Sola Series: Solus Christus (Christ Alone)
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12
Last week I explained that we are saved by faith, but this faith in and of itself is not the only thing that saves us. You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking that sounds like a contradiction when the article's title was Faith Alone. Allow me to explain in this article the truth that it is not the faith per se, but rather the object of our faith, or in this case, the person in whom we put our faith, that saves us. This is the next sola, Solus Christus, or in Christ alone.
Faith in the Right Place (Or Person)
If you remember, faith was defined as complete trust or confidence in something or someone. Faith can be misplaced, meaning that we can have complete trust or confidence in the wrong things or people. For example, let’s say that I am going to take a trip and I need to fly to get where I’m going. If you know me, you know I hate flying and I do it as little as possible, but just go with me on this one. Let’s say I go to board the aircraft only to find that this aircraft has no engines. Now, I can have all the faith in the world that when I get on that aircraft, it will fly me to my destination but with no engines, that simply won’t happen, regardless of the amount of faith I have in that plane. My faith in this case is of no use to me because the object of my faith is broken. It simply is not capable of doing what I have complete confidence that it can do. Or let’s say the pilot has no flight experience, he’s never been trained, he’s never sat in a simulator, and he’s never even seen the inside of a cockpit. I may have trust in him that he can fly the plane, but in reality, he is incapable of doing it and we’re all going to die if we let him try.
This may sound extreme, but this is how many people approach salvation apart from Christ. The most common thing people put their faith in is their works or inherent goodness. The problem is, our goodness is non-existent according to Romans 3:10, and our works have no saving merit according to Ephesians 2:8-9. So, like the plane with no engines, the object of our faith, our complete trust and confidence, is utterly broken. Our good works will not save us any more than a plane with no engines will fly.
The Work of Christ Alone
Now, let me seemingly contradict myself and say this: you and I are, in fact, saved by works. The important distinction, however, is that we are not saved by our works, but by the work of Christ. This is true in two ways. First, we must know that the law of God has to be kept in its entirety. This means we have to not only do everything that God tells us to do, but we must also never do anything God says not to do. As if this were not enough, we have also to do all of this with the right heart. No complaining, no grumbling, not out of obligation, but only because it glorifies God to do so. This is completely impossible for any person. Because of our sinful nature, even our good is tainted with sin. We may do the right thing, but we do it not for the glory of God, but out of obligation. We may do the right thing, but we want people to see us and tell us how wonderful we are. We may do the right thing, but only because we don’t want to face consequences for not doing it. I could go on, but you get the point. Even if we could do all of the right things with the right heart, we’d still be guilty of not glorifying our creator by acknowledging Him. We cannot save ourselves because we lack the ability. We’re the pilot who thinks he can fly the plane but has not the slightest clue what he’s doing. Christ, however, did everything the law commanded, He did nothing the law prohibited, and He did all of this with a perfect God-glorifying heart.
Secondly, there is a penalty for sin. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death.” Sin is literally punishable by death. If our debt of wrath to God is to be paid by us, we must spend eternity paying it in Hell. This is not something we want, to be sure. Yet, the debt must be paid, so what are we to do? Here we come to the work of atonement Christ did at Calvary. In addition to keeping the law for us, Christ died in our place for our failure to keep it. Romans 3:23-25, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Propitiation, if you don’t know, means the satisfaction of God’s wrath. For our sake, God put Christ forward as a means of atoning for our sins. He did this through His death, which was sufficient to satisfy God’s justified wrath against our sins. Because of Jesus, nothing more needs to be done by us, we simply need to put our faith, our complete trust and confidence, in Him alone.
This is why the most important words ever spoken were spoken from the cross of Christ when He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Nothing more needs to be done; nothing less will ever do. Christ alone. When we put our faith in Jesus, this perfect record is counted to us as if we were perfect, and our record of sin is counted to Jesus as if He was the sinner. This is what reformer Martin Luther called the “Great Exchange” which Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Faith in Christ Alone
But, the key principle that we cannot forget here is that all of this only applies to those who have repented of their sin and put their faith, their complete trust and confidence, in Christ. No one else can offer the salvation that Christ offers. No one else has the power to forgive sin and give eternal life. Your faith in your works or in someone other than Jesus may be as strong and steadfast as a mountain, but it is in something that is broken. All roads do not lead to heaven, there aren’t multiple ways to salvation, there is only one, and it’s Christ. Allow me to present it to you in the words of Christ Himself, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Not works, not other religions, only Jesus Christ the Son of God.
Summary
Faith alone in Christ alone is the sole means of salvation. Try as we might, we are completely unable to save ourselves in any way. Should we put our faith in anything or anyone other than Christ, our faith is of no value, because the object of that faith is broken. Christ alone. It’s as simple as it gets. However, to a world that wants to hear that everything they do and believe is right, this is both an offensive and exclusive message. However, as we will see next week, this is one of many truths that Scripture teaches us, and as the final and full revelation from God to man, it is both true and authoritative in the life of those who profess faith in Christ.
Soli Deo Gloria
