In the Bible we find all kinds of special numbers. Jesus fasted for 40 days. The Israelites marched around Jericho for 7 days. Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for 3 days, prefiguring Jesus’ triumph over the grave after 3 days. Some of these translate to modern Christianity quite well. 40 is a good number if you’re looking for purpose (I hope I don’t have to pay Rick Warren for this post now). 7 is the number of boxes of doughnuts a person should bring to Sunday School. And nobody listens to a sermon once it gets past the 3rd point.All that to say, there was a time when another number was used to aid Christians in their walk. During the period of the reformation all good things came in fives. In fact, I believe Martin Luther was once quoted as saying, “if you do not pray 5 times a day I will write you a stern letter and nail it to your door” (paraphrase). As much as I would love to use my time discussing Jon Huss’ concept of the $5 foot long (which is still in use today) or even the famous Zwingly handshake I will focus my attention on the 5 “solas” of the reformation.
Even if you have never heard these 5 Latin phrases chances are your life has been affected by them. I want to use some posts putting the ideas that the reformers fought to reclaim in Christianity. Sometimes it is good for one to look at the foundation of their faith and ask “am I building on this correctly?”
As you will see it all starts with where we get our faith. The concept of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone). The next three involve the essence of the gospel. Salvation is Sola Gratia (by grace alone), Justification is Sola Fide (by faith alone), and this is all Solus Christus (in Christ Alone). The final sola tells us for what purpose creation, salvation, $5 foot longs, and everything else is aimed. It is all Soli Deo Gloria (for the glory of God alone).
Why is it really important for us to consider these things? Because of the importance of preserving the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what the reformers were seeking to do when they were considered accursed by the Roman Catholic Church. But the question we need to face ourselves with is whether we are willing to be cursed for the gospel or embrace a different gospel that will make us accursed?
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9)
