What is Solus Christus?
The third of the Five Solas is Solus Christus: Christ alone. Solus Christus proclaims that there is no other person, prophet, or god in whom man can find eternal life than Jesus Christ. Solus Christus captures the exclusivity of the Christian faith. Solus Christus says that it is indeed a narrow road that leads to eternal life, and that the road in question is none other than the Lord Jesus.
Solus Christus stands as a great offense to the world and to our culture. While many unbelievers may actually enjoy the doctrines of Sola Gratia and Sola Fide (thinking that God’s grace will lead Him to not care about their sin, or that they can simply ‘repent’ right before dying), they are likely to be indignant at the faithful preaching of Solus Christus.
‘Who are you to say that only by this one way someone can be saved? Who says that you’re right? Why can’t people find their own way?’
Solus Christus, however, is absolutely essential to the proclamation of The Gospel, and goes naturally with the doctrines of Sola Gratia and Sola Fide. The question that arises when we understand that God saves by grace alone through faith alone is, ‘How do we access this grace? In whom do we place our faith?’ The answer: Christ alone. Jesus Christ is the access-point of grace, and is the only right object of our faith. Faith in anything or anyone else will leave a man just as damned as if he had no faith at all—for having faith in anything in place of, beside, or in addition to Christ is a failure to truly trust in Christ; a man does not truly believe in Jesus Christ unless he believes in Solus Christus.
The Biblical Foundation
Like Sola Gratia and Sole Fide before it, Solus Christus is the unanimous teaching of Scripture. No one other than Jesus Chist is provided as or called the means of salvation. Scripture presents only Jesus as the man through whom men might be saved, and suggests no other. Further, Scripture specifically denies that anyone can have peace with God except through Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Himself explains this clearly, and leaves no room for question: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me” [John 14:6]. Jesus calls Himself the way, the truth, the life—there is no other, nor can there be any other. If someone wishes to have a right relationship with God, they must come into His presence by the Lord Jesus… lest they be utterly destroyed for their sin.
The Apostles of the Lord, having heard His teaching and understood it clearly and plainly, made it the foundation of their preaching. The Apostle Peter, while standing before the Jewish rulers proclaimed of Jesus, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” [Acts 4:12]. There is “no other name,” no other man, no other individual who is able to save aside from the Lord Jesus Christ.
This uniqueness, that is, the uniqueness of Christ as the only means of salvation, comes from Christ’s unique role as mediator. Jesus is the one who is able to save because He is the one who has gone before God and represents His people. The Apostle Paul writes about this to his apprentice, Timothy, and says, “There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” [1st Timothy 2:5]. Jesus is the only man of whom it is said ‘He stands before God on our behalf,’ or that “He always lives to make intercession” for us [Hebrews 7:25]. Because Jesus is the only one who stands before God as the intercessor—as the one who makes us righteous before God—He is the only one who can save. Neither Buddha, nor Muhammad, nor Joseph Smith, nor Mary are said to stand before God as our mediator—but Christ does. And so, Christ is the only one deserving of our full faith and hope. Christ is, by nature of who He is—the God-man, crucified on our behalf and raised for our justification, who intercedes for us at the right hand of God—is the only one who can save, and thus we understand that someone can only be saved by Him alone; Solus Christus.
A Matter of Hermeneutics
The positive teaching that Jesus is the only way of salvation is plain within Scripture; clearly Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world [John 3:16, 1st John 4:14]. However, in the discussion of Solus Christus, we run into a snag that was not present in our discussion of Sola Gratia or Sola Fide. The issue is this: the Apostles—especially Paul—dealt extensively with the issue of soteriology. Romans chapters one through eight are an in-depth treatise on The Gospel; Galatians belabors the distinction between grace and works; even Ephesians discusses our salvation as being “by grace through faith” [Ephesians 2:8]. In their work upon the issue of soteriology, the Apostles speak both positively and negatively—they explicitly state how we are saved, and they also explicitly state how we are not saved. So, the Apostles positively define salvation as being by grace alone through faith alone, and they negatively define salvation by saying that it is not by works.
The seeming problem with Solus Christus, however, is the lack of apophatic—or negative—dialogue. While the Bible directly states that Christ is the only way of salvation—making the positive case for His identity as Savior—it does not provide a negative definition by saying that other ways or persons are invalid. With this in mind, some have argued that, ‘Yes, the Bible says that Jesus is my Savior, but it doesn’t say that I can’t also ask for grace from the saints, from Mary, or from the church.’ Therefore, one can justify—although only in his own mind—both believing that Jesus is Savior and relying on means other than Him.
But the question that we must ask is: does the Bible have to give a negative definition? If the Bible already says that Jesus is the only way, then does it have to also say there's no other way? Isn't the latter the explicit conclusion of the former? Yes it is. So then, when Scripture proclaims Jesus as the only Savior and as the only means of salvation, it necessarily excludes anyone else from being a savior. When Scripture speaks only of Christ as the mediator of God's grace, then we must necessarily conclude that Christ is the only mediator.
Trusting in Christ or Trusting in Works?
So far, we’ve explored the first leg of Solus Christus: that Jesus Christ is the only means, or way, of being saved and inheriting eternal life. The second leg, which is intimately connected is this: that if someone wishes to be saved, he ought to put his faith in only Christ, and in nothing and no one else.
What this means is that while Christ is the only available means of salvation, He is also the only right object of faith. Solus Christus communicates both positive truth—that Christ alone is our Lord and Savior—and a warning: do not trust in anything other than the Lord Jesus.
