soli deo gloria

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Soli Deo Gloria

To God Be The Glory - To God Alone Is The Glory

by Sam Hughey

     We say the words "To God Be The Glory", but do we really mean what we say? When we say that God is sovereign, do we really understand just what those words mean? No greater "sola" of the Reformation should sound as trumpets in our ears as "SOLI DEO GLORIA", TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY! Why did the Reformers consider this phrase to be of such paramount importance? Is this phrase restricted only to those who use the term "Reformed"?

     It is often said that "I believe in the sovereignty of God". Yet it is more often said that "I believe in man's cooperation in salvation". The sovereignty of God neither takes man's will away from him nor the believer's responsibility in salvation. In fact, when it is said that God does not violate our will, this is not quite a true statement. Rather, God simply destroys our will that is enmity against Him and replaces it with a will that is alive, enlightened and able to respond to the Holy Spirit. We should praise Him alone for so doing because had He chose not to do so we would still have a will that is enmity against all that is holy and righteous.

     The sovereignty of God does not disallow-allow us from making rational and moral decisions but, rather, it guides us into making the correct rational and moral decisions. To say that God is sovereign and yet believe that the will of the unbeliever must cooperate in the realm of receiving salvation is double-talk. The realm of salvation is wholly and completely the realm of God and God alone. The life of the believer must be in accordance with holy scripture and holy scripture must influence and govern every aspect of man's existence. Our daily life at home or work must be controlled by our obedience to holy scripture. The laws of God must influence and govern our churches, marriages, children, homes, education, civil government to the extent that we are truly living under a sovereign God. Anything less is to say that we are, at the least, worshipping something or someone other than God alone. Any deviation from the clear commands of scripture are a violation of the 1st and 2nd Commandments; "I am the Lord your God" and "You will have NO other Gods before me". God cannot be our sovereign unless He alone rules in our every essence.

     It is not until then can we truly say, understand and be sincere when we say "SOLI DEO GLORIA" - "TO GOD ALONE IS THE GLORY" Amen!

NO PLACE for SOVEREIGNTY
What's Wrong With Freewill Theism
by R.K. McGregor Wright

The message of Bob Wright's book is that a God limited by human autonomy is not capable of meeting the needs of a lost world. Theologically he shows that autonomy is both unbiblical and irrational. He argures that history has shown that the dogma of human autonomy gradually eats away at the foundations of orthodoxy until eventually it collapses entirely. The idea of God is radically modified or discarded altogether as the hope for salvation is transferred to humanity's determination and ingenuity rather than God's sovereign grace. In the church, the doctrine of autonomy encourabes a dependance on humanly created methods for the propagation of the gospel, rather than the providence of God. The gospel must be made palatable to the sinner, whose personal autonomy, after all, must be respected even by God. The result is that marketing techniques and pragmatic solutions, rather than scriptural principles, inform our evangelistic strategies. Hence, the impotence of evangelicalism before a pagan culture that is itself built on the dogma of autonomy.

This book is both challenging and controversial. I commed it to all who are interesed in the redemption of postmodern culture and the restoration of a vital evangelical witness. This will come only when the great doctrines of the Reformation are once again given their due among those who claim its heritage. That is the plea of this book. May it be well heeded!

Alan Myatt
Professor Systematic Theology
Baptist Seminary of South Brazil
Rid de Janeiro
June 1996

Features:

critiques the case for freewill theism
supports the Reformed view of God's sovereignty
offers biblical, theological and philosophical arguments
surveys the history of the Arminian/Reformed debate
identifies and responds to challenges to the Reformed position on God's sovereignty
scrutinizes the recent works of Clark Pinnock

ISBN: 0-8308-1881-2

"The finest contemporary statement of Reformed thinking on these issues."

RONALD NASH, Reformed Theological Seminary

"This is an important theological and exegetical challenge to the Arminianism so prevalent in evangelicalism today. Wright's interpretation of supposedly Arminian texts and his knowledge of Reformed theology are especially helpful."

DOUGLAS GROOTHUIS, Denver Seminary

To God Be The Glory
lyrics: Fanny J. Crosby, 1875

To God be the glory, great things he hath done!
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
Who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life-gate that we may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, thro' the Jesus Son,
And give him the glory, great things he hath done!

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood!
To ev'ry believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus forgiveness receives.

Great things he hath taught us, great things he hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

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