Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. If you are watching this

00:00:05.640 on YouTube, if you're not, you should totally subscribe to the Allie Beth Stuckey YouTube

00:00:09.300 channel, by the way. But if you are watching this on YouTube and I'm sitting really weirdly,

00:00:13.660 that's because right now as I'm recording this, I'm at the end of the pregnancy and I'm really

00:00:19.540 uncomfortable when I sit a certain way for a long time. So I have to like arrange myself so that my

00:00:25.640 hips aren't killing me. Anyway, today we're not actually talking about my discomfort in

00:00:31.140 pregnancy, believe it or not. Sorry to burst your bubble, but we are going to talk about the five

00:00:36.240 solas. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say the five solas, that's perfectly

00:00:40.760 fine. You will soon enough. So as most of you guys know, I am a Protestant. I am specifically

00:00:47.420 what you would call a reformed Protestant. And I've talked about kind of how I got into that and how

00:00:53.760 I recognized that that was the theology that I ascribed to. And of course, the theology that I

00:01:01.340 believe to be true when I was in high school and how that's developed since then. I've talked about

00:01:07.400 that on a past podcast, but I want to talk about the pillars of what it means to be a reformed

00:01:14.900 Protestant. A lot of you guys have asked me about this before, and this episode is going to lay the

00:01:20.340 groundwork for that by explaining something called the five solas. So the adherence to these five

00:01:27.300 solas is what fundamentally distinguishes Protestants from Catholics. There are a lot of things that

00:01:33.080 Protestants and Catholics agree on, even within the five solas, but we do differ on some really

00:01:39.380 important things. I know I have a lot of Catholic friends that listen to this podcast, and that is

00:01:44.260 awesome. I'm so grateful that you guys listen and you guys have messaged me sometimes about the

00:01:49.220 disagreements that you have, or you've said, Hey, I'm a Catholic. I don't agree with everything you

00:01:52.840 say, but I love your podcast. And I find that we agree on enough for this to be good for me to

00:01:58.860 listen to, or I've changed my perspective on something, whatever it is. I really appreciate

00:02:03.840 those of you who maybe don't agree on every point of my theology or don't agree maybe with my theology

00:02:08.880 at all, but you open your ears up to listen to a different perspective. I think that's really

00:02:13.000 productive for both of us to be able to have those conversations where we disagree. So

00:02:17.020 know in this, as I explain the five solas, I am going to have to say, okay, here's a difference

00:02:23.560 between what we believe and what the Catholic church believes. And of course, as a Protestant

00:02:28.080 coming from this perspective, if there is a place where we differ with the Catholic church,

00:02:32.480 of course, I believe that the Protestant position is right, or else I would not be in this position,

00:02:38.780 but I don't want that. I don't want anyone to take that as an attack. I don't want anyone to take

00:02:43.620 that as hatred or antipathy towards the other side. There's a lot of conflict between the Catholic

00:02:48.720 church and Protestantism coming from both directions. And I don't want this to be about

00:02:53.920 that conflict. This is simply saying what the five solas are and where they came from. And within that

00:03:00.180 is talking about some of the history of the disagreements between the Catholic and the Protestant

00:03:07.360 church. Now, there have been times where I have posted, like as a caption one time, I posted the

00:03:13.240 five solas. And I know I keep saying that word. And if you're like, what the heck are the five solas?

00:03:17.220 Don't worry. I promise that I'm going to explain that. But I think a lot of you probably do where

00:03:22.060 I've had Catholics reach out to me or comment or message me, whatever, and say, why would you

00:03:26.940 polarize your audience like that? Why would you, you know, make us feel bad? Why would you demonize

00:03:32.020 us when I really said nothing about Catholicism at all? I just said what I believe is a Protestant.

00:03:37.760 So please do not take me talking about my Protestant theology, my reformed Protestant

00:03:44.700 theology as an attack. I certainly don't see it as an attack when I hear a Catholic talk about

00:03:49.920 sacraments, when I hear the Catholics talk about Mary in a way that I don't agree with. So please

00:03:57.460 don't take it as a personal attack or that I dislike you or anything like that. I want us to be

00:04:02.780 able to have a productive dialogue about this. And since I've been asked so often about why I'm a

00:04:07.840 reformed Protestant or what it actually means and what the five solas are, I wanted to do this episode.

00:04:14.660 And like I said, I'm going to have to touch on Catholicism just a tiny bit, but it is all done in

00:04:21.000 the vein of edification and in love. So the five solas or the five solii, if you want to get super

00:04:28.900 Latin with it, I don't even know if that's how you pronounce it. I took Latin. We had to take Latin

00:04:32.840 when I was in middle school and I think it was beneficial, but unfortunately I don't really

00:04:37.520 remember that much, but I do know that solii or A-E is plural. So you could say five solii if you want

00:04:44.020 to do it that way. So what does sola mean? First of all, it's the Latin word for alone. So you could

00:04:49.560 call these the five alones if you want to, the five alones of the Protestant faith, the five alones

00:04:56.880 or the five pillars of reformed Protestantism. When I say reformed Protestantism, that means

00:05:02.300 taking the values and the pillars of the reformation that happened after Martin Luther. We're going to

00:05:07.600 get into that in just a second. And these five solas or these five alones, these five pillars

00:05:13.420 spring from the reformation and reformed theology or reformed Protestantism is built on these pillars,

00:05:21.880 which of course we believe is built on the word of God. So in Latin, these five solas or solii are

00:05:28.220 sola gratia, sola fide, solus Christus, sola scriptura, soli Deo gloria. And as you can tell,

