As Christians, Protestants, and Presbyterians, our congregation affirms these
fundamental truths. As a brief summary of what we believe, it is fair to say that our church affirms the "Five Solas" of the Reformation, which are, as helpfully described by Rev. Justin Holcomb on the Christianity.com website, as follows:
The Five Solas are:
Sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”): The Bible alone is our highest authority.
Sola Fide (“faith alone”): We are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Sola Gratia (“grace alone”): We are saved by the grace of God alone.
Solus Christus (“Christ alone”): Jesus Christ alone is our Lord, Savior, and King.
Soli Deo Gloria (“to the glory of God alone”): We live for the glory of God alone.
Sola Scriptura
The Scriptures are our ultimate and trustworthy authority for faith and practice.
This doesn’t mean that the Bible is the only place where truth is found, but it does mean that everything else we learn about God and His world, and all other authorities, should
be interpreted in light of Scripture. The Bible gives us everything we need for our
theology. Every word of the 66 books of the Bible is inspired by God’s Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit also helps us to understand and obey Scripture.
2 Peter 2:20, the Bible is about Jesus Christ and his role as God and Savior. Additionally, Romans 15:4, 2 Timothy 2:16.
Sola Fide and Sola Gratia
We are saved solely through faith in Jesus Christ because of God’s grace and Christ’s merit alone. We are not saved by our merits or declared righteous by our good works.
God grants salvation not because of the good things we do and despite our sin.
As humans, we inherited (from our ancestor Adam) a nature that is enslaved to sin. Because of our nature, we are naturally enemies of God and lovers of evil. We need to
be made alive (regenerated) so that we can even have faith in Christ. God graciously chooses to give us new hearts so that we trust in Christ and are saved through faith
alone. God graciously preserves us and keeps us. When we are faithless toward Him,
He is still faithful. We can only stand before God by His grace as He mercifully attributes
to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ and attributes to Him the consequences of our sins. Jesus’ life of perfect righteousness is counted as ours, and our records of
sin and failure were counted to Jesus when He died on the cross.
Sola fide and sola gratia express the teaching of Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Solus Christus
God has given the ultimate revelation of Himself to us by sending
Jesus Christ, Colossians 1:15. Only through God’s gracious self-revelation in
Jesus do we come to a saving and transforming knowledge of God.
1 Timothy 1:5. Because God is holy and all humans are sinful and sinners.
1 John 1:1 Hebrews 7:25 Romans 8:34. Neither religious rituals nor good
works mediate between us and God. Acts 4:12 by which a person
can be saved other than the name of Jesus.
Hebrews 7:23, and his sacrificial death alone can atone for sin.
Soli Deo Gloria
Glory belongs to God alone. God’s glory is the central motivation for salvation,
not improving the lives of people—though that is a wonderful by product.
God is not a means to an end—He is the means and the end. The goal of all
of life is to give glory to God alone: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). As The Westminster Catechism says,
the chief purpose of human life is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
(Justin Holcomb is an Episcopal priest and teaches theology at
Reformed Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary.
Justin wrote On the Grace of God and co-authored with his wife Lindsey
Rid of My Disgrace and Save Me from Violence. He is also the editor
of Christian Theologies of Scripture. You can find him on Facebook,
Twitter, and at JustinHolcomb.com)
While the above Five Solas are a great summary of our beliefs,
we are also a Confessional Church, and we adhere
to the Confessions of the Ancient and Reformation Era Church.
Please follow these links if you would care to read them and study them.
The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647)
The Heidelberg Catechism (1653)
If you would like to view the entire PC(USA) Book of Confessions, you can view the wide range of statements that our denomination has included over time.
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