What do you need to do to be saved?
How can we ever stand before God “just as if we had never sinned?” (justified)
Scripture alone
Faith alone
Grace alone
Christ alone
…the glory of God alone
A bit of historical context
Salvation came via grace that was only distributed via this one and only true church.
…via the seven sacraments
…faster if you paid for them (indulgences)
“as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs”.
What does the bible say?
Ephesians 2:1-11
…before we are saved we are dead in our transgressions and sins.
…deserve God’s wrath.
…he has taken us form death to live.
… It is by GRACE we have been saved
Verse 8-9 “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.”
There is nothing you can do to contribute to your salvation.
…it is 100% a gift of God.
Misunderstood verses
- Deuteronomy 30:1-10
- James 2:24, “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.”
“faith without works is dead”, James 2:17.
Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”
When Grace Alone become a false teaching
…thought that this salvation gave them a license to sin … because they were saved only by God’s grace. (Libertines)
Titus 2:11-14. “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
Grace Alone today
1) The wrong thinking of the past
2) It affects how we engage the non Christian world
3) We can have assurance
4) We still have the Libertine problem