00:05:36.300 don't have the Latin accent down very well. Probably sounds a lot like a Texan trying to say

00:05:41.560 these things in Latin. So sorry if I butchered it. Uh, any of you fluent Latin speakers out there,

00:05:47.560 just kidding. Uh, and this means English I can do. Okay. So this might be better. This means grace

00:05:53.560 alone, faith alone, Christ alone, scripture alone to the glory of God alone. So those are the five

00:05:59.940 solas, the five pillars of, uh, reformed Protestantism. So it's usually said like this

00:06:05.800 by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, according to scripture alone for God's

00:06:11.940 glory alone by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, according to scripture alone for

00:06:19.260 God's glory alone. So let's ask this question. Where did all of this come from? Uh, where did Protestants

00:06:26.540 get this idea? Uh, so the five solas go all the way back to the reformation. Like I said,

00:06:32.520 the reformation was, uh, a theological revolt, if you will, revolt sounds kind of like a dramatic

00:06:38.620 word, but it really kind of was a revolt or a revolution against what a lot of people saw as

00:06:43.920 unbiblical practices of the Catholic church at the time. Uh, the reformation spread throughout Europe,

00:06:49.560 mostly led, uh, by people like Martin Luther in Germany. You've got John Calvin in France,

00:06:54.380 and you've got Ulrich Zwingli in Switzerland. Uh, the event that is seen as the precipitation or the

00:07:00.920 spark of what I think that you could honestly describe as a wildfire was Martin Luther's 95

00:07:07.800 theses that, uh, were posted on October 31st, 1517 at the university of Wittenberg. Now,

00:07:14.040 some people say that he actually nailed it to the door. Some people say that that was a myth.

00:07:17.860 Regardless, the tweet thread, if you will, went viral. It might've even gotten ratioed just a little

00:07:23.940 bit by a lot of people who were mad about it caused a lot of controversy, but also was retweeted a lot

00:07:29.740 of times throughout, uh, Europe. Okay. I'm done with that analogy. So Martin Luther was a German

00:07:35.860 monk and a professor of theology. He knew Catholic doctrine very well. This is not an outsider.

00:07:40.780 This is an insider in the Catholic church. He knew the Bible very well. He knew the Catholic church

00:07:45.780 very well, and he saw what he felt like was corruption according to God's word in the Catholic

00:07:51.660 church, uh, a wandering away from the Christianity of scripture, the church of scripture. And that is why he

00:07:58.700 posted the 95 theses to express his many concerns with how the Catholic church was operating at the

00:08:04.600 time. Uh, Luther didn't actually intend to start any kind of revolution. His early writings revealed

00:08:10.080 to us, uh, he wasn't trying to make a new church or even separate himself necessarily from the Catholic

00:08:15.220 church. Uh, he wanted to reform the Catholic church. He wanted to change it for the better in

00:08:19.700 accordance with scripture. Uh, his early writings show that he wanted, uh, really to still be a part

00:08:25.120 of the Catholic church to work on it from the inside. But he felt according to, uh, according

00:08:30.640 to what he was reading in the Bible, that, uh, the Catholic church needed to change. Church leadership

00:08:36.520 had become drunk with power and like anyone drunk with power, they had become, uh, corrupt and exploit.

00:08:43.100 I hate this word. I can't ever say exploit, exploitative, you could say exploitative, exploitative.

00:08:49.740 They were exploiting the people at the bottom. So one of the ways that the Catholic church was

00:08:55.280 abusing power at the time was the church's selling of indulgences. Uh, this was money the church received

00:09:01.440 from its congregants. Uh, the church leaders promised would pay for their sins and limit the amount of

00:09:07.000 time their loved ones would spend in purgatory. Uh, Luther was very concerned about this. He was

00:09:11.780 concerned about a false sense of assurance that Catholics would feel, uh, by giving money to the church.

00:09:17.640 And that's not what the Bible outlines as the means of salvation. That is not what gives us peace in our

00:09:23.760 salvation. Uh, Luther saw serious problems as well with the papacy. He wasn't actually anti-pope,

00:09:31.180 but he was against what he saw as a movement of the papacy, uh, towards embracing man-made doctrines

00:09:36.700 rather than scripture. Uh, so here's an example of what Luther said in his theses about indulgences

00:09:42.700 and the Pope number 32 on the way to eternal damnation are, are they and their teachers who

00:09:49.620 believe that they are sure of their salvation through indulgences number 33, but where well

00:09:55.480 of those who say the Pope's pardons are the inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled

00:10:02.500 to God. Uh, a few years after he posted the 95 theses, Pope Leo the 10th issued something called

00:10:08.880 a papal bull against Martin Luther, judging Luther a heretic, uh, as a consequence of that Emperor

00:10:15.460 Charles V, uh, called the infamous Diet of Worms, which was a court assembled, uh, which was a court

00:10:21.940 assembled before which Luther was asked to appear and recant all of his so-called heretical beliefs.

00:10:28.080 Um, he was asked by Johann Eck, who actually represented the emperor at the time, if he would

00:10:33.600 recant these views. And this is what Luther said, unless I am convinced by the testimony of the

00:10:39.420 scriptures or by clear reason for, I do not trust either in the Pope or in councils alone, since it

00:10:44.980 is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves. I am bound by the scriptures

00:10:49.860 I have quoted in my conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything

00:10:57.180 since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen. Uh, after that,

00:11:04.220 the Diet of Worms issued the Edict of Worms, uh, which declared him a heretic officially and banned

00:11:09.580 the reading of Luther's writings. And it was understood that Luther, uh, was going to be

00:11:14.580 excommunicated or it was, it was understood that Luther was, uh, excommunicated. And then it was also

00:11:20.700 understood that he was probably going to be executed. Uh, but he ended up being taken away and hidden by

00:11:26.360 Prince Frederick the third of Saxony. And it was in his hiding that he continued to write and to read

00:11:33.440 and to actually translate the Bible into German. This was the, uh, first translation, uh, translation

00:11:39.640 of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into German, um, rather than the Latin Vulgate version.

