The three, four or five solae ( from the Latin ', lit. "alone"; occasionally Anglicized to five solas) of the Protestant Reformation are a foundational set of Christian theological principles theorized to be central to the doctrines of justification and salvation as taught by the Lutheran, Reformed and Evangelical branches of Protestantism, as well as in some branches of Baptist and Pentecostalism.
Each sola represents a key belief in these Protestant traditions that is putatively distinct from the theological doctrine of the Catholic Church, although they were not assembled as a theological until the 20th century. The Reformers are known to have only stated two of the five solae clearly. Even today there are differences as to what constitutes the solae, how many there are, and how to interpret them to reflect the Reformers' beliefs.
History
According to theologian Volker Leppin, while the sola-formulations can be found in medieval theology, these did not imply the sharp exclusiveness or contrast that Martin Luther employed; they referred to a primary or activating component, for example "their sola gratia did not exclude the presence of meritorious human works."
Martin Luther's thelogical development in the 1510s has been characterized a progression of solae as logical consequences: first solus Christus, then sola gratia, then sola fide, finally sola scriptura. however, sola gratia and sola fide were used in phrases by the Reformers themselves. In 1554, for example, Philip Melanchthon wrote, "sola gratia justificamus et sola fide justificamur" ("only by grace do we justify and only by faith are we justified"). All of the solae appear in writings by the Protestant Reformers, but they are not catalogued together by any.
In 1916, Lutheran scholar Theodore Engelder published an article titled "The Three Principles of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fides" ("only scripture, only grace, only faith").
In 1957, Lutheran theologian Eberhard Jüngel proposed four: solus Christus, solus gratia, solo verbo and sola fide. Later, in commenting on Karl Barth's theological system, Reformed theologian Emil Brunner added Christus solus to the litany of solas while leaving out sola scriptura. The five solae are taken from a comment on Luther and Calvin in Catholic theologian Johann Baptiste Metz's 1965, The Church and the World.
The doctrine of sola scriptura affirms that scripture is the only source of normative, apostolic, infallible revelation and that "all things necessary for salvation and about faith and life are taught in the Bible with sufficient clarity so that the ordinary believer can find it there and understand it."
This particular sola is sometimes called the formal principle of the Reformation, since it is the source and norm of the material cause or principle, the gospel of Jesus Christ that is received sola fide (Latin ablative, ', meaning "by faith alone") and sola gratia (Latin ablative, ', meaning "by grace alone" or by God's favor). The adjective (sola) and the noun (scriptura) are in the ablative case rather than in the nominative case to indicate that the Bible does not stand alone apart from God, but rather that it is the instrument of God by which he reveals himself for salvation through faith in Christ (solus Christus or solo Christo).
It should be emphasized that this doctrine in no way denies tradition, reason, or experience as sources of truth. There is nothing in Sola Scriptura that eliminates other authorities. What it does say is that there is only one authority that can absolutely bind the conscience, that authority is holy scripture and that all controversies about doctrine and theology must be resolved in the final analysis by scripture.
Sola fide ("by faith alone")
Sola fide is summarized in the Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican church, specifically Article XI "Of the Justification of Man":
Bishop Scott J. Jones in United Methodist Doctrine writes that in Methodist theology:
For Luther, baptism is a work of God by which the forgiveness of sins and salvation earned by Christ's death, and confirmed by Christ's resurrection, are given to the baptized person who believes God's Word that says He is doing exactly that in baptism. Infant baptism is not only appropriate, but urged: "We bring the child in the conviction and hope that it believes, and we pray that God may grant it faith; but we do not baptize it upon that, but solely upon the command of God."
The Bible talks about the idea of being justified by faith opposed to "works of the law":<blockquote>For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Romans 3:28 ESV
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[a] just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." Romans 1:17</blockquote>
Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
Sola gratia, or "only grace", specifically excludes the merit done by a person as part of achieving salvation. Sola gratia is the teaching that salvation comes by divine grace or "unmerited favor" only, not as something merited by the sinner. A famous verse used to back up this doctrine is:<blockquote>For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9</blockquote>
It is generally understood as expressing a monergist position, however Protestant Arminians, such as Methodists, which are synergists, may also claim the doctrine of sola gratia, though they understand it quite differently than Lutherans and Calvinists do. Arminians believe that God saves only by grace and not at all by merit, but man, enabled by what is referred to as "prevenient grace", is enabled by the Holy Spirit to understand the Gospel and respond in faith. Arminians believe that this is compatible with salvation by grace alone, since all the actual saving is done by grace. Arminians believe that humans are only capable of receiving salvation when first enabled to do so by prevenient grace, which they believe is distributed to everyone. Arminians therefore do not reject the conception of sola gratia expounded by Lutheran and Reformed theologians, although their interpretation of it is quite different.
John Owen, in A Display of Arminianism, rejects the implied belief that the understanding of the Reformed theology has any alliance between the two doctrines and Arminianism is but another form of pelagianism, known as semipelagianism.
The four solae
Jüngel's four solae adds solus Christus and solo verbo to solo gratia and sola fide. For Jüngel, the purpose of the solae was to characterize the Protestant view of justification in particular, not to summarize Protestantism: