Five. What does that term elicit in your mind’s eye? If you are diet conscious you may think of your five-a-day intake. If you live on the east coast near the Canadian border you may think of the Great Lakes. If you are in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day you may think of the Books of Moses. If you were raised reading Enid Blyton you will undoubtedly think of Julian, Dick, Anne, Georgina (George), and their dog Timmy — The Famous Five. Today, I want to draw your attention to another Famous Five – The Five Solas – and their abiding relevance to contemporary life.
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Jesus’ Other Word from the Cross
On Good Friday, as we turn our attention to the cross and often attend to the “words” Jesus spoke from it, one saying recorded in John has always brought me pause:
John 19:26-27 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”
Jesus’ appeal of forgiveness for his enemies, his cry of forsakenness, and the exclamation, “It is finished!” these have always opened up the richness of the gospel! But what are we to do with this strange, even difficult word?
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Small Beginnings: C. H. Spurgeon at Waterbeach
Before he was the pastor of the largest of church in London, president of the Pastors’ College, founder of an orphanage and dozens of other charitable institutions, and read by people from all over the world, C. H. Spurgeon pastored a small Baptist church in the village of Waterbeach, about five miles outside of Cambridge. At that time, few could have predicted what was to come. And yet, God used his faithful ministry to bring about a transformation to that village during his short time there.
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Confessing Our Sin By Faith
Prior to his conversion, Martin Luther wrestled with the reality of sin in his life. Luther devoted himself to the Roman Catholic system of good works in order to appease his sinful conscience, but none of those works ever satisfied his guilty conscience. Only when he discovered Paul’s teaching of justification by faith, did he discover “the gate of heaven” and receive the grace of God that is found in Jesus Christ. He would devote the rest of his life to proclaiming this good news that justification is to be received by faith alone.
But Luther’s message was not limited simply to preaching about God’s free grace in Christ. Luther understood that before justification by faith made sense, one also had to embrace Scripture’s teaching regarding sin. While Luther experienced deep conviction of his own sin, he knew that not everyone shared his experience or sensitive conscience. Therefore, the acknowledgment of sin could not ultimately be rooted in subjective experience. Rather, like justification, our sinfulness also has to be received by faith based on God’s Word.
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