00:11:46.820 Uh, this meant that the common person, the lay person, not just, uh, monks and priests and clergy who

00:11:53.060 had been educated, uh, in the reading of the Latin Vulgate, but everyone who could read in Germany could

00:11:58.220 read the word of God for themselves. This was revolutionary. So imagine if you had been in

00:12:03.800 the Catholic church at the time, you just didn't know you likely had never read the Bible for

00:12:08.460 yourself. You didn't know, uh, that indulgences weren't in the Bible. You didn't know that the

00:12:13.180 Pope didn't have supreme power. Maybe you felt that it wasn't right, but, but you just weren't sure

00:12:18.480 you did what you were told until now, until the 95 theses, until the reformation, until the

00:12:24.120 translation of the Bible. At this point, uh, the revolution, uh, because of all of this had

00:12:29.080 already begun. Luther lit a flame that could not be put out. That was far beyond his control

00:12:33.700 and it was spreading throughout Europe. Uh, now Luther was, he was disturbed actually by a lot of

00:12:39.940 what was happening or some of what was happening. I won't say a lot, some of what was happening with

00:12:44.440 the Protestant reformation. Like I said, he didn't really intend to go for things to go exactly as

00:12:49.240 they did. He still saw good in the Catholic church, but he, that he thought maybe was worth

00:12:55.220 preserving, but it was too late. The idea that people got in their minds, uh, from Luther, from

00:13:01.860 the 95 theses and from the spirit that was traveling throughout Europe. And I say spirit just in the sense

00:13:08.360 of this attitude, this thought, this feeling, uh, the idea that men and women are not beholden

00:13:13.780 primarily to church authority, but to God himself. And that men and women through God's word could

00:13:18.440 have a relationship with God himself, that Jesus is the only intercessor between God and man. That

00:13:25.280 salvation was earned, not through allegiance to the Pope or the giving of indulgences, but through grace

00:13:30.580 by faith, that it's not something that is earned, but something that is given by God. Those ideas

00:13:35.940 were radical at the time and they started a revolution. Uh, one thing to note about Martin Luther,

00:13:42.000 uh, he was not a perfect guy. And I don't think that any Protestant reform Protestant claims that

00:13:47.700 or should claim that some of his ratings are, uh, antisemitic. He said some really hateful

00:13:52.980 things. We don't need to obscure that. I feel no reason to defend him to the death. Uh, we also

00:13:58.960 though, don't have to discount the reformation because of that. His ideas were true. They hold up

00:14:04.520 in comparison to scripture. When you look at scripture, his ideas were based on scripture and

00:14:09.740 Protestants are extremely thankful to God for what God did through him and what God did through the

00:14:16.820 Protestant reformation. Um, and again, this is not out of hatred for our Catholic friends. I would

00:14:22.940 argue that the Catholic church, and I've heard Catholics say this have benefited in a lot of

00:14:27.980 ways from the Protestant reformation as well. The idea that Catholics, that lay people can study the

00:14:34.820 Bible on their own with, they can learn theology on their own was sparked by the ideas of the

00:14:40.380 reformation that you as an individual have a responsibility to God and to know him for yourself

00:14:46.740 as he, as the supreme authority and salvation is by him alone. All of these ideas were spread because

00:14:53.660 of the reformation and also infused whether some in the Catholic church liked it or not into Catholicism.

00:15:00.480 And that has been helpful and productive for a lot of people in the Catholic church. Um, and I realize,

00:15:06.220 I do realize I was surprised by this. I've just kind of learned this over the past few years that a

00:15:11.020 lot of Catholics still hate Martin Luther and hates the reformation. They still see him as the guy who

00:15:17.440 ruined everything. Uh, and they say, how can Protestants possibly celebrate the Protestant

00:15:22.780 reformation? You've got so many denominations now you're so fractured. How could you possibly say

00:15:27.460 that this is right? This is like celebrating a divorce. And these, I've heard people say this,

00:15:31.920 who I really respect and like, and are extremely smart, wonderful people. But the understanding is

00:15:37.340 from a lot of Catholics perspective is how could you possibly celebrate this? And to that, I say,

00:15:43.240 well, yes, there are different denominations because disagreement is always going to be the result of

00:15:50.040 freedom. Disagreement is always going to be the result of freedom. That is true of the United States

00:15:54.200 as well. In the United States, we don't live under a tyrant or a monarch. We have freedom of speech.

00:15:59.420 We have freedom of religion. That means that there is speech out there that we don't like,

00:16:03.900 or that we don't agree with. That means that there are religions being practiced that we don't agree

00:16:07.620 with, but disagreement and freedom is better than unity and tyranny. That's what the United States

00:16:12.340 decided. That's what Protestants decided. Now Protestants don't believe in disagreement, period. We all

00:16:19.180 believe in the same source of truth and we'll get to all of that and reconciling that in a little bit.

