Have you ever wondered who has the authority to say how someone is actually saved and right before God? The moralist would say, “Just do more good things than bad things.” The hedonist would say, “Just do what you feel like doing, God will love you anyway.” The transactionalist would say, “Just pray the right prayer enough times and go to church.” Who is right? Who has the authority to say who is right?
In the 1500s, God brought His people back to the sources and reshaped the teachings of the Church. As believers searched God’s Word for what God thinks, they found five clear truths:
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God’s Word is the only innerrent, authoritative, and final word on how someone is justified and saved before God.
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It is Christ alone who has accomplished justification and salvation for sinners.
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It is by faith alone that one receives righteousness and is justified before God that he may walk into eternal and abundant life.
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It is by God’s grace alone that one is gifted righteousness, justified, eternally saved, sanctified day-by-day, and ultimately glorified in the end of days.
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It is God alone who gets the glory for the salvation of unworthy, helpless, otherwise hopeless sinners.
These five tenets fueled rightful change in the people of God in the 16th century, just as they continue to do in God’s people today. Join us as we search the authoritative Scriptures to see what God has to say about your justification and salvation.
