Soli Deo Gloria
Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)
To God alone be all glory! We agree with many Protestants today who claim that God alone gets all the glory for the salvation of man. Nothing that we do can merit for us eternal life, which is a gift from God.
{8}For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, {9}not of works, lest anyone should boast. {10}For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV)
Protestant Defection from This Truth
But how this gift comes to sinful man in the teaching of some Protestants can introduce error and be the cause for belittling the glory of God by giving more credit to man than should be given. For example, some Protestants think of God’s gift as something that the sinful human being can choose to receive apart from God’s supernatural work through the Gospel. A decision to follow Christ, to receive Him in their heart, or in some such way to give their life to Jesus and make Him their Lord and Savior, this is what man can do if he so chooses. And thus it comes down to an individual’s decision as the thing that makes the difference between a sinner who goes to heaven versus a sinner who does not.
Other Protestants correct this kind of decisionism with a more subtle version, but it is still a decision (or change of heart) toward God and the Gospel of Christ that is needed and that makes one a child of God, and this is all accomplished outside of the Work of God in the Sacraments which Jesus gave to take the Gospel to sinners in all the world. Thus God can save you through the preached Word but not the visible Word of the Sacraments.
However, the operation of God in the salvation of man excludes boasting of any kind by man.
{7}For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? (1 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV)
Lutherans, on the other hand, focus on the External Word given by Jesus. We believe that it is solely through the work of God the Holy Spirit working through the External Word and bringing to individual sinners the fruit of our Lord Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection alone by the means Jesus has given (Word and Sacrament), that individuals are given life from above and receive the forgiveness of sins.
{26}For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. {27}But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; {28}and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, {29}that no flesh should glory in His presence. {30}But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—{31}that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NKJV)
If one is in Christ, it is because of the work of God: of Him you are in Christ Jesus. And this happens specifically through God’s work in Holy Baptism:
{3}Jesus answered and said to [Nicodemus], “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” {4}Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” {5}Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3-5 NKJV
{1}What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? {2}Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? {3}Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? {4}Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. {5}For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, {6}knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Romans 6:1-6 NKJV)
{27}For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. {28}There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. {29}And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:27-29 NKJV)
{12}For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. {13}For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12f NKJV)
Roman Catholicism at Odds with this Truth
Sadly, the glory of God gets diminished through the lies of false teaching. For example, this doctrine of God alone receiving glory for our eternal salvation is a doctrine not fully upheld by official Roman Catholic teaching, since the latter introduces concepts which take away from God’s Glory.
The Problem Specified
Here are some of the doctrines and practices that diminish God’s glory and so should be rejected.
- Praying to the saints
- The purchasing of indulgences which tap into the purported righteous treasures of the saints
- Seeking help for one’s life and salvation through intermediaries such as the saints and in particular through Mary
While it is appropriate to thank God for the life and faithful witness of the saints and those who have gone before us, and even to commemorate the martyrs and faithful departed on days set apart for such purpose, the Roman Catholic practicies cited above are in direct contradiction to Scripture which points to Jesus Christ alone as our true source of righteousness, as He alone is the one Mediator between God and man.
These doctrines and the practices built on them take away from the Glory of God alone in the work of man’s salvation. Moreover, they are rooted in a false understanding of the Mass as well, which is regarded as a new (albeit) bloodless sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood consecrated and presented by the priest once again to God on behalf of Christ for His people. For a blistering response to these false teachings and the practices that have sprung up around the teaching on the Mass in the Papacy in particular, see Smalcald Articles, Part II, Art. II - Of the Mass.