00:16:23.460 But yes, the consequence, one of the consequences of freedom and not living under what Protestants

00:16:29.620 at the time felt like was a tyrant is going to be slight disagreement. And that's what I would say

00:16:36.040 is the difference between a lot of denominations is a slight disagreement. And like I said, we're

00:16:40.660 going to get into all of those and the nature of those disagreements in just a little bit. But

00:16:45.000 it's important to note that while Protestant denominations do disagree, they are mostly

00:16:53.280 just secondary and tertiary issues, not on what it means to be a Christian, but on salvation

00:16:58.960 issues. So fundamentally, Protestants are still united on the five solas, even if we worship a

00:17:04.560 little bit differently, if we sing our songs differently, even if we have different views

00:17:08.100 about the timing of baptism. Now there are, of course, more liberal denominations and more

00:17:14.240 conservative denominations, but that exists within the Catholic church too. That's just

00:17:18.540 the nature of humanity. We are going to disagree. But what all earnest practicing Protestants believe

00:17:25.900 is that the word of God is our authority, not our own opinions. So even if we do disagree on

00:17:32.260 things, we can agree that scripture, not any church authority, not any one person, not any

00:17:38.560 man-made piece of literature, scripture gets the final say as the word of God. And with that,

00:17:47.540 let us get into the five solas. So number one, sola gratia, by grace alone, or sola gratia,

00:17:54.780 however you want to say it. By grace alone is probably, I mean, you could say that about all

00:18:00.400 of all of the solas, what I'm about to say. It's probably one of the most radical, at least

00:18:05.260 to the world, radical ideas in Christianity. It distinguishes Christianity from other religions.

00:18:10.140 It's probably one of the hardest concepts for non-believers to understand because we are used

00:18:15.640 to the concept of earning or deserving or merit. Grace is the giving of a reward despite the punishment

00:18:23.340 that you deserve. So mercy and grace are different. Mercy is taking away the punishment that you deserve.

00:18:28.740 Grace is actually giving you a reward in place of the punishment that you deserve. So this means that

00:18:35.640 those who are in Christ, who are believers in Christ, that we not only escape eternity in hell,

00:18:40.140 but we also get to spend eternity with God in heaven, experiencing fullness of joy and peace

00:18:46.340 and perfection forever. Just because God loves us and is good. This wasn't something that he had to do.

00:18:53.040 This was something that he chose to do because of his kindness and his goodness for his glory,

00:18:58.500 not ours. You have heard the phrase, you know, I've got to get in her good graces, meaning like I've got

00:19:04.360 to get on her good side or get this person to like me. That is not the kind of grace scripture talks about

00:19:11.280 in relation to salvation. This grace fueled salvation is not a result or a consequence of what we do,

00:19:17.500 either through good works or indulgences or allegiance to a particular church, but a salvation that is

00:19:23.280 given to us as a gift through God's grace. Grace is not cheap. It is free for us, but it costs

00:19:30.520 God the life of his son, Jesus, who was God made flesh. Grace was poured out in the death and

00:19:37.500 resurrection of Jesus Christ, which resulted in salvation for all who believe. The very concept

00:19:43.140 of grace is by nature giving us what we in fact do not deserve. The Bible is clear that all of us

00:19:50.040 deserve punishment. Apart from Christ, we are all condemned. John 3 18 says this, whoever believes in

00:19:56.620 him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in

00:20:02.620 the name of the only son of God. Jeremiah 17 9 says our hearts are desperately wicked. Isaiah 64 6

00:20:10.460 says we have all become like one who was unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted

00:20:16.320 garment. Some translations say like a filthy rag. That's what our righteous deeds are. Romans 3 10

00:20:22.240 through 11 says none is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks God. Ephesians 2 1

00:20:29.380 through 3 says this, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the

00:20:34.540 course of this world, following the print of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the

00:20:39.080 sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived and the passions of our flesh, carrying out the

00:20:44.600 desires of the body and the mind. And we're by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

00:20:50.360 So apart from Christ, we are not just bad people, but we are condemned. We are dead in our sin. We are

00:20:57.380 corrupted. We are polluted. We are desperately wicked, whether we feel like we are or not. We are

00:21:03.000 completely lost. We are completely incapable of cleaning ourselves up or making ourselves

00:21:07.620 presentable to God. This means that in order to be saved, we need grace. We have to have it.

00:21:14.840 And this is what that looks like. Romans 5 6 through 8. For while we were still weak,

00:21:20.120 at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person,

00:21:25.620 though perhaps for a good person, one would even dare to die. But God shows his love for us in that

00:21:31.180 while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Ephesians 2 4 through 10. But God being rich in

00:21:38.720 mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,

00:21:43.840 made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. And then it goes on to say,

00:21:49.160 for by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of

00:21:53.480 God, not a result of work so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus

00:21:59.820 for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So this is a concept the

00:22:06.440 reformers wanted to hammer home, that the Bible says that you are saved by grace. That means you

00:22:12.260 cannot earn it. God gave you the gift of salvation that is found in Christ alone. This is the concept

00:22:18.880 that distinguishes, or a concept that distinguishes Christianity from all false doctrines in other

00:22:25.540 religions. Every other religion, doctrine and cult will tell you how to climb up the mountain to earn

00:22:32.560 your way to God. Christianity, true Christianity says, no, no, no, you're dead at the bottom of the

00:22:37.940 valley. And God got up, came down the mountain and rescued you. He brought you to life when you were

00:22:43.100 dead. He reconciled himself to you when you wanted nothing to do with him. He befriended you while you

00:22:48.580 were his enemy. That is grace. And that is the gospel. Number two, sola fide or through faith alone.

