And 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
As the reformers of the fourteenth and fifteenth century rallied to the call of the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ, a unifying statement of faith was formed. This statement we know today as the ‘Five Solus’ was primarily against the ruling Roman church of the day. The Roman church then (and today) had buried the true gospel in its ecclesiastical traditions and hierarchal popery. In so doing, the gospel of Jesus Christ that provides salvation to sinners through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone was lost. The first ‘sola’, which we looked at last week, was ‘Sola Scriptura’.
The second statement was a unifying cry of the reformers was Solus Christus –
2. In Christ alone. The church of the Middle Ages spoke about Christ. A church that failed to do that could hardly claim to be Christian. But the medieval church had added many human achievements to Christ’s work, so that it was no longer possible to say that salvation was entirely by Christ and his atonement. This was the most basic of all heresies, as the Reformers rightly perceived. It was the work of God plus our own righteousness. The Reformation motto Solus Christus was formed to repudiate this error. It affirmed that salvation has been accomplished once for all by the mediatorial work of the historical Jesus Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification, and any gospel that fails to acknowledge that or denies it is a false gospel that will save no one. (James Montgomery Boice)