High Five- Soli Deo Gloria

So far we have looked at the first four solas at the reformation. We have seen that Scripture alone is the source of equipping our minds for life in the faith. We have seen that our salvation is by grace alone, that we are justified by faith alone and that this happens because of the work of Christ alone. But now, as we address the fifth sola, it is as if we are asking the question that every 5 year old asks, “why?” Why does He save us? And, why does He save us in this way?



The answer is Soli Deo Gloria. For the glory of God alone. It would be impossible to attempt to go in depth on this topic. Volumes have been written on the fact that God does all things in order to bring glory to Himself. But in this post I want to keep our focus on Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) and show how salvation is the chief means by which God glorifies Himself. Even this will be surface level but hopefully it gives us all a moment to glory in the cross of Christ.

1. We are saved by his glory.

There are two ways in which we are saved by His glory; his perfect life of righteousness and his death of atonement.

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. (John 17:4)

This is part of Jesus’ prayer just before the passion section of John. As we will see in the next portion Jesus is about to display the glory of God in a way we never could have imagined. But it should not be lost on us that Jesus’ work throughout his life was also his glory. It is this righteous life that will be credited to the account of every Christian. It is this teaching that sustains us in our Christian walk.

But now it gets better…

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:23-24)

When I stop and think about this fact I am utterly amazed. The glory of God in Christ Jesus is the act that saved me. In the verse cited above we see it clearly. As D.A. Carson writes:

“It is not just that the shame of the cross is inevitably followed by the glory of the exaltation, but that the glory is already fully displayed in the shame. “(The Gospel According to John, 437)

He then goes on to connect this passage to Isaiah 53:12:
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
2. We are saved to His glory.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6)

It is easy for me to lose sight of this point. God has not only saved me from hell to heaven, He saved me to Himself and His glory. Let me say that again, He saved me to His glory. That assumes something huge, namely, that people find some sort of joy in the glory of God. Outside of the Bible no text has put this point more concisely than the Westminster Shorter Catechism which says that the chief end of man is “to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Dr. John Piper, however, has expounded this point by rephrasing man’s chief end as “[glorifying God] by enjoying Him forever.” Or as he most commonly summarizes, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

It is always nice to hear from men like Piper and the Westminster Divines but it is better to focus our attention on the text of Scripture here. 2 Corinthians 4 pictures man, blinded by Satan to the truth of the gospel and the glory of God. Yet God, in His mercy, causes light in our hearts to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus. What does that create? Faith! Saving faith comes from beholding the glory of Christ and clinging to it for salvation. Thus, we are saved to the glory of God.

3. We are saved for His glory.

In [Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12)

After seeing the first two points this one seems pretty straight-forward. But perhaps it is this point that we need more than the others. Did God save you because there was something in you that made you irresistible to Him? Was it because of your sincerity? Did Jesus die so that there would be a way to God just in case somebody decided to take the narrow road? Not according to Scripture. What we see here in Ephesians is God lovingly choosing to save some, by the work of Christ, in order that He would have a people who see and savor His glory.

In the end what we will see is a saved people from every nation singing the praises of their savior:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:9-12)