00:22:57.380 So first by grace alone to through faith alone. Uh, what does this mean? So Martin Luther called

00:23:04.040 justification by grace through faith, the doctrine by which the church stands or falls. It was that

00:23:10.240 important. Uh, this is obviously tied closely to by grace alone. Uh, it is, as the passage in Ephesians

00:23:17.340 tells us by grace through faith, not your own doing a gift of God, not a result of works so that no one

00:23:24.620 may boast. It really doesn't get any clearer than that. Uh, a gift of God. Why? So that no one can boast

00:23:31.740 so that no one can brag about earning their own salvation. So we cannot take credit. Uh, Romans five,

00:23:37.420 one says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord,

00:23:44.260 Jesus Christ. Romans five also says that faith is counted to us as our righteousness. Galatians

00:23:50.160 two 16 says, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith

00:23:56.480 in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and

00:24:03.280 not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified. Now I know what a lot

00:24:11.260 of you are thinking, because I think of this too, whenever I hear these verses, and this is the

00:24:15.960 verse that is always brought up by those who disagree with by faith alone. It's James two 24

00:24:20.960 that says, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. What? I thought that

00:24:27.220 this whole, I thought that this whole point was by faith alone. And I thought that we just heard that

00:24:31.020 that someone is justified by faith and not by works of the law and that no one will be justified by

00:24:36.100 works of the law. How do we square that? So this says, you see that a person is justified by works

00:24:41.540 and not by faith alone. So what do we do? We've talked about this many times. What do we do when we

00:24:46.240 have two pieces of scripture that seem to, in our mind, contradict each other? Do we throw one out in

00:24:52.980 favor of the other? No, we look to reconcile them. And how do we reconcile them? With what do we reconcile

00:24:59.820 them with our opinions? No, with scripture. And to do that, all we have to do is to back up a little

00:25:06.400 bit in the second chapter of James. So, uh, two 14 through 17 says, what good is it? My brothers,

00:25:12.640 if someone says he has faith, but does not have works, can that faith save him? If a brother or

00:25:18.440 sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and

00:25:23.560 filmed, uh, filmed, filled, uh, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

00:25:29.100 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead. And of course, anyone who has a high view

00:25:37.720 of scripture, who sees scripture as a supreme authority, uh, would agree with that. Anyone who

00:25:42.280 believes in by faith alone would still read that passage and say, yes, and amen. That's not something

00:25:46.980 that we throw out. Uh, God through James defines what saving faith looks like. He doesn't discount

00:25:53.120 faith. He says, this is what saving faith actually looks like. As Jesus said, uh, a tree is known by

00:25:59.120 its fruit. If it doesn't bear fruit, it is a dead tree. In the same way, faith without works is a

00:26:05.160 dead faith, meaning it's not faith at all. So true faith, faith that has been given as a gift by God

00:26:11.880 through Jesus Christ does, and will always manifest itself in good works, in obedience to Christ and the

00:26:18.520 fruit of the spirit. Now, this does not mean that we don't sin. This does not mean that we don't

00:26:22.820 struggle as the Bible makes it very clear. Uh, but it does mean that through the Holy spirit,

00:26:27.840 we are being sanctified, conformed to the likeness of Christ and the overflow of that saving faith

00:26:34.500 is good works. Galatians five, six says this for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor

00:26:40.420 uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. That is the saving faith that

00:26:47.580 God graciously gives believers a faith that works itself out in love. If you say that you have faith,

00:26:54.560 but you don't have love, then your faith isn't real. You don't have anything. First Corinthians 13,

00:26:59.680 two says, and if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,

00:27:05.140 and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. People make the mistake

00:27:12.380 of separating faith and love and saying, well, if you don't have faith, but you do have love,

00:27:16.220 that's okay. No, the Bible also says without faith, it is impossible to please God. It is love working

00:27:22.960 itself out or faith working itself out in love. Ephesians two 10 says right after saying that

00:27:30.140 salvation is by grace alone through faith, that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good

00:27:37.100 works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in him. So we are saved by grace through faith

00:27:44.020 for good works, not by good works, but for good works. And the faith that we have manifests itself

00:27:50.760 in good works. That is how you tell if someone has saving, justifying faith is how it is working

00:27:57.960 itself out in love. And this Ephesians passage makes clear that it's even those good works were

00:28:04.460 prepared for us beforehand. So we can't even take credit for that because the grace that we were given

00:28:08.700 is a gift. The faith that we were given is a gift. The love through faith that we work out

00:28:14.040 in good works was actually prepared by God beforehand. So we still can't take credit for any of it.

00:28:20.320 So the passage in James and the concept of by grace through faith don't contradict each other.

00:28:25.600 James does not say that you could earn your way to heaven. James does not say that salvation

00:28:30.520 is a product of our own doing, but a product of faith, which is a gift given to us by God,

00:28:37.740 by his grace. Number three, in Christ alone. So now here is where Catholics and Protestants agree.

00:28:45.680 Salvation is found in Christ alone, in no one else. This sola flies in the face of moral relativism that we

00:28:53.340 see in a lot of secular culture, and unfortunately a little bit in people who call themselves Christians.

00:28:59.200 Uh, no, not everyone is saved. Relativism is not right. Not everyone is saved. Not every religion

00:29:05.260 is the same. Not every God can save you. In fact, the Bible says no other God can save you. Isaiah 43,

00:29:12.180 11. I, I am the Lord. And besides me, there is no savior. Isaiah 45, five through seven. I am the Lord.

00:29:20.360 And there is no other besides me. There is no God. I equip you though. You do not know me that people may

00:29:26.660 know from the rising of the sun and from the West that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and

00:29:33.140 there is no other. I form light and create darkness. I make wellbeing and create calamity. I am the Lord

00:29:39.180 who does all these things. Uh, verse 12 of the same chapter says, I made the earth and created man on it.

