Not by any of the 5 Alones

Most of you have heard of faith alone and Scripture alone. But you would probably be surprised to find out that there are actually 5 Protestant doctrines to which they appended the word, “alone”. And all 5 are heresies.

This may come as a surprise to some Catholics, since I have had at least one guy mention in the comments, that 3 of the 5 Alones are genuine Catholic Teaching. But that is wrong. And, in this article, I’ll go into detail on each one to explain why.

What I would like to do first, name the Five Alones, then explain why I think we focus on faith and Scripture alone. Then, to explain, why many people are fooled into believing that the other 3 are actually Catholic Teaching. And finally go into detail on each one to explain the Protestant error.

First, the Five Alones, originally called the 5 Solas, are these:

• Sola Fide, by faith alone.
• Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone.
• Solus Christus, through Christ alone.
• Sola Gratia, by grace alone.
• Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone.

The first two, by faith alone and by Scripture alone, are considered the Pillars of Protestant doctrine. In fact, by faith alone is so important, that Martin Luther is reputed to have said that justification by faith alone is the article by which the Protestant Reformation stands or falls.

I personally believe that Scripture alone is the article which sustains the errors of Protestantism and multiplies them. And it, in my opinion, is the reason why Protestantism has not died of the weight of its own errors.

I think, the reason why we focus on these two articles, is because they are so easy to disprove. They are both direct contradictions of Scripture. Compare the doctrine of justification by faith alone to:

James 2:24Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Those last four words say, “not by faith only”: or “alone”.

Compare the doctrine of holding Scripture alone as the source of doctrine to:

2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

That says to hold the Traditions in both oral and written form. In other words, hold the Traditions we have been taught both by oral tradition and by Scripture.

So, those are knock outs. All you have to do is ask a Protestant to show you where it says faith alone or Scripture alone in Scripture and they will only able to produce James 2:24 for the former and nothing at all for the latter.

Ok, so what about the other Alones? What is the problem with those?

They are incomplete sentences or ideas and they sound appealing because they mix truth and error.

Remember in grade school, when we were taught to write complete sentences? If anyone of us were to have written, “it was David, alone”. The teacher would have put a red mark beside that and asked, “David alone, what?”

When a Protestant says, “through Christ alone”, we need to ask, “What?” Through Christ alone, what?

The Protestant will then say, “Through Christ alone, we are saved.”

What do you say to that? “Well, yeah! Amen!” That sounds very appealing because it is true, if you stop there. But do Protestants stop there? No.

They go on to say, “That’s why you don’t need baptism, the Church, Priests, the Sacraments and you don’t have to keep the Commandments. Because we are saved by Christ alone. All those others are additions of men and they hinder our salvation because they put men above God.”

Whaaaat?!!! Suddenly, things have gotten very complicated, haven’t they? How are you going to get out of this hole? I mean, you just agreed that salvation is by Christ alone, above, right?

Don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging. I’ll explain how I get out of that hole, in a minute. First, I’d like to go into detail on these last 3 alones. For one thing, they are not really, 3. They are really 1. Sort of like an anti-trinity.

Monergism

When you think about these three articles, they amount to the doctrine of monergism. Monergism simply means that God is sovereign. It is affirmed by the Catholic Church in everything, but salvation. Here’s the Catholic Doctrine:

1847 "God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us."¹¹⁶ To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."¹¹⁷

The difference between Catholic and Protestant is that the Catholic Church believes in monergism for creation but not for salvation. Whereas, the Protestant believes in monergism for creation and salvation.

So, ok, I don’t want to bore you to death on this. I hope you see the connection between the Protestant idea of monergism and those last three solas.

So, how do I get out from that hole which we dug ourselves into?

For the most part, I use Scripture. In the past, I used to say that the Early Church Fathers taught differently, but they just poo-pooed the Early Church Fathers and called their teachings, non-biblical heresies.

So, when a Protestant says, “We are saved by Christ alone and that’s why you don’t need baptism, the Church, Priests, the Sacraments and you don’t have to keep the Commandments.” I say, “doesn’t Mark 16:16 say that we need to be baptized to be saved?” And it does:

Mark 16:16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And, If we don’t need the Church, then why does God add to the Church, all who are to be saved?

Acts 2:47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

And, if we don’t need priests, then who prays to God in order to save your soul?

Hebrews 13:17Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

That is especially troublesome for Protestants because they despise the idea that any man can give account of their souls.

And, if we don’t need to be baptized, why does Christ say that we do? Which brings us back to Mark 16:16:

Mark 16:16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And, if we don’t have to keep the Commandments, why does Christ say that we do?

Matt 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

So, ok, lets go into a little bit more detail on those last 3 Alones

Solus Christus, through Christ alone. What do Protestants mean by that?

From wikipedia:

It means "only Christ" and it excludes the priestly class as necessary for sacraments. Solus Christus is the teaching that Christ is the only mediator between God and man, and that there is salvation through no other (hence, the phrase is sometimes rendered in the ablative case, solo Christo, meaning that salvation is "by Christ alone"). While rejecting all other mediators between God and man, classical Lutheranism continues to honor the memory of the Virgin Mary and other exemplary saints. This principle rejects "sacerdotalism," which is the belief that there are no sacraments in the church without the services of priests ordained by apostolic succession.

I hope that is clear and you see how that teaching directly contradicts the Teaching of the Catholic Church.

Sola Gratia, by grace alone. What do Protestants mean by that?

Again, from wikipedia:

Sola gratia, or "only grace", specifically excludes the merit done by a person as part of achieving salvation. Sola gratia is the teaching that salvation comes by divine grace or "unmerited favor" only, not as something merited by the sinner. ….while the doctrine that grace is truly and always a gift of God is held in agreement between both views (i.e. Catholic and Protestant), the difference in doctrine lies mainly in two facts: that of God as sole actor in grace (in other words, that grace is always efficacious without any cooperation by man), and second, that man cannot by any action of his own, acting under the influence of grace, cooperate with grace to "merit" greater graces for himself (the latter would be the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church)…..

Here, Wikipedia mentions that some Catholics believe that this doctrine, at face value, is compatible with Catholic Doctrine. The problem with that is that the Catholic Church, nowhere, says anything about Grace “alone”.

Further down, you see how Wikipedia acknowledges that Protestants differ in their doctrine of grace to the Catholic Doctrine. So, again, with this teaching, Protestants contradict Catholic Doctrine.

And finally, from wikipedia:

Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")

Main article: Soli Deo gloria

Soli Deo gloria means "glory to God alone" and it stands in opposition to the veneration or "cult", perceived by many to be present in the Roman Catholic Church, of Mary the mother of Jesus, the saints, or angels. Soli Deo gloria is the teaching that all glory is to be due to God alone, since salvation is accomplished solely through His will and action — not only the gift of the all-sufficient atonement of Jesus on the cross but also the gift of faith in that atonement, created in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit. ….

As Catholics, we believe that when we honor the Saints, that honor redounds unto God, their Creator. But Protestants look at it as robbing God of the glory He alone deserves. So, I hope you see how this Protestant doctrine contradicts the Catholic Teaching.

Conclusion

As Catholics, I believe we can say that we are saved by Christ alone, certainly. No one else died upon the Cross for our sins. And we can say that God alone deserves all the glory, certainly. It is from Him that we have received everything. And we can say that we are saved by Grace alone since all is grace.

But we can’t say that the Protestant doctrines of Christ alone, God alone and Grace alone are true and good doctrines. Because when Protestants say these things, they mean something totally opposed to the Teachings of Jesus Christ which we have received, through the Catholic Church.