Solus Christus vs. Church Membership Salvation

As the Reformation series continues, I feel like writing about a lot of Reformation church history. Back when I was in Cebu Bible Baptist Church, pastors did mention the names of the reformers in several sermons. At Living Word I.T. Park, a series called the Five Solas of the Reformation was launched. The recent topic by Pastor Laurence Po Chua is called Solus Christus. Thankfully, Pastor Laurence was able to preach while he may still not be fully recovered from a sore throat. I decided to do a review on Solus Christus vs. church membership salvation. This is a very important topic because there are many cults today, not just Roman Catholicism, that teach church membership salvation.

The Teaching that Priests Save Souls Make Easy Dirty Money

How many times have you heard that Catholic priests save souls over and over again? It’s the same heresy of the Roman Catholic institution who has pretended for centuries to be the true Church founded on 33 A.D. yet it places itself above the Bible. You even have the Roman Catholic saying that Jesus didn’t build a Bible but a Church. However, the question is by what means do we have the source of authority to dictate Church tradition? Unfortunately, rejecting Sola Scriptura or that the Bible should have the final say in the matters of Church’s traditions and doctrines has led to several heresies.

For Without Faith, Any Good Works, Humanly Speaking, Can’t Please God at All

James tells us about how faith without works is dead. However, did you know that works without faith is just as dead? The works salvation crowd had tried to use James 2 to say, “See, it’s salvation by faith and works.” without knowing the whole point. If it were so, James 2:10-11 wouldn’t be written as it says it only takes one sin for us to fall short of God’s glory. Romans 3:10-19 shows us how our best isn’t enough. Hebrews 11 is the hall of faith and we read how by faith this and that was done.

Can Believers Lose Their Salvation When They Willfully Sin?

At first glance, Hebrews 10:26 seems that you can lose your salvation. The conditional security crowd is very quick to say, “Haven’t you read Hebrews 10:26?” Some of them (such as Dan Corner of Evangelical Outreach) even go as far as to day that you lose your salvation every time you sin. They can go and say something like, “You can’t show me one verse you can fall into sin and still remain saved.” Men like Corner also go as far as to throw the false accusation that men who teach eternal security can’t teach holy living at all.

Salvation by Grace Through Faith is Hard to Believe

Reading through Ephesians 2:1-10 would tell us the hard to believe truth that salvation is by grace through faith. Two doctrines of grace would be discussed her namely the grace of God and saving faith. Grace is often spelled out as the acrostic God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Grace is something we don’t deserve or unmerited favor. More often, people say that they deserve grace but is it deserved? No, it’s not deserved at all. All people deserves is Hell yet God’s grace saves from sin. Saving faith is part of humanity’s response to God in the salvation experience. It’s as simple as looking up to Jesus. Yet, salvation is both simple and complex. It’s both easy and hard. In fact, salvation is hard to believe that it’s that’s simple.