00:29:45.780 It was my hands that stretched out the heavens and I communicated all their host. 45, 22, turn to me

00:29:53.120 and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God. And there is no other. And Jesus, the Christ,

00:29:59.280 the Messiah is himself. God, the same God talked about in Isaiah, uh, this very God who speaks of

00:30:06.620 himself in Isaiah 45, who is alone. God who created the heavens and the earth in whom alone is salvation.

00:30:14.260 This is also the Christ. We know this from John one verses, uh, one through five say this in the

00:30:21.340 beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with

00:30:27.420 God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was

00:30:34.160 life. And the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and darkness has not

00:30:40.800 overcome it. So who is this word? Verse 14 tells us, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And

00:30:47.720 we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. Verse 17 says,

00:30:54.360 grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. God is the only God that there is. Salvation comes through

00:31:01.560 him alone, taking the form of word made flesh with the, which the Bible says is himself. God is in the

00:31:07.760 person of Jesus Christ who died a gruesome death on a cross for our sake that we might be saved.

00:31:13.780 How? By grace through faith, which is a gift. Isaiah 53, nine prophesied of this Jesus by saying,

00:31:22.340 and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. Although he had done no

00:31:27.460 violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. And this parallels perfectly with second Corinthians 521,

00:31:33.240 which says for our sake, he made him, God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him,

00:31:40.680 we might become the righteousness of God. Uh, first Corinthians one 30 says this. And because of

00:31:46.940 him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification

00:31:53.100 and redemption. So that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. So in Christ alone

00:32:00.700 means that salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone. Um, sola scriptura, scripture alone. That's number

00:32:08.800 four. Now this is also seen as a very controversial one or one that we have debates over. Catholics

00:32:14.940 don't, or typically Catholics will say that they don't believe in scripture alone, but, uh, they

00:32:21.280 believe in the equal authority. And if you're a Catholic and I'm saying this incorrectly, please let

00:32:25.620 me know the equal authority of the magisterium. Now it should be said that there are, and have been

00:32:32.140 many Catholics who have spoken out a bit, uh, spoken out against, uh, Catholic teachers or against the

00:32:38.040 Pope when something is said that is not biblical. A lot of people think that Catholics take everything

00:32:44.740 the Pope says as inerrant biblical truth. And that has not been my experience with Catholics. Uh,

00:32:50.560 Catholics do have a different view of tradition and teachings than Protestants do, but I don't think

00:32:55.860 it's accurate. And you guys can correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think it's accurate to say

00:32:59.700 that most Catholics will take everything that a Pope or a church leader says as inerrant gospel

00:33:06.500 truth, but that they actually do weigh it against scripture. However, that said, there are some

00:33:12.740 disagreements still between Protestants and Catholics on this point of scripture alone.

00:33:18.320 Martin Luther summed up this sola this way. Uh, the difference between us and the papists is that

00:33:23.500 they do not think that the church can be the pillar of the truth unless she presides over the word

00:33:29.460 of God. We, on the other hand, assert that it is, it is because she reverently subjects herself

00:33:35.880 to the word of God, that the truth is preserved by her and passed on to others by her hand. So that's

00:33:42.380 really important. There's a difference there between, um, Catholics believing that the church presides over

00:33:48.300 the word of God and Protestants believing, uh, that the church is supposed to subject themselves to the

00:33:55.400 word of God and preserve the word of God through that subjection, not by presiding over it. That was

00:34:01.520 true at the time. That might be true of, uh, a number of Catholics now, but maybe not all. So that was the

00:34:08.440 difference though, that kind of spurred or, uh, motivated this particular sola. Now it's important

00:34:14.760 to note that often sola scripture is misunderstood, uh, to mean that Protestants do not believe in the

00:34:20.420 wisdom of teachings or that we don't believe in the use of creeds at all. And that's not true. We simply

00:34:26.620 believe that all teachings, all wisdom, all songs, all creeds need to be rooted and grounded in

00:34:33.680 scripture. Um, and here I use Protestants as a general term to mean people who actually abide by

00:34:38.840 these five solas. There are a lot of people who call themselves Protestants who don't appear, uh, adhere to

00:34:43.920 scripture and are ignorant of the five solas. But I'm talking generally, uh, fundamentally, typically,

00:34:50.000 ideally, uh, reformed Protestants. Uh, sola scripture means that you and I, just as commonly

00:34:57.660 people have just as much authority through the Holy spirit to read and interpret scripture as any

00:35:03.600 pastor or teacher or church leader. Uh, that doesn't mean that we have as much knowledge or

00:35:07.880 wisdom as people, you know, who have been studying scripture for 50 years, but we have the ability,

00:35:13.380 the authority, the capacity to study scripture on our own. If a teacher, an elder, an author, a pastor,

00:35:19.400 uh, preaches to us something that does not align with what the Bible says, it is our responsibility

00:35:24.840 to reject and rebuke that teaching as a lie. Um, some people understand this to mean that everyone

00:35:32.340 just interprets a scripture. Every Protestant just interprets scripture as they see fit.

00:35:36.900 Protestantism is all about relativism. A lot of people wrongly think, uh, nothing, nothing could be

00:35:43.540 further from the truth. Reformed Protestants are often actually seen as fundamentalists, uh, because of

00:35:47.840 how seriously we take a proper interpretation of the biblical text. Uh, and there is a systematic

00:35:53.500 way we believe to do this. We don't just say, well, here's what this means to me. No, we actually reject

00:35:59.760 that entirely. We don't ask, what does this mean to me? We ask, what does this mean? What does this say?

