Sola gratia

[Blake Bowden]

Sola gratia is one of the five solas propounded to summarise the Reformers' basic beliefs during the Protestant Reformation; it is a Latin term meaning grace alone. The emphasis was in contradistinction to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church of the day. Catholic doctrine, as defined by the Council of Trent, holds that salvation is made possible only by grace; the faith and works of men are secondary means that have their origins in and are sustained by grace.

During the Reformation, Protestant leaders and theologians generally believed the Roman Catholic view of the means of salvation to be a mixture of reliance upon the grace of God, and confidence in the merits of one's own works performed in love, pejoratively called Legalism. The Reformers posited that salvation is entirely comprehended in God's gifts (that is, God's act of free grace), dispensed by the Holy Spirit according to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ alone.

Thoughts...

 

[drapetomaniac]

My first that is I am constantly disappointed this is the least followed belief of protestants.

First all - a great number require the "formula" of belief you have to state to be born again.

Secondly, there is a huge trend of open condemnation of whole populations and a good number of churches are more focused on condemnation than service or grace.

Or maybe its that if we do accept this doctrine, it is only applied in a vague sense and handed over to God. A lot of pro-life people support the death penalty. The "shoot em now and let God sort em out" allows us to not apply the idea of redemption in our daily lives.

 

[drapetomaniac]

This is the other thing it makes me think of

The Protestant Work Ethic (or the Puritan Work Ethic) is a concept in sociology, economics and history, attributable to the work of Max Weber. It is based upon the notion that the Calvinist emphasis on the necessity for hard work is proponent of a person's calling and worldly success is a sign of personal salvation. It is argued that Protestants beginning with Martin Luther had reconceptualised worldly work as a duty which benefits both the individual and society as a whole. Thus, the Catholic idea of good works was transformed into an obligation to work diligently as a sign of grace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic