Sola…

While we were in Europe this summer, we visited several Lutheran churches. The gift shops were ready with ways to commemorate 500 years of Protestantism. I brought back my very own Luther Lego man. I’ve struggled with whether or not to open the box because you know, the value of these things declines when they are not “new in box.”

And as I’ve thought about the events that led Martin Luther to nail his 95 Theses on the wooden doors of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31st, 1517, I see a similar struggle taking place. There are four basic questions about whether the life of faith is a “new in box” faith or a “good-used” faith. To each of these questions, the Catholic answer had been “new in box” while the new Protestant answer was “good-used.”

But as Martin Luther was studying Scripture, he read Paul’s words to the church at Rome. And in the first chapter, the seventeenth verse, is the theme of the letter, “In the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’”
How is a person to be saved? The Catholic answer was through works, and as the church needed more and more funds, almsgiving became a way to increase the treasury and allow people to pay for salvation, both of themselves and of their already departed loved ones. The new Protestant answer was that righteousness was to be gained not by works or deeds or payment, but by faith alone.

Where does religious authority lie? The Catholic answer was with the Roman church. Monks, priests, cardinals, bishops, and the pope served to intercede for the common person. So, they were the ones who interpreted Scripture and were authorized to declare God’s Will. The new Protestant answer was that religious authority lay in the Scripture alone. Luther’s defense quickly became, “Show me where in Scripture I am in err.” With the advent of the printing press, it was possible for common people to learn to read and have access to books. Luther’s translation of the Bible into German allowed the people to read Scripture for themselves.

What is the church? The Catholic answer was based on a hierarchical structure with the Pope in Rome at the top and the common people at the bottom. So concerned were the church authorities that the people would not be careful enough with the elements of Communion that they were not allowed to take the cup. The priest drank from the cup, but not the other worshipers. The Protestant answer was that the whole community of Christian believers make up the church. The theological term is “the priesthood of all believers.” There is no hierarchy in what I have access to as pastor over what the elders of the church have access to over what members have access to over what visitors have access to…we all have access, the same access, to God, to God’s will, and to God’s grace.

What is the essence of Christian living? The Catholic answer had been to strive for purification through the monastic system. To live “new in box.” The Protestant answer was that serving God in any useful calling, whether ordained or lay, is the essence of Christian living. God’s people were created to be used.

Now, these four questions are a gross over simplification of the controversies. And certainly, the Reformation didn’t all take place in one day. October 31, 1517 wasn’t the first day that Luther submitted protests to the church authorities. It wasn’t the first day he shared his theses on the church doors; it just was the first time he attacked their money-making scheme. And, he wasn’t the first reformer. John Wycliff and John Hus had criticized the Roman Church over 100 years before. The Reformation didn’t end with the nailing of the 95 Theses, either. Zwingli, Calvin, and Knox would all follow, leading to the spread of reform across Europe and soon to America.

Five slogans have been ascribed to the movement– known as the Five Solas, sola means only or alone…five statements that summarized the basic theological themes throughout the movement. To be sure, the five solas aren’t found as a list until much later, but these ideas formed the foundation of the Protestant church, and they have their roots in Paul’s letter to the Romans, which is fitting since the first sola is Sola Scriptura – Scripture is our sufficient guide both for faith and practice. Scripture is all we need in order to know what to believe and how to live.

The other four solas are found in the first 2 verses of the passage we read this morning.
“We have been put into a right relationship with God because we have faith.” Sola fide, “by faith alone,” faith is our only means of salvation.

“Through Jesus, by faith, we are in possession of an introduction to this grace in which we stand.”

Solus Christus, only through Christ do we have access to this grace. Christ is the only mediator between us and God. We don’t pray to saints, we don’t go to the priest to pray for us, because of Jesus, we dare to approach God with confidence. The Greek word Paul uses for introduction is prosagoge. It is a Greek word that was used in two ways, to describe ushering someone into the presence of royalty and to describe a safe harbor where ships come in. “Because of Jesus we have entry to the presence of the King of Kings; we have entry to the [harbor] of God’s grace.(Barclay)”

It is the character of God, that God is a God of grace, that makes it possible for us to be saved, not anything we do to please God. So, the fourth sola is Sola Gratia means “grace alone;” we are saved only because of God’s grace.

And the final sola is “Soli Deo Gloria” – Glory to God alone – our purpose in living is to bring glory to God. Paul says it this way, “Let us glory in the hope of the glory of God…and hope does not prove an illusion, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

William Barclay says of this passage, “There is one thing to note here. It is a thing of quite extraordinary importance. Paul is quite clear that the whole saving process, the coming of Christ, the death of Christ, is the proof of God’s love. It all happened because God loves us. Now, sometimes the thing is stated as if on the one side there was a gentle and loving Christ, and on the other an angry and vengeful Gd. The thing is sometimes stated as if Christ had done something which changed the attitude f God to men, which changed God from being angry into being gracious. Nothing could be further from the truth. The whole matter springs from the law of God. Jesus did not come to change God’s attitude. He came to show what God’s attitude to men is and always was. He came to prove unanswerably to men that God is love.”

Perhaps there should be another Sola…Sola agape. Only love. Which means whether or not I open this box, God does not want to be “new in box” to us. God wants to be in relationship with us. To love and to be loved. Thanks be to God. Amen.