Where Does the Reformation Phrase Sola Gratia Come From?

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Mary Oelerich-Meyer
Contributing Writer
Where Does the Reformation Phrase Sola Gratia Come From?

Have you ever heard the terms Sola Gratia, or maybe Sola Fide, or Sola Scriptura? If you haven’t, you will be blessed to learn their meaning and origin, as they are foundational truths of the Christian church. Understanding and meditating on these Latin phrases can bolster our faith and provide a framework for communicating what we believe to others as followers of Jesus Christ.

How Does Sola Gratia Fit with the Other Reformation Solas?

We need to take a step back and study a bit of church history to know where Sola Gratia and related phrases came from. These five phrases are known as the Five Solas of the Reformation:

One could put together the five solas to present the entire gospel. The Bible tells us that, with glory to God alone, He sent His Son to die as a sacrifice for our sins. Our faith in this sacrifice gives us an eternal relationship with God.

All is God’s initiative because of His love for us. It’s grace that is truly unmatched and amazing.

Where Did Sola Gratia Come From?

As Christianity.com contributor Emily Hall explains, the five solas developed because in the late 1400s and early 1500s, “men and women began to notice something wrong in the Church. From community priests to the pope himself, corruption and abuse of power ran rampant, and it intimately affected the lives of millions of people across Europe. Drastic reforms were needed.”

The corruption proved difficult to correct because the Roman Catholic Church was a major force of political as well as religious power. The church and state were strongly affiliated, and the state was expected to help sustain the church, especially through monarchies and high-level government officials.

Not only did church leaders gain influential friends (and often a hunger to create policies that benefitted them and their friends), but most people didn’t have the education to fight corruption when it occured. Most people were ignorant of the tenets of Christianity because the Roman Catholic church only allowed the Bible to be available in the original languages or Latin. Much earlier, in the fourth century, Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome, a priest and historian, to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin. The result was the Vulgate, which was the only authorized Bible translation for centuries.

Since common people did not speak Latin, priests were relied on to teach what the Scriptures spoke. Without a Bible in the people’s hands, the church could maintain its hold on people, and corrupt teachers could institute teachings that benefitted them. As far as the average medieval Christian was concerned, the correct view of tithing, sin, redemption, and what Jesus did for them on the cross was whatever their leaders said.

Eventually, some Christians fought against the corruption, and Western Christianity changed in massive ways. An upswell of protest began, later coined the Protestant Reformation.

Who Wrote Sola Gratia and the Other Reformation Solas?

We often associate Martin Luther with the Reformation, and rightfully so. As Christianity.com contributor Britt Mooney explains, Luther was a priest and a professor at Wittenberg University in Germany in the early 1500s when he became concerned that priests were funding church renovations and other projects through “indulgences,” payments to the church that allegedly absolved people of their sins. The teaching violated biblical teachings that only repentance and accepting Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross save us from sin and death. There were other teachings in the Roman Catholic church that reformers throughout Europe began to challenge—such as public access to the Bible.

That’s why Luther’s predecessor John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English, while Luther worked to translate the Bible into German. Luther’s contemporaries like Miles Coverdale worked on a successful English translation called the Geneva Bible. They wanted to share the good news with everyone, regardless of social status, that we don’t earn salvation. It is a free gift from God through the sacrifice of His son. Hence grace alone, Sola Gratia. In other words, salvation by God’s grace alone is what reconciles us to God.

Why Was Sola Gratia Revolutionary?

Gospel Coalition contributor Ryan Reeves offers an infographic of the medieval view of salvation, which he says was the “majority opinion” of Luther’s day. At the time, the church taught that people entered “a state of grace” through baptism (meaning the baptism washed away sin). The Christian’s role was to maintain that state of grace by confessing their sins to a priest who would determine the proper penance for their sins. If people ended their lives with unconfessed and unforgiven sin, they went to Purgatory—the last stop before heaven, where those sins can be forgiven. Instead of teaching about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for their sins so that they could be reconciled to God, many church leaders taught extra steps that allowed them to demand things from people—such as indulgences, which led to profits that could cover church renovations and other processes.

Imagine living in that kind of transaction relationship with God (which wasn’t much of a relationship because they didn’t understand what Christ had done for them). These people believed that they needed to work their way to God when God did all the work on the cross. Then, imagine that the people had a chance to read or hear the Bible in their own language. They must have been overjoyed to read Ephesians 2:8-9 where the Apostle Paul wrote, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast.”

Where Do We See Sola Gratia in Scripture?

The entire Bible is the story of God’s grace, from the free gift of paradise He offered Adam and Eve to the grace that overpowers evil and the creation of a new heaven and earth at the end of time.

In addition to the verses in Ephesians, we can find the same message of God’s grace in these passages:

  • “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (Romans 5:15)
  • “. . . so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:7)
  • “And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” (Romans 11:6)
  • “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us by Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” (2 Timothy 1:9)
  • “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.” (Titus 2:11)

Why Should We Know What Sola Gratia Means Today?

If we are followers of Christ, it can be easy to take God’s grace for granted. Once we know we are “grafted in the vine,” we may think God’s gift of grace is a one-time covenant interaction. But every moment of our lives is undeserved favor; every breath we breathe is a gift God gives that we don’t deserve in our efforts. That should drive us to our knees every day on Thanksgiving.

Others may believe that we still need to earn God’s favor and that God will respond to our “good deeds” for Him. But if our hearts don’t truly belong to Him by faith, Jesus said”

“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:22-23)

Still others don’t know Jesus need our prayers and witness. If they don’t believe in or understand that it is by God’s grace alone that they are saved, they will be lost for eternity. Sola Gratia should remind us that God’s grace is for everyone who calls on The One True God by faith. Those who never grasp God’s grace will never find the eternal peace they seek.

Photo Credit:©Getty Images/LoveTheWind

Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).