Solas Christus
Second, we stand on the doctrine of Christ Alone…
Solus Christus Defined
“Jesus Christ is the only savior of sinners and his atoning sacrifice is sufficient to save them.”
We believe this doctrine is an essential part of the gospel and apart from Jesus Christ there is no salvation. Man’s greatest need is to be reconciled to God but reconciliation is only possible through Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God, who is co-equal and co-eternal with God the father, but nevertheless, willing came to earth in order to fulfill the will of God in redemption. In a world of religious plurality we assert that any other religion outside of Biblical Christianity which heralds Christ alone as savior and Lord, is a false religion that leads people not to the one true God but away from Him
This was accomplished by His penal substitionary atonement. The doctrine of penal substitution states that “God gave himself in the person of his Son to suffer instead of us the death, punishment, and curse due to fallen humanity as the penalty for sin.”
The word of God makes it clear that in our natural state we are fallen in sin and therefore under God’s wrath and judgment. The wrath of God can only be propitiated by an atoning sacrifice. The justice of God can only be satisfied by the payment of sin’s penalty. So the truth is, if we are to be delivered from God’s wrath and judgment, either we must propitiate divine
wrath and satisfy divine justice ourselves or someone else must propitiate divine wrath and
satisfy divine justice for us. Because we are sinners, we cannot propitiate divine wrath and satisfy divine justice ourselves. The good news is that the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ, propitiated divine wrath and satisfied divine justice through his vicarious death on the cross, by providing an atoning sacrifice for sin and suffering the penalty for the sins of his people in their place. Therefore, Christ’s people (alone) are delivered from God’s wrath and judgment.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we may die and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
Sola definitions taken from Tiffin’s professor of Systematic Theology, Dr. James Anderson of Reformed Theological Seminary
Martin Luther as quoted Heiko Oberman, “Luther: Man between God and the Devil”
Definition of Penal Substitution taken from “Pierced for Our Transgressions” p. 103