Cor. 6:15)
• false religion, false teaching, false Jesus (1 Cor. 10:14-22; 2 Cor. 11:1-4; 1 Tim. 4:1-2)
• bitterness (Eph. 4:17-32)
• foolishness and drunkenness (Ephesians 5:8-21)
• idle, gossiping busybodies (1 Timothy 5:11-15)
• lying (John 8:44)

Some of his more extreme schemes include:

• torment (Acts 5:16)
• physical injury (Acts 8:4-8 )
• false miracles (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)
• accusation (Revelation 12:10)
• murder, including suicide (John 8:44)

Freedom to our Jesus

Tragically, by sinning everyone who has ever lived has chosen to align with Satan in his war against God. Additionally, our sin is the result of having something or someone other than God as our highest value and worth. These seemingly good things (from relationships to success) invariably enslave us and become demonic false gods that we worship by putting our life toward them instead of God.

The only exception is Jesus Christ who resisted every temptation (Luke 4:1-13) and remained continually sinless (Hebrews 4:15). Graciously, Jesus alone can and will defeat Satan, liberate us from slavery to the worship of false gods, and usher us into a freedom that continues forever with Him. This was made possible by Jesus dying in our place for our sins to defeat our Enemy and liberate us into new life.

Hebrews 2:14-15 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

Colossians 2:13-15 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Jesus Died in Our Place (Substitutionary Atonement)

“…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”   1 Corinthians 15:3

Nearly 2,000 years ago a poor, homeless, single man in his early 30′s was executed by crucifixion like many other common criminals. He never wrote a book, never traveled more than 200 miles from his home, never held a political office, never married or had children, and never ran a company. His name is Jesus Christ and history is divided into the periods before and after his life, Time magazine named him “Man of the Millennium,” and more songs have been sung to, books written about, and artwork painted of him than anyone who has ever lived. Moreover, a few billion people alive today worship Him as their only God and deeply love Him unlike anyone who has ever lived.

Why?

Because Jesus has done what no one else could do: taking away their sin by dying on a cross as a substitute in their place. It is the cross of Jesus that is the symbol of the Christian faith and the crux of human history. In explaining Jesus’ death for sin on the cross, theologians use the word atonement. The word literally means “at-one-ment” and explains how Jesus as God and man can alone reconcile sinners to a holy God. Jesus dying in the place of sinners (also known as Penal Substitution and Substitutionary Atonement) is a frequent theme of Scripture, including the following verses:

• Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all.

• John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

• Romans 3:25 God presented Him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood.

• Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

• 1 Corinthians 15:3 …Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

• Hebrews 2:17 For this reason He [Jesus] had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.

• Hebrews 9:28 Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

• 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.

• 1 John 2:1-2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

• 1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Double Imputation (Our Sin, Christ’s Righteousness)

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”   2 Corinthians 5:21

Job asks one of the great questions of the Bible in chapter 9, verse 2 of the book bearing his name: “But how can a mortal be righteous before God?” Indeed, the Bible repeatedly teaches that God is righteous (Ezra 9:15; Psalm 4:1; 7:9; 11:7; Isaiah 5:16; 45:21; Daniel 9:14). By righteous, Scripture means straight, right, sinless, just, and lawful.

Scripture also teaches that God made humanity in a state of sinless righteousness (Genesis 1:31; Ecclesiastes 7:29). However, humanity fell into a continual state of unrighteousness beginning with our father Adam in Genesis 3. Since Adam was our representative head and physical father, his sin has been imputed to us all (Romans 5:12-21). By imputation it is meant that his sin has been reckoned, transferred, or charged to everyone. In a sense, when Adam chose rebellion and war against God, we all did; in much the same way, when our president takes our nation to war, in a sense we are all at war, as he chooses as our representative head for us all. Consequently, everyone is conceived with an unrighteous sin nature (Psalm 51:5; 58:3) and subsequently lives a life marked by personal sin (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:10). This state of unrighteousness is the opposite of God’s nature and is marked by crookedness, wrongness, sin, injustice, and rebellion.

