'THE PEOPLE OF 5 SOLAS' BY PASTOR GREG ELKAN.

_For no other foundation can a man lay than what is laid._ –  1Co 3:11

Without question, the emergence of the “Protestant” movement 500 years ago is one of the key defining moments in the history of Christianity and Western civilization. Some would even argue that it is the second most important event in church history after the first church council in Acts 15. Nevertheless, the so-called “reformers” whose actions precipitated the Protestant movement never really knew their little actions would have a such a global, eternal impact on the body of Christ. Indeed, much of their “historical” acts and declarations only got those appellations decades and even centuries after they did them.

Furthermore, the “Reformers” were not a formal, organized body; they were different individuals who lived in different countries, spoke different languages, and even lived in different times, but whose individual actions collectively shook the Church to its very foundations and (re)shaped an entire civilization. One thing that they all had in common, however, was their passion for the supremacy of truth over tradition, and faith over fallacies. 

Their collective theological persuasions were eventually summarized, (centuries after their death), under 5 Latin phrases that aptly represented their arguments against the errors, abuses, and excesses of the Church of their day. 

They’re known as the “5 solas:”_Sola scriptura_ (“Scripture alone”), _Sola fide_ (“by faith alone”), _Sola gratia_ (“by grace alone”), _Solo Christo_ (“through Christ alone”), and _Soli Deo gloria_ (“glory to God alone”). 

While these five _“solas”_ have been taken as the foundational doctrine of some denominations today, the propositions that they affirm are really supposed to be the creed of every Believer. All of us, regardless of the denomination we identify with, should be known by those around us as “the people of the five solas”. 

AMEN

GREG ELKAN.