Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.

Episode 89.  Solus Christus. In Christ Alone (I am not alone).

Hello human.                                                                                                                        

The call of God is without repentance.

This affirmation came very late in the pastor’s message. We were visiting a prospective church home this week. It was the first time in a new place of worship. When I heard the pastor say this, I felt my heart leap and my brainwaves go nuts.

The call of God is without repentance.

I had so many thoughts running wild, that God never turns back, He never changes His mind, He has no regrets, well there is one scripture I wonder about His regret, but that’s for another day.

You might think Sunday’s message was about God’s call for each of our lives, but it started in an equally inspiring way, as if I were standing on a spiritual cliff, actually suspended just past the edge on the strength of His glory.

It started with Solus Christus

It started with Solus Christus.

Solus Christus.

This is Latin for “in Christ alone.”

And how would a Latin term that meant “in Christ alone” make its way to “the call of God is without repentance”?  Well, ok, I am not going to re-deliver the Pastor’s message, but I am going to witness about why the connection he made is spiritual gold to me. As I write to gather my thoughts, I feel so grateful to be inspired this way. I just know God is moving within to bring me to a greater understanding of who He is.

And I want to be like Him. I want to do what He does.

To frame this, here’s a quick historical context:

Solus Christus is one of five solas of the Reformation, which distinguished the Reformers from the teachings of Rome. They are: sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), sola fide (feeday) (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone). Solus Christus is the Protestant Reformers’ basic belief that salvation is by faith in Christ alone. This was in response to the Roman Catholic Church, in the 16^th century. A response In opposition to Catholic doctrine which claims that Mary, mother of Jesus is also mediator between God and humanity. And a response to how the Catholic Church used sacraments to access and earn grace.

I am not taking on the Roman Catholic Church. And I am not a theologian. But the beautiful thing for me is that the five solae are Biblical, inherent in God’s Word. They map beautifully the message of the Gospel. I will return to all of them in another BUOY.

While Solus Christus is part of a doctrine during the Protestant Reformation, here are a few scriptures that bear witness to this truth.

1 Timothy 2:5

5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,

John 14:6 – “Jesus replied: I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The apostle Paul and the apostle John tell us there is only one to whom we confess our sins and find forgiveness, and that is through Jesus Christ. There is only one, the One, who reconciles us to our Heavenly Father, His Father.

As I read about the Protestant Reformation, a phrase made its way into how I connected Solus Christus to God’s call with no repentance. It was described by the Protestant leaders that the Roman Church was “casting shade on Christ, and giving itself to prerogatives that belong to Christ alone.”

This BUOY is not about pitting Protestant against Catholic. Not by a long shot. But it is important to understand how humanity has moved through the decades within God’s story. In the end, honestly, it all comes down to each of us, personally.

I find this understanding of how the Gospel made its way through the 16^th century to be illuminating for my life, and my witness. It rings true and I share that today in the context of Solus Christus. What “in Christ alone” means to me and how I fight it with the futility of my human nature. I know that sounds a little too weighty.

Maybe this. I fight it with trying to help Christ save me. As if He did not.

Casting Shade on Christ

I think of “casting shade” as not living as if Christ has completed the story. Bringing things like fear, anxiety, worry in to help me fight a battle that has already been won. Over-exercising verbs like striving, pursuing, chasing goals, ambitions, and earthly measures of spiritual success. Yes, letting the shadow of earthly pursuits darken the spiritual light of my witness to love one another, one by one. By allowing earthly gain to re-define His victory.

Casting shade by looking for grace, faith, redemption, salvation from anyone or anything but Jesus. We look to others for confirmation of our worth.

I cast shade when I turn away His love, when I turn away from opportunities to love others, when I throw darkness on the light He is shining within me.

I cast shade when I do not accept His presence, His power, His sovereignty in my life.

He made me in His image. I am not meant to live in His shadow. I was created to live in His presence.

The Power of His Word Redeems

The power of His Word redeems.

Acts 4:10-12 –

10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,

    which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

John 12:45

45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.

Romans 21-26

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

John 1:14

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God Does Not Turn Back on John 3:16

The call of God is without repentance.

He called the Jewish nation. He traveled ahead of them, with them, for them for 2,000 man-years.

Then He sent His Son.

Because He so loved the world.

God does not turn back on John 3:16.

He did not repent for sending His beloved Son.

He exalted Him to His right hand.

God got it right the first time.

Your response might be, but we know this already, don’t we? Isn’t this basic Jesus 101? Yes, it is.

But we live on this side of the bitten apple. So we seek shade.

The discovery for me is that a new pastoral voice on Sunday, cast more light into my soul. I stand before this word from the author of Hebrews with a deeper connection to a God who does not repent.

Hebrews 7:25

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Jesus saves completely. Jesus saves into infinity, for eternity. Jesus keeps interceding for me. God called me and has never turned back from wanting me in His kingdom. God called you, human. And He never turns back from wanting you in His kingdom.

But that is only possible one way. 

Solus Christus. In Christ alone.

I am not alone.