00:36:06.100 What does this tell me about God? And to answer those questions, uh, what does this passage mean? We,

00:36:11.740 we first look at the passage in context. So that means in context with the chapter, the book, and the

00:36:18.600 entirety of the Bible, we look at the original Greek and Hebrew. We study historical context. We

00:36:24.620 understand the literary device being used, if any is being used. And yes, uh, we do rely on theologians

00:36:31.560 and teachers who view the word of God as their supreme authority to help guide us, uh, knowing that

00:36:36.500 none of these theologians, uh, are inerrant, but that they, in their wisdom and research and knowledge

00:36:42.280 could help us, uh, could help point us to a deeper knowledge of God's truth as is revealed in

00:36:48.420 scripture. Um, where forward Protestantism is the exact opposite of relativism. We care very little for

00:36:56.440 how we feel about scripture or how anyone feels about scripture or what we want scripture to mean.

00:37:00.740 Uh, we care very greatly about what scripture says and what scripture actually means. We take

00:37:07.700 second Timothy two 15, very seriously, uh, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved a

00:37:14.120 worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly handling the word of truth. Now that does not mean that there

00:37:20.500 are not disagreements on non-soultereological issues, meaning that, uh, issues that involve salvation or,

00:37:28.940 uh, there, uh, there aren't, there, there are a lot of disagreements on issues that do not involve

00:37:34.220 salvation, which reform Protestants agree, uh, is by grace through faith. We believe that salvation

00:37:40.000 is by grace through faith. We all agree on that, but we do disagree on things like believers,

00:37:45.480 baptism versus infant baptism on eschatological issues. Like in, you know, in times, uh, we disagree on

00:37:52.940 justice, how involved Christians should be in civic life, what that looks like, spiritual gifts.

00:37:58.060 And we all draw our views on these things, uh, from scripture, which we all believe to be the

00:38:05.620 supreme authority. Uh, we do still find ourselves disagreeing and that happens. That's okay. Um,

00:38:14.920 reformed Protestants have really vigorous debates about these things. Uh, but unless someone that we

00:38:20.340 are debating with is preaching a different gospel is saying that salvation is not by grace through faith

00:38:25.720 alone in, in, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, uh, we can disagree and understand that we

00:38:31.200 are still brothers and sisters in Christ. That is okay. We are finite. We are fallible. There is one

00:38:36.480 truth. And of course we know that one day when we are all in Christ, we will know that truth when God

00:38:41.560 reveals to us that Presbyterians were wrong about infant baptism. Totally kidding, kidding, kidding,

00:38:45.780 kidding. Uh, but we do have, uh, disagreements like that, that we understand are okay because they

00:38:52.500 don't change salvation and what we believe about salvation. Uh, here's what Martin Luther had to

00:38:58.640 say in the vein of sola scriptura. I opposed indulgences in all the papists, but never with

00:39:04.580 force. I simply taught, preached and wrote God's word. Otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept,

00:39:11.220 the word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it.

00:39:16.980 I did nothing. The word did everything. Uh, many Catholics say, or have said to me, uh, well,

00:39:24.080 sola scriptura, uh, uh, can't be right when the biblical canon wasn't agreed upon for so long.

00:39:29.900 There's been so much, uh, illiteracy throughout history. How could it be that, uh, how could it be

00:39:34.280 possible that Christians have to rely on the word of God and the word of God alone rather than the

00:39:39.960 spoken word of church, uh, or the spoken word of church leaders for teaching when thousands of

00:39:45.540 Christians couldn't do so before the printing press. Uh, but this actually isn't, I take that

00:39:51.700 point, but that is actually not an argument against sola scriptura. A sola scriptura isn't about

00:39:56.120 the availability of scripture. It's about the authority of scripture, whether or not the Bible

00:40:01.360 is, uh, available, it's still authoritative. And even though a lot of lay people didn't have access

00:40:09.600 or a lot of, uh, just a lot of your common person didn't have a Bible or access to a Bible for a lot

00:40:16.220 of history, most of the Catholic churches before the Reformation did. Uh, and they were the only ones

00:40:20.880 actually able to read it. And yet, uh, these, these were the leaders at this time, at this particular

00:40:27.320 time in history around the Reformation who were acting and teaching in a way that was not actually

00:40:31.640 in line with scripture. They weren't preaching scripture. They weren't helping their congregants

00:40:35.920 read scripture. Some of them were promoting doctrines that had nothing to do with scripture

00:40:39.800 like indulgences. Um, second Timothy four, two says, preach the word, be ready in season and out

00:40:46.000 of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patient patience and teaching. And so, uh, just

00:40:53.740 because, just because we, just because it took a while for the canon to come together, which I'll get

00:41:00.240 to in just a second. And just because the word of God wasn't available to everyone doesn't mean

00:41:05.320 that it doesn't have supreme authority as the word of God. Uh, so the fact that people had to rely on

00:41:11.440 teachers rather than reading God's word themselves because of a lack of literacy or availability or

00:41:16.940 agreeance on the canon, uh, doesn't actually take away the authority of scripture, which is what

00:41:22.040 sola scripture is all about. Also, uh, the canon was decided systematically, uh, in accordance with

00:41:29.100 Jewish history, with careful study of the old Testament, along with the new Testament, using Jesus's

00:41:33.460 specific words, uh, to decide what actually should be included. And of course we believe God's, uh,

00:41:40.140 sovereign spirit guided that process. A second Timothy three, 16 through 17 says all scripture

00:41:45.380 is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training and

00:41:50.340 righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work. That is soul of

00:41:57.040 scripture. And not that we don't read anything except the Bible, but that everything that we read and

00:42:01.100 believe in do is subject to the Bible. Um, number five, the last sola to the glory of God alone.

