{"id":3796,"date":"2017-12-12T23:48:02","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T07:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/?p=3796"},"modified":"2017-12-13T10:13:53","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T18:13:53","slug":"five-solas-of-reformation-4-5-a-solus-christus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/blog\/five-solas-of-reformation-4-5-a-solus-christus\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Solas of Reformation (4\/5 a): Solus Christus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Christ Alone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The fourth Sola, <em>Solus Christus<\/em>, Christ alone, is the logical conclusion of the previous three. Scripture alone, grace alone, and faith alone all point to Christ. Christ alone is the Messiah the Scripture bears witness to. Christ alone is the channel God\u2019s saving grace flows through. And Christ alone is the person we put our faith into.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>There are three aspects about <em>Solus Christus<\/em>: Christ alone is the Lord, Christ alone is the Savior, Christ alone is the King. Christ the Lord exercises His loving authority over us. Christ the Savior bestows His saving power into us. Christ the King exerts His absolute sovereignty throughout His dominion, including us.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Christ is the Lord<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11, KJV)<\/li>\n<li>Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. (Acts 2:36)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the Bible Jesus is associated with the title \u201cLord\u201d more than other titles combined. He is a good friend, a wonderful counselor, the good shepherd, but most of all He is the Lord. This fact is made clear by the two most important announcements in the New Testament. At the birth of Jesus an angel announced to the shepherds the good news for all people, that a savior has been born, who is \u201cChrist the Lord.\u201d At the Pentecost apostle Peter announced to the Israelites that God has made the resurrected Jesus \u201cboth Lord and Messiah.\u201d What the Bible says is this: make no mistake, Israelites and all people, Jesus, the Messiah who saves you, is the Lord.<\/p>\n<p>The Bible uses the word \u201cLord\u201d to connote two meanings: it means Jesus is the supreme Master, one who has complete authority over you. It also means Jesus is God, the one and only creator and ruler of the universe. Let\u2019s take a look of the first meaning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Lord and His Servants<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the Greek language the word for Lord is <em>kurios<\/em>, meaning \u201ca person in supreme authority.\u201d The corresponding word for <em>kurios<\/em> is <em>doulos<\/em>, mildly translated \u201cservant,\u201d actually means \u201cslave,\u201d or, as some older translations put it, bond-slave. When we say \u201cLord Jesus\u201d we mean Jesus is our supreme Master, we are his bond-slaves, people under His authority. Our relationship with Jesus is that of a Master-Slave\u2019s, the so-called \u201cauthority relationship.\u201d On the master\u2019s side all he has to do is to give commands. On the slave\u2019s side all he can do, and should do, is to obey. The dynamics of this relationship is best illustrated by the words of a Roman centurion:<\/p>\n<p><em>The centurion replied, \u201cLord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, \u2018Go,\u2019 and he goes; and that one, \u2018Come,\u2019 and he comes. I say to my servant, \u2018Do this,\u2019 and he does it.\u201d Matt. 8:8-9<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The centurion\u2019s understanding of authority relationship was simple and direct: his soldier obeys him, everyone obeys Jesus, the Master of All. When Jesus heard his words, He was amazed, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, \u201cI tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.\u201d To Jesus true faith is recognizing Him as the Supreme Master and take actions accordingly. Jesus Himself taught about this relationship. He said:<\/p>\n<p><em>Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, \u2018Come along now and sit down to eat\u2019? Won\u2019t he rather say, \u2018Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink\u2019? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, \u2018We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.\u2019 Luke 17:7-10<\/em><\/p>\n<p>These seemly harsh words from Jesus accurately describe what I call \u201ca loving truth.\u201d Jesus speaks the truth. The only correct response from a servant, or slave, after a day\u2019s hard work is \u201cI am an unworthy servant, I have only done my duty.\u201d He is not to expect a \u201cthank you\u201d from the master, for he has done nothing more than what he ought to do. But Jesus didn\u2019t speak this truth harshly, He said it with loving kindness. What He said about the servants is built upon His love for them. The supreme Master loves his servants so much that He died for them:<\/p>\n<p><em>For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Our Master is not a ruthless slave-driver, but a loving Lord who always has his servants in his heart. Not only Jesus washed the disciples\u2019 feet, He died for them. He gives His life as a ransom so anyone who believes in Him will live. Here is the key: rather than weakens the authority relationship, Jesus\u2019 sacrificial love strengthens it. The love He has towards us makes it more compelling for us to obey. The person who loves you so much will not hurt you. He exercises authority over you not to exploit you, but to bless you. And when we realize this person is actually the all-knowing and all-mighty God, the choice is even more clear: it is not only right, but wise, for us to obey the Master.<\/p>\n<p>As a footnote let me say this: loving-authority is not only the base for God-man relationship, but also other relationships that form the backbone of human society. It is the base for parent-child relationship, owner-employee relationship, and government-citizen relationship. The one in authority is to love those who are under him, the one under authority is to obey the one who is above him. This doesn\u2019t conflict with the concept of equality. All human beings are made in the image of God, we are equal before God,<\/p>\n<p>but not with God. God is God, we are not His equal, we are His people. Christ is Lord, we are not His equal, we are His servants. Until we recognize this fact and act accordingly, it would be impossible to bring our relationship with Jesus to the blissful state where God intends it to be.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Lord is God<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the Bible the word \u201cLord\u201d is employed to translate the word <em>Adonai<\/em>, a Hebrew word for God. The Hebrew people had so much reverence for God that they dared no to say His name out loud, so they invented the word <em>Adonai<\/em> to represent God. In the New Testament, the Bible uses the word \u201cLord\u201d to represent either God or Jesus, for Jesus is God. For example, Paul quoted a famous verse from the book of Joel in his letter to the Romans:<\/p>\n<p><em>Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In Joel \u201cthe Lord\u201d is God. Everyone who calls on God\u2019s name, praying to Him in faith, will be saved. In Romans \u201cthe Lord\u201d is Jesus. Everyone who calls on Jesus\u2019 name, praying to Him in faith, will be saved. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is God. For us believers the divinity of Christ is a nonnegotiable truth. The Jesus we pledge allegiance to is God Himself. The early disciples, being ardent monotheistic Jews, had no problem recognizing Jesus as God. Doubting Thomas missed the first opportunity to meet the risen Lord, his doubts turned into belief when he saw the resurrected Jesus himself. He cried out:<\/p>\n<p><em>My Lord and my God! John 20:28<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Dear brothers and sisters, Christ alone is the Lord. He alone is the loving Master that commands our immediate obedience. He alone is the holy God that deserves our undivided allegiance and worship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christ Alone The fourth Sola, Solus Christus, Christ alone, is the logical conclusion of the previous three. Scripture alone, grace alone, and faith alone all point to Christ. Christ alone&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[357,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-is-a-song-en","category-pastor-wang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3798,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3796\/revisions\/3798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}