The reason is this: Jesus is said to be the only way of salvation. But Jesus is not presented as a necessary ‘add-on’ or ‘accessory’ to help someone achieve eternal life. No, Jesus is presented as an entirely perfect Savior; the work of Jesus Christ is entirely enough to justify, redeem, and save a man.
The book of Hebrews says this: “By one offering [Jesus] has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” [Hebrews 10:14]. We’ve already discussed how Jesus is unique in His role of mediator, intercessor, and Savior, but now we can see the nature of this work—it is completely sufficient for all who receive it. Hebrews says that Jesus has “perfected for all time” those who believe in Him… what more could be asked for? What more could be done? Nothing. Jesus is not a supplement to our salvation, He is utterly sufficient to bring it about.
But now, suppose that someone were to say, ‘I believe that Jesus took some of my sin while on the cross, but I still have to do good works to balance out the sins He didn’t pay for.’ Would that person really be trusting in Christ? No! Now again, suppose that someone said, ‘I believe that Jesus died for me and that God loves me and will have grace on me… but I still need to perform good works to earn eternal life.’ Is that person giving their full trust to Christ? No! In fact, what are they trusting in? Their works. See, someone who does not put their whole and entire trust in Jesus—someone who does not trust in Christ alone—necessarily places their trust in something else. Most prevalently, people forsake Christ and His work by choosing to trust in their own. In doing so, they demonstrate that they do not truly believe in the promises of the Lord Jesus and are not saved.
Trusting in Christ or Trusting in Men?
There is another place, however, where one may turn when he harbors distrust against the Lord Jesus: other people. There are many who do not put their whole faith in Jesus Christ but trust in their own works—but there are others who, recognizing their own hopeless state, turn instead to others who are more holy than themselves. The most obvious example of this is seen with those who rely upon Mary and the saints.
There have been inventions within the Roman Catholic Church which directly challenge the sufficiency of Christ’s work and calls for believers to rely upon people other than the Lord Jesus. Historically, this was exercised through the so-called ‘Treasury of Merit,’ wherein, a man who was seeking righteousness could earn the benefits of the faithful brethren who went before him. So, by completing a task prescribed by the priest (typically in the form of an indulgence), a man could earn for himself, or for a loved one presumed to be in purgatory, the benefits of righteousness which are not his own… but which also are not Christ’s. The man receives help—salvific help—from other men through his own works instead of from Christ through faith.
Now, today—as far as I am aware—the Treasury of Merit is unfamiliar to most Catholics, and is relegated to a doctrine of the past, more discussed as a relic of the medieval period than a living practice of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the concept behind the Treasury of Merit is more than alive, albeit in a different form—the Virgin Mary. Rome has focused much of her theology upon the Virgin Mary, and keeps the spirit of the Treasury of Merit alive in modern-day Marian devotion. Most Catholics are familiar with the Rosary, which includes the prayer called Hail Holy Queen which reads
"Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen” (underlines added).
Much could be said about the exaltation of Mary to a place that Scripture knows nothing of, but the point is obvious: a prayer such as this would not be prayed by anyone who believes in the sufficiency of Christ’s work. No one who believes that Jesus “has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” could ever or would ever pray this prayer [Hebrews 10:14]. No one who understands the biblical Gospel—that we are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—could pray this prayer.
This prayer stands as an illuminating insight to much of Catholic thought, chief of which stands this: what Jesus did is not enough. But what Scripture teaches is that Christ is enough, and as such, it is not right to rely upon anything but Him to obtain eternal life.
Λοιπόν - FINALLY
Solus Christus is absolutely essential to The Gospel. First, Solus Christus proclaims that Jesus Christ is the only way that someone can be saved. He is the only Savior, the only mediator, the only point of access to eternal life. If anyone wishes to find salvation, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life, then he must come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeking salvation from anyone other than the Lord Jesus will benefit a man no more than a fish is benefited by crawling out onto the beach—it will only leave him more helplessly damned than ever before.
Likewise, because Jesus is the only viable Savior, He is also the only right object of a man’s faith. Jesus is the only Savior, and He is a perfect Savior. Jesus promises that, “The one who comes to Me I will never cast out” and, “He who believes has eternal life” [John 6:37, 47]. Solus Christus takes Jesus at His word, and believes Him. We do not need, and neither ought we to seek, any other Savior except Jesus Christ. No man and no saint, no priest nor the Virgin Mary, should ever receive—even for an instant—our adoration, or hope, or our faith for eternal life; rather, we place all dependence upon Christ alone. It is not possible to simultaneously trust that Jesus will save you and yet rely upon your own works or the works of someone else. To not place your hope entirely in Jesus Christ, and in Solus Christus, is to deny the Lord Jesus and cut yourself off from His benefits.
See Also:
[Psalm 3:8]
“Salvation belongs to Yahweh; Your blessing be upon Your people!”
[Psalm 60:11]
“Oh give us help against the adversary, for salvation by man is worthless.”
[Psalm 62:1]
“Surely my soul waits in silence for God; from Him is my salvation.”
[Isaiah 43:11]
“I, even I, am Yahweh, and there is no savior besides Me.”
[1 Thessalonians 5:9]
“For God has not appointed us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
[2 Timothy 2:10]
“For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
[Titus 2:13]
“Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
[2nd Peter 1:1]
“Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received the same kind of faith as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
[2 Peter 3:18]
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
[1st John 5:5]
“Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
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