And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2
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Though all of the 5 Solas arose from the Reformation and the response to Roman Catholicism, the one in particular that we think of today when contrasting ourselves with them is Sola Gratia, or Grace Alone. Unfortunately, in our zeal to defend truth, we often characterize Catholics as believing in salvation by works and not by grace. However, that is not entirely true. Catholics DO believe in salvation by grace. What's missing, however, is the important, and key word, "alone". For an apologetic review of the Catholic view to hone your apologetic, see CARM's The Roman Catholic view on justification
Glendale - October 21, 2017
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