Sola Deo Gloria

Soli Deo gloria (“to God alone be the glory”). Glory is to be given to God alone for our creation and salvation. God planned the work of Christ “to the praise of the glory of his grace” (Eph. 1:6). We should honor the faithful ministers and witnesses who preach the gospel to us, lead us to Christ, instruct us in the faith, and watch over us as guides and guardians. But we should glory only in the Lord, who uses such human instruments to accomplish his will in our lives. Without the truth of God’s Word and the power of the Holy Ghost, these preachers, teachers, and guides could do nothing for us. We must credit our salvation to the work of God alone, and glorify him for it. We also must reject any credit for our salvation, but know that all the glory for any good in us must be given to God through Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 4:7; Gal. 6:14).

The ultimate aim of evangelical theology is doxology, the offering of praise to God. We seek to know God that we might worship him rightly. Paul’s paradigm in Romans 11:36 sets the standard: “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Though we cannot add to his glory, we can magnify that glory in the eyes of our fellow human beings. Do we love to glorify God? If so, then the solas of the Reformation are our delight. We joyfully meditate on God’s Word as the only divine rule of our faith and obedience. We humbly grieve over our deep corruption by sin and depend upon God’s grace to do all in and through us. We heartily embrace Christ and cling to him as our only way, truth, and life. We gladly renounce our own righteousness and trust in him alone as our justification before God. Whatever we do, we do all to the glory of God. This is true evangelical theology, and the only theology worth believing, living, teaching to others, and, if necessary, dying for.