Human unrighteousness includes the frequent attempts to be righteous apart from God, which is the sin of self-righteousness (Romans 10:3, illustrated in Luke 18:9-14). Rather than being impressed at human attempts at righteousness, God harshly declares that our righteousness is as grotesque to Him as a bloody tampon given to us as a precious gift (Isaiah 64:6a).

Perhaps the people most devoted to pursuing self-righteousness were the Pharisees. Despite their great self-discipline and moral life, Jesus declared that unless our righteousness superseded theirs we would end up in hell along with them (Matthew 5:20). Therefore, no one can make themselves righteous before the Righteous God (Romans 3:10, 20).

Compassionate toward us, our eternal God, Jesus Christ, became a man. Because Jesus did not have an earthly father descended from Adam, He did not inherit an unrighteous sin nature and was the beginning of a new humanity as the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). Unlike the first Adam who sinned, Jesus lived a life of righteous perfection (Romans 5:12-21), resisting all temptations to sin (Hebrews 4:15), fulfilling all of God’s laws (Matthew 5:17), fulfilling all righteousness (Matthew 3:15), and dying as the only righteous man who has ever lived (Luke 23:47).

In His death, the righteous Jesus stood in place of sinners, paying the price for their sin, which is death (Isaiah 53:5-6, 12; Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). Subsequently, the only person who is righteous in God’s sight is Jesus Christ. But our sin was imputed to Jesus, he became sin for us. But in addition, Jesus graciously imputes His righteousness like Adam imputed his unrighteousness to us (Romans 3:21-22; 4:4-6; 5:12-21; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:8-9; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). Therefore, the answer to Job’s question is that an unrighteous person can stand righteous before the Holy, Righteous God not by their own works, but solely by trusting in the person and work of Jesus by faith (Genesis 15:6; Romans 3:21-22; 4:3, 5, 24; 10:4; Galatians 3:6, 11; Philippians 3:8-9; Hebrews 1:4). Jesus alone is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30), makes us new righteous people (Ephesians 4:24), and enables us to pursue righteousness (1 Timothy 6:11) and obey Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16), by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).

Solus Christus

From Wikipedia:

Solus Christus is one of the five solas propounded to summarise the Reformers’ basic beliefs during the Protestant Reformation; it is a Latin term referring to salvation through Christ alone. The emphasis was in contradistinction to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church of the day.

The Protestants characterize the dogma concerning the Pope as Christ’s representative head of the Church on earth, the concept of meritorious works, and the Catholic idea of a treasury of the merits of saints, as a denial that Christ is the only mediator between God and man.

• Sola Scriptura
• Sola Gratia
• Sola Fide
• Solus Christus
• Soli Deo Gloria

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

-Colossians 1:13-18, ESV

A Biblical Defense of Solus Christus:

• The Sacramental Reformation

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

-Hebrews 9:23-28, ESV

At the time of the Reformation, the Catholic church had formally established that there were seven sacraments-baptism, the eucharist, penance, confirmation, marriage, ordination and extreme unction. The Reformers not only brought the number of sacraments into dispute but also (and primarily) brought the theology of each. The Mass was the center of the liturgical service of the Catholic church and it was originally spoken only in Latin. Although most of the laity could not speak Latin, this was not the most important of the things needed to be reformed.

The two primary points under dispute were the elements of the Mass (communion) and the crucifixion of Christ. The Reformers argued against the Catholic position that the bread and the wine, although they retained the outward appearance, actually became in substance the flesh and blood of Christ. Even though some of the Reformers disagreed on the details of this issue, it was clear that the idolatry of showing reverence toward the wine and bread was refuted.

Another aspect of the Mass that came under reform was the belief that the Priests were actually breaking the body of Christ each time they administered the Lord’s Table. This of course was an extreme heresy to the Reformers because of the theological implications and the clear contradictions of the Scriptures. The Reformers taught that Christ died for the Elect, once for all and after His death ascended to the right hand of the Father where He sits until His return apart from sin for salvation.

• Christ as Mediator

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,  who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.  For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

-1 Timothy 2:5-7, ESV

Mariology is the body of doctrine surrounding the Catholic position on the deification of Mary the mother of Jesus. Perhaps the first hint of emphasizing Mary came from Irenaeus, who during the second century, contrasted Eve’s disobedience with Mary’s obedience. The contrast came from Paul’s contrast of Adam’s disobedience with that of Jesus’ obedience. This evaluation although accurate does not justify the correlation between Mary and Eve. It was further believed that this correlation meant that Mary was central to the salvation of the world through the new creation and thus making here co-redemptrix with her Son and mother of the Church. Later in 431 at the Council of Ephesus the term Mother of God (theotokos) was adopted as an official title for Mary. It was later believed by the Church that the extrabiblical writings which describe the Assumption of Mary were authoritative and this doctrine and related doctrine became formal positions of the Church. Even today pressure is being put upon the Pope to formally recognize Mary as co-mediatrix with Christ as the two of them (along with the recognized Saints) are interceding on behalf of the Church with prayers to the Father.

However, we can see why the Reformers objected so strongly to this teaching. Such doctrines, whether or not they are supported by the extra-biblical writings, are in clear contradiction with the writing of the New Testament where Jesus is described as the only Mediator between man and God. Peter himself declares that there is no other name by which a man can be saved other than the name Jesus. (Acts 4:11)  The scriptures also declare that it is Jesus who intercedes on our behalf (Hebrews 7:23-28) and His sacrifice is sufficient to atone or propitiate for the sins of the Church. There is no biblical basis for ascribing such attributes to any other than Christ.

• Christ as Priest

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent ( not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

-Hebrews 9:11-15, ESV

The Catholic church believed that the church was the dispensary of grace. It was through the church that grace which emanated from Christ was dispensed to the individual. Whether it be saving grace or grace which grants repentance, the church was the mechanism through which such grace was received. It followed then that such grace should be dispensed by no ordinary individual within the church and the priestly order developed into an additional layer of intercession.  The priesthood of the individual believer (1 Peter 2:4-10) was a key doctrine which disputed this intercessory role of the priest. It was taught that every truly regenerate was able to approach the throne of God to declare praises, confess sins, and offer supplications.

Topic: Sola Fide – By Faith Alone

Location: Dave Iula’s New Pad in Southeast Gresh-ortland

Address: 12356 SE Holgate Blvd, Portland, OR 97236

Reading: C.S. Lewis‘ Mere Christianity – Excerpt on “Faith” [download file]

Unbelief

Thoughts…

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says that the foundation of faith is belief, and at its simplest form, belief is based on reason. (This may be C.S. Lewis’ unique perspective on it, but let’s follow that logic for now). To believe in Christianity, one must acknowledge and regard as true certain doctrines about God, Jesus, Humanity and Creation. Lewis was an atheist and came to belief in Christ later in his life. This explains his view that faith comes into our lives at the point when “man’s reason once decides that the weight of the evidence is for it.” He explains how unbelief rises up:

“There will come a moment when there is bad news, or he is in trouble, or is living among a lot of other people who do not believe it, and all at once his emotions will rise up and carry out a sort of blitz on his belief. Or else there will come a moment when he wants a woman, or wants to tell a lie, or feels very pleased with himself, or sees a chance of making a little money in some way that is not perfectly fair: some moment, in fact, at which it would be very convenient if Christianity were not true.”

We have all been in these situations. If you notice, Lewis first describes situations in which our faith is passively eroded by the environment we are in and the things that happen to us, and later, he gives examples where we actively participate in the rise of unbelief by pursuing fleshly desires and idols. He states: “Faith….is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” In his view, faith is a “virtue” that must be fed, a muscle that must be exercised in order to remain strong. As the passage below in Mark 9 conveys, unbelief is a natural state that exists as a result of our fallen nature. We are born with a spirit of rebellion, and the gift of Faith is a habit that must be trained. Without the necessary training and exercise, Faith can waste away as an unused muscle atrophies. He says that once you have accepted Christianity, and you “recognize the fact that your moods change, …some of its main doctrines must be deliberately held before you mind for some time everyday.” We see here that in order to feed the virtue of faith, one must engage in the spiritual disciplines on a regular basis, which means reading, hearing, studying and meditating upon God’s Word, praying, listening to sermons, journaling, communal worship, etc.

Passage…

Mark 9:14-29 (ESV)

Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit

14^(A) And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him,^(B) were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has^(C) a spirit that makes him mute. 18And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and^(D) they were not able.” 19And he answered them, “O^(E) faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it^(F) convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But^(G) if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23And Jesus said to him, ^(H) “‘If you can’!^(I) All things are possible for one who believes.” 24Immediately the father of the child cried out^[a] and said, “I believe;^(J) help my unbelief!” 25And when Jesus saw that^(K) a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ^(L) “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26And after crying out and^(M) convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27But Jesus^(N) took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28And when he had^(O) entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”^[b]

Enduring Faith

Thoughts…

Once we understand that the battle is between Faith & Reason on one side and Moods & Emotions on the other, we become more and more able to tell our moods “where they get off.” And once we see faith as a virtue that must be fed, actively engaging the spiritual disciplines as if we were exercising a muscle causes us to grow exceedingly in relationship toward God, but we then hit another roadblock: Spiritual Bankruptcy. Lewis states that “the main thing we learn from a serious attempt to practice the Christian virtues is that we fail.” Through our own efforts, we all fall short of the Glory of God. We can never get away from the fact that we can’t repay our debt to God, because we either fall back into sin from time to time, or we white-knuckle it and do everything right, and inevitably this leads to prideful conceit, and pride is the greatest sin. Only then can we acknowledge that we are utterly hopeless apart from the empowering Grace of God to experience spiritual rebirth, put sin to death, and do ministry for God’s Glory and not our own. Lewis states:

“Then comes another discovery. Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service, you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already.”

Enduring faith begins with acknowledging sin and our failure to meet God’s standards no matter how hard we try, and it is sustained by accepting one’s role as a Steward of the power that God has bestowed on us through His Grace. Lewis states: “When a man has made these two discoveries God can really get to work. It is after this that real life begins. The man is awake now.”

Passage…

Hebrews 11 (ESV)

By Faith

1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of^(A) things not seen. 2For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3By faith we understand that the universe was created by^(B) the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of^(C) things that are visible.

4By faith^(D) Abel offered to God^(E) a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And^(F) through his faith, though he died, he^(G) still speaks. 5By faith^(H) Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God^(I) must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7By faith^(J) Noah, being warned by God concerning^(K) events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of^(L) the righteousness that comes by faith.

8By faith^(M) Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place^(N) that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9By faith he went to live in^(O) the land of promise, as in a foreign land,^(P) living in tents^(Q) with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to^(R) the city that has^(S) foundations,^(T) whose designer and builder is God. 11By faith^(U) Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered^(V) him faithful who had promised. 12Therefore from one man, and^(W) him as good as dead, were born descendants^(X) as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

13These all died in faith,^(Y) not having received the things promised, but^(Z) having seen them and greeted them from afar, and^(AA) having acknowledged that they were^(AB) strangers and exiles on the earth. 14For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out,^(AC) they would have had opportunity to return. 16But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed^(AD) to be called their God, for^(AE) he has prepared for them a city.

17By faith^(AF) Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18of whom it was said,^(AG) “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19^(AH) He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20By faith^(AI) Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21By faith^(AJ) Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph,^(AK) bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22By faith^(AL) Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

23By faith^(AM) Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of^(AN) the king’s edict. 24By faith Moses, when he was grown up,^(AO) refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25^(AP) choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy^(AQ) the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26^(AR) He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to^(AS) the reward. 27By faith he^(AT) left Egypt,^(AU) not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured^(AV) as seeing him who is invisible. 28By faith^(AW) he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

29By faith^(AX) the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30By faith^(AY) the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31By faith^(AZ) Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she^(BA) had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

32And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of^(BB) Gideon,^(BC) Barak,^(BD) Samson,^(BE) Jephthah, of^(BF) David and^(BG) Samuel and the prophets- 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises,^(BH) stopped the mouths of lions, 34^(BI) quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness,^(BJ) became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35^(BK) Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even^(BL) chains and imprisonment. 37^(BM) They were stoned, they were sawn in two,^[a](BN) they were killed with the sword.^(BO) They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated- 38of whom the world was not worthy-^(BP) wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

39And all these,^(BQ) though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40since God had provided something better for us,^(BR) that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

-         Idolatry

-         Religion