00:42:07.560 So this is the point. This is the answer to all of it. Uh, why, why by grace did God send his son to

00:42:14.180 die for us? Why did he grant us the gift of faith that we might believe in him to be saved? Why did God

00:42:19.720 offer us redemption and reconciliation and forgiveness and eternal life in Christ? Why does he choose to

00:42:25.860 reveal himself, his plan of salvation and his will in the written word? Why does he want this message

00:42:32.180 to be shared to the end of the earth? Why does he give us the gospel for his glory? That's it. Yes.

00:42:39.080 It is because he loves us. Yes. It is because he longs to save us. Yes. It is because he wants to take

00:42:44.620 care of us, but all of these things, his love, his salvation, his care, his provision, his protection,

00:42:49.740 it is all for his glory, that he might be glorified, that he might be made known. God is for himself

00:42:56.920 and he is about himself. Uh, as Jesus says in John 15, five, apart from me, you can do nothing.

00:43:04.840 You are nothing. I am the power source. I'm the only power source you got. I am your only

00:43:08.980 form of significance. I am your only source of satisfaction. Jesus says, apart from Christ,

00:43:14.000 we are dead in our sin. We are depraved. We are lost. We are unrighteous, but God,

00:43:18.640 because of his love, his mercy, his grace, his goodness, he is the only being in the entire

00:43:25.900 cosmic and earthly universe who deserves to be worshiped, who deserves to be glorified. That

00:43:30.840 is why we as Christians find satisfaction and find fulfillment and find fullness of joy

00:43:36.200 when we worship him rather than anger or jealousy or envy that we are not getting the glory. It is for,

00:43:42.960 uh, his glory that the Christian heart longs. We all long to worship something or

00:43:48.600 someone, whether or not we are Christians and everyone does actually worship something or

00:43:53.540 someone you worship yourself, you worship your boyfriend, you worship your job, your kids,

00:43:58.480 your body, whatever it is. And what we find every time we direct our worship to any of these things

00:44:05.400 is that we end up disappointed. Uh, the objects of our worship fail us. They turn their back on us.

00:44:11.620 They end up not being able to deliver on their promises or meet our expectations. They may betray

00:44:17.580 us or leave us or lie to us. Ultimately, these things break our hearts. Why? Because they are not

00:44:25.540 worthy of our worship. God alone is the God who made you, who made me, who made everything else in

00:44:32.760 the universe. The God who, according to Ephesians one, predestined you in love before the creation of

00:44:37.540 the world, the self-sufficient, all sustaining one, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. God created us

00:44:44.060 in such a way that it actually benefits us to worship him and hurts us to worship ourselves or

00:44:50.780 anything else. He is sovereign over everything and control of everything. Nothing escapes his grasp.

00:44:57.720 We discussed God's sovereignty in a previous episode of predestination. So you can go back and

00:45:02.180 listen to that if you have questions. Uh, but the answer to everything that happens ultimately

00:45:06.680 is God's glory. Yes. He can even use wickedness for his glory. That doesn't mean that he likes

00:45:12.040 wickedness. In fact, he hates it. He hates evil. God doesn't tempt anyone. The Bible says, but the

00:45:16.640 justice he will bring to the evildoer will be victorious and will bring him glory. And he is even

00:45:22.660 able to bring good out of evil here on earth right now for his glory. Like the story of Joseph shows that,

00:45:27.980 uh, his brothers threw him into a pit, sold him into slavery, but God's plan for Joseph to rise in the

00:45:33.880 ranks in Egypt and deliver his family from famine was already in play before he was thrown into the

00:45:38.980 pit and brought glory to God. Uh, this is how, by the way, I've said this before the, of course,

00:45:45.840 the word of God is the standard of my theology and should be the standard of all of our theology,

00:45:49.960 not what we feel, but a good question to ask yourself in that is how can I, what doctrines bring

00:45:57.660 God the most glory? And does it bring God more glory to say that I have a part in my salvation

00:46:03.560 that, um, I can earn my way to heaven? No, it brings God the most glory to say that he did it all,

00:46:10.100 that it was by grace through faith in Christ, according to scripture for the glory of God,

00:46:16.860 that everything is for his glory. That's one thing that you can know for sure that everything

00:46:21.700 is for his glory and will ultimately be for his glory. So it's a good question to ask yourself,

00:46:26.880 does what I believe glorify myself or does it glorify God? And if it's something that you

00:46:31.880 believe glorifies you like the self love doctrine that we hear so often, it's not in accordance

00:46:36.800 with scripture. I can just tell you that right now. That doesn't mean that you should be self

00:46:39.700 deprecated. That doesn't mean you should hate yourself. You're made in the image of God

00:46:42.300 and he has chosen you. That's amazing. You have an incredible purpose because of that. That's

00:46:46.840 awesome. You get to see yourself through the lens of the creator and that's an amazing and

00:46:50.700 incredible privilege. So that's not self hatred that I'm talking about, but self glory and pride

00:46:55.620 and arrogance. If your theology is coming from that place, then it's something that you need

00:46:59.740 to lay down for the glory of God. That's how important this all is. A long episode. I knew

00:47:04.180 it would be, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. As always, feel free to email me. If you enjoy

00:47:09.520 these podcasts, please give me a five star review on iTunes. That would mean a whole lot to me.

00:47:13.960 And I will see you guys soon.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - July 15, 2019

Ep 137 ｜ 5 Solas

Episode Stats

Length

Words per Minute

Word Count

Sentence Count

Hate Speech Sentences

Summary

Transcript