Pope, Sola Gratia?

In the wake of the death of the Pope there has been much talk about eternity and little talk about where the Pope will spend it.

One of the doctrines that is essential for the Christian church is that of Sola Gratia, or grace alone. We must treasure this doctrine and uphold it, it is the means of salvation: by grace (alone!). It is not hard to think that salvation is by grace the tricky part comes when we add the alone.

This extremely important doctrine I think has been lost by many in the church today. Let me take a minute and briefly define this doctrine, Sola Gratia. This doctrine basically says that only by the means of Christ and His obedience unto death do we receive salvation. Not on our own merit or by living a deserving life can we earn the salvation that is offer to us by God. To put it bluntly: "If what Christ did on the cross doesn't get me to heaven, nothing will".

So what does that have to do with the Pope? This doctrine isn't only saying that salvation is only by grace, but that it is by nothing else. Now I am not in a position to judge where the Pope will spend eternity, but we can use this event in church history to reflect on our own faith. If the faith you are clinging to, if the faith the Pope proclaimed, is relying on something other than the death and resurrection of Jesus to get you to heaven then you have rejected the grace of God.

We can not look at other traditions outside of Jesus and add them to what Christ did. Do we need to be baptized to get heaven? No, Sola Gratia. Do we need to part take in the Lord's Supper to enter the kingdom? No, Sola Gratia. Do we need to complete a certain number of sacraments to take hold our inheritance? No, Sola Gratia.

You see that is the point, we must do nothing to get to heaven, God must save us! That is the beauty of grace and the love of God.

Maybe for you it is not a sacrament or tradition that you are adding to the grace of God, maybe you are like me and are adding man made mandates. You can not witness enough to get to heaven, you can not praise God enough to get to heaven, and you can not attend church enough to get to heaven. Salvation must be by grace and grace alone.

So like I said I am in no position to judge where another man will spend eternity, however we are all in a position to warn our brothers and sisters in Christ that salvation is Sola Gratia, and we must not tarnish it with our feeble accomplishments and imperfect traditions.

However these traditions do have a sacred value to the church: to point the lost person towards the free, saving grace of Christ not to take its place.

So Pope, So Christian, So Mike, Sola Gratia? Let us pray that God would free us from our own devices and we will embrace salvation by grace alone, by Christ alone. Nothing else, and certainly nothing more.

For more on the five Sola's of the reformation check this out