Streetsville Baptist Church is an Evangelical Protestant church. As Evangelicals, we keep the gospel (the evangel, the Good News of Jesus Christ) central to everything we are and do. As Protestants, we stand upon the Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation.
“Sola” is a Latin word meaning ‘alone’. The Five Solas are Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Sola Fide (By Faith Alone), Solo Christo (In Christ Alone), Sola Gratia (By Grace Alone) and Soli Deo Gloria (For the Glory of God Alone). So on the foundation of Scripture alone, we put faith alone in Jesus Christ alone by God’s sovereign grace alone for the glory of the triune God alone.
Scripture Alone (Sola Scriptura) means that nothing is added alongside the authority of divine Scripture, the 66 books of the Bible, which is God’s Word, His self-revelation. Scripture is the highest and final authority in all matters of faith (what we must believe) and practice (how we must live). We add no tradition or church body on the same level as Scripture, for we seek to know what Scripture alone as God’s holy Word teaches.
By Faith Alone (Sola Fide) means that eternal salvation from the wrath of God over our sin is not earned by good works, by our best deeds, by works done in obedience to God’s Law… it is received by faith, faith alone, and nothing but faith. Romans 3:20 says “By works of the Law absolutely no one will be justified before God.” This means that our best good works and deeds cannot make us righteous in the eyes of God to deserve to go to Heaven. Justification (being declared righteous) comes only by faith, which means trusting completely in the salvation that God has provided.
In Christ Alone (Solo Christo) gives us who faith must be placed in. We are justified in the eyes of God by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Faith in Jesus cannot be shared with anyone or anything else, no prophet, no angel, no church institution, no pontiff, no saint, not even Jesus’ earthly mother! Genuine faith joins and unites the believer to Christ and Christ to the believer, such that the believer trusts completely in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, that it applies directly and personally to him or her to wash away his or her sins, dying with Christ on His cross to rise to new life in Him as an adopted child of God.
By Grace Alone (Sola Gratia) means salvation of sinners happens under the sovereign grace of the almighty God. Grace, as it is used in the New Testament, signifies “favour that you shouldn’t receive”. As rebellious sinners against a holy God, we justly deserve wrath and condemnation, but instead God shows grace by electing, predestining, calling, drawing, regenerating, preserving, sanctifying and glorifying His chosen people to the salvation of eternal Life. This sovereign grace does not participate or cooperate with human free-will but operates above it and in spite of it.
For the Glory of God Alone (Soli Deo Gloria) means that only the triune God receives all of the glory for the salvation of sinners. The Father chooses them, the Son gets bruised for them, and the Spirit woos them into saving faith, and all the glory for this salvation goes to the 3 Persons of the One true and living God, and He does not share His glory with another. This removes from the saved sinner any grounds for boasting. “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 may boast. For God’s workmanship we are.” (Eph 2:8-10a)