Sola Gratia
Grace in the Bible
Carl R. Trueman
Even as the subject of the book, Grace Alone, points us inevitably to matters of history and practice, above all it points us to the Scriptures. And that is appropriate. I write as a Protestant, an heir of the Reformation, and thus as one committed not simply to the principle of grace alone but also to Scripture alone.
The Sovereignty of Grace as Seen in Romans 8:28-30
Alfred Martin, ThD
Nowhere is the sovereign grace of God seen more clearly than in the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, verses twenty-eight, twenty-nine, and thirty. In these three verses there is given in one majestic sweep the whole plan of God in redemption from the counsels of the past eternity into the never-ending future.
Restraining or Renewing Grace?
Allen S. Nelson IV, MDiv
In Volume 9 of The Works of John Owen, the renowned theologian and pastor talks about restraining and renewing grace. Restraining grace is that work of God that keeps people in “fear of shame, danger, death, and hell.” It is similar to what God told Abimelech in Genesis 20:6, “it was I who kept you from sinning against me.” Renewing grace, on the other hand, “is faith and love,—faith working by love. A man who hath a spiritual understanding may examine himself, and find under what conduct he is.”
All Grace and Grace Alone
William Arp, ThD
One of the great truths which the Reformers declared and defended was sola gratia which means “only grace” or “grace alone.” This phrase emphasizes that salvation is by grace alone. It implies that God saves sinners without reference to their foreseen merits or achievements. He saves them only because it pleases Him to do it. He forgives their sins according to the riches of his grace (Eph. 1:7).
