We can have differing opinions on Christianity, but Luther’s five ‘solas’ are the essence of its meaning

THE exchange of views recently expressed on your letters page by Rev John Gray and Fr Patrick McCafferty highlights the significant differences which remain between the two main traditions of Christianity.

It’s also interesting that both individuals are able to quote scripture to explain their own diverse opinions.

In terms of the big picture, there is common ground between both sides on the virgin birth, physical resurrection of Jesus and, dare I say, traditional marriage.

There will always be differences on the big question of how one approaches God and how he deals with our sin and I think this is the crux of the matter.

I understand that, within Catholicism, there are seven ordinances, while in evangelical Protestantism, there are but two: baptism and communion, exclusively for Christian believers. The Bible is the one complete authority of what God has to say among Protestants, while in Catholicism, that authority extends to include Church tradition and papal authority.

Paul, writing to Timothy, stressed the importance of “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15b) and therein lies why there is a lot of quarrelling over interpretation of scripture.

Fr McCafferty quotes at length from the Epistle of James, which incidentally Luther unfairly described as “the epistle of straw”, but the bottom line with personal salvation is that, while we are saved by faith alone, that faith should never remain alone, but the works which follow should be motivated by that justification by faith — alone.

Luther did have his faults, but his five ‘solas’ from 1517, in essence, articulate what the gospel of Jesus Christ is to mankind, even in 2017.