Faith Alone: The Material Cause of the Reformation
Renewing Your Mind
Ligonier Ministries
4.8 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How does God declare us righteous in His sight? Not by baptism, nor by penance, but through faith alone in Christ alone. Today, R.C. Sproul identifies the underlying cause of the Protestant Reformation.
Get R.C. Sproul’s teaching series God Alone on DVD, lifetime digital access to the messages and study guide, and a copy of the book The Heart of the Reformation for your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3942/donate
Meet Today’s Teacher:
R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Meet the Host:
Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Rome believes that justification is by faith, it's by grace, and it's by Christ. |
| 0:04.8 | What Rome doesn't believe is that justification is by faith alone, or by grace alone, or by Christ alone. |
| 0:17.8 | When it comes to the gospel, one word can make all the difference between eternal life and eternal death. |
| 0:25.6 | Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and thanks for joining us today for renewing your mind. |
| 0:30.7 | At the heart of the gospel is the doctrine of justification. |
| 0:34.9 | And throughout church history, there have been battles in how we define that, |
| 0:39.2 | and one word really does make all the difference. It's that word that R.C. Sprawl will focus on |
| 0:45.1 | this week from his series, God Alone. We'd love to send you a copy on DVD, along with a 90-day |
| 0:52.0 | devotional called The Heart of the Reformation. |
| 0:55.1 | Request both, along with digital access to the series and study guide at Renewing Your Mind.org. |
| 1:02.5 | Martin Luther said it's the doctrine of justification by which the church stands or falls. |
| 1:08.9 | So what is this word that we'll be considering all week? And why is the doctrine |
| 1:13.0 | of justification so important? Here's Dr. Sprole. This series is going to follow the so-called |
| 1:23.8 | solas of the Protestant Reformation. At the church where I'm the minister of preaching and |
| 1:30.6 | teaching, we have on our bulletin every Sunday morning a list of the five solas of the |
| 1:38.6 | Protestant Reformation. And they include sola Fide, which means justification by faith alone. |
| 1:48.1 | Sola gratia, salvation is by grace alone. |
| 1:53.9 | Solus Christus, that our salvation is through Christ alone. |
| 1:59.8 | Sola Scrip Torah, that the sole authority that binds the conscience of the Christian, is the Bible |
| 2:06.6 | alone. |
| 2:08.2 | And then finally, Sola deo Gloria, to God alone, belongs the glory. |
| 2:16.2 | And so we're going to start our study of the solas by looking at the |
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