Against the Five Solae

 

This post marks the start of a new series in which I will argue against the Five Solae (or Five Solas as is the common parlance). I cannot say when each part will be posted, as I am currently researching and typing them up as I go along - I'm hoping for at least one in this series a week.

This post also starts a new way that I am running my blog. For my Lectio Divina and occasional update posts they will be posted here on Patreon first, and then typically two days later to my blog proper. For longer, apologetic posts and series they will be posted here to Patreon first, and then to my blog proper two weeks later.

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I will also be uploading more Patreon only content for certain tiers of supporters - such as my research process, and videos of me doing research and writing.

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Lastly, I am going to start trying to post something from the "archives" more often. The archives are just some of my older blog posts that have not yet been posted to Patreon. These will probably just be links posted to Patreon to those specific blog posts, and they will be free. They were already free, and I see no reason to start hiding what was previously free content behind a paywall.

With all of that being said, let us now take a look at the Five Solae.

First, what are the Five Solae?

"The five solas are five Latin phrases popularized during the Protestant Reformation that emphasized the distinctions between the early Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church. The word sola is the Latin word for “only” and was used in relation to five key teachings that defined the biblical pleas of Protestants." (What are the Five Solas)

These solae (I prefer the Latin over the Anglicization) were an attempt by Reformers to correct the wrongs they saw in the Roman Church. Some of these wrongs were such things as the authority of the Pope, Tradition, and the Church; the selling of indulgences; what is viewed as a "works" based faith and salvation; and other things. They were right in some of what they were against, and wrong in others.

The Five Solae are, Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Solus Christos (Christ Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone). Personally, I think that there are five "alones" is rather oxymoronic, considering the term "alone" implies just the one. But I know that there is more to it than just this alone or that alone.

Now then, the Five Solae are basically the bread and butter of Protestant theology - these are typically used to guide churches in how they reach and teach. However, the Five Solae weren't really seen as a whole until the 20th century (1900s) - though they had each been written about by various Protestant theologians before then.

"The five solae (from Latin, sola, lit. "alone"; occasionally Anglicized to five solas) of the Protestant Reformation are a foundational set of Christian theological principles held by theologians and clergy to be central to the doctrines of justification and salvation as taught by the Reformed and Lutheran branches of Protestantism and Pentecostalism.[1][2][3][4][5] Each sola represents a key belief in these Protestant traditions in contradistinction to the theological doctrine of the Catholic Church, although they were not assembled as a theological unit until the 20th century. The Reformers are known to have only clearly stated two of the five solae. Even today there are differences as to what constitutes the solae and how many there are, not to mention how to interpret them to reflect the Reformers' beliefs." (Five Solae)

As we see from the above quote, how each sola is interpreted can and does vary from denomination to denomination. For instance, many from the various Baptist churches I grew up in practice what I call Solo Scriptura - ONLY Scripture - meaning that they wouldn't even use commentaries because those things weren't scripture, just some person's interpretation of scripture. Others that I know will freely use commentaries.

As I go through this series, I will try to take a look at each sola, where the Reformers and others got them right, and where they got them wrong. I don't want to really start getting into them all right now in this first post, as this is basically just supposed to be an introduction into what the solae are. I'll definitely be getting more in depth on each individual sola in their respective posts.

I hope that y'all will enjoy reading this new series as much as I am sure that I will enjoy writing and researching it!

Please pray for me, a sinner.