The Five Solas are five Latin phrases that emerged
during the Protestant Reformation and summarize the
Reformers' basic theological beliefs in
contradistinction to the teaching of the Roman Catholic
Church of the day. The Latin word sola means "alone" or
"only" in English. The five solas articulated five
fundamental beliefs of the Protestant Reformation,
pillars which the Reformers believed to be essentials of
the Christian life and practice.

1) Sola Scriptura ("by Scripture alone")

Sola scriptura is the teaching that the Bible is the
only inspired and authoritative word of God, is the only
source for Christian doctrine, and is accessible to
all—that is, it is perspicuous and self-interpreting.

That the Bible requires no interpretation outside of
itself is an idea directly opposed to the teaching of
the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Coptic,
Anglo-Catholic, and Roman Catholic traditions, which
teach that the Bible can be authentically interpreted
only by Apostolic Tradition, this being for the Roman
Catholic tradition embodied in the Magisterium, (that is
the teaching authority embodied in Bishops in union with
the Pope).

Sola scriptura is sometimes called the formal principle
of the Reformation, since it is the source and norm of
the material principle, sola fide.

The adjective (sola) and the noun (scriptura) are in the
ablative case rather than the nominative case to
indicate that the Bible does not stand alone apart from
God, but rather that it is the instrument of God by
which He reveals Himself for salvation through faith in
Christ (solus Christus)

2) Sola Fide ("by faith alone")

Sola fide is the teaching that justification
(interpreted in Protestant theology as, "being declared
right by God"), is received by faith only, without any
mixture of or need for good works, though in classical
Protestant theology, saving faith is always evidenced by
good works. Some Protestants see this doctrine as being
summarized with the formula "Faith yields justification
and good works" and as contrasted with the Roman
Catholic formula "Faith and good works yield
justification."

Protestantism also teaches the doctrine of Regeneration,
which has always been part of the doctrine of
Justification by Faith, which states that the Holy
Spirit Indwells a new believer at the point of his
response to the Gospel with Faith in Christ, and the
Holy Spirit thus Regenerates the soul of the believer
and makes it not only "legally" righteous according to
the declaration of the Father, but also objectively
righteous. In Regeneration, the Holy Spirit makes actual
the declaration of righteousness of the Father. But
Luther recognized that this inner transformation,
(termed in some Evangelical circles today as being
"saved" or "born again"), does not immediately make the
believer completely sinless in his actual daily life.
The soul is seen as Regenerated and made perfect by the
Holy Spirit, but the "flesh" still holds some sway in
the life of the believer and must be progressively
overcome and brought into obedience by the power of the
Holy Spirit. In Protestant theology, this progressive
realization and "living out" of the inner transformation
that took place in the act of Regeneration is called
"Sanctification".

The Sola fide doctrine is sometimes called the material
cause or principle of the Reformation because it was the
central doctrinal issue for Martin Luther and the other
reformers. Luther called it the "doctrine by which the
church stands or falls" (Latin, articulus stantis et
cadentis ecclesiae). This doctrine asserts the total
exclusion of any other righteousness to justify the
sinner other than the "alien" righteousness
(righteousness of another) of Christ alone. Sola fide
excludes even the sinner's own righteousness of
Sanctification or his "new obedience" from his
Justification.

3) Sola Gratia ("Grace Alone")

Sola gratia is the teaching that salvation comes by
God's grace or "unmerited favor" only — not as something
merited by the sinner. This means that salvation is an
unearned gift from God for Jesus' sake. While some
maintain that this doctrine is the opposite of "works'
righteousness" and conflicts with some of the aspects of
the Roman Catholic doctrine of merit, it might be
asserted that this article, taken at face value,
conflicts in no way with Roman Catholic teaching; while
the doctrine that grace is truly and always a gift of
God is held in agreement between both views, the
difference in doctrine lies mainly in two facts:

that of God as sole actor in grace (in other words, that
grace is always efficacious without any cooperation by
man), and second, that man cannot by any action of his own, acting under
the influence of grace, cooperate with grace to "merit"
greater graces for himself (the latter would be the
doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church).

This doctrine asserts divine monergism in salvation:

God acts alone to save the sinner.

The responsibility for salvation does
not rest on the sinner to any degree as in "synergism"
or Arminianism. Lutheranism holds that this doctrine
must not be maintained to the exclusion of gratia
universalis (that God seriously wills the salvation of
all people).

4) Sola Christus ("Christ Alone" or  "Jesus Alone")

Solus Christus is the teaching that Christ is the only
mediator between God and man, and that there is
salvation through no other (hence, the phrase is
sometimes rendered in the ablative case, solo Christo,
meaning that salvation is "by Christ alone"). While
rejecting all other mediators between God and man,
classical Lutheranism continues to honor the memory of
the Virgin Mary and other exemplary saints.

This principle rejects "sacerdotalism," which is the
belief that there are no sacraments in the church
without the services of priests ordained by apostolic
succession under the authority of the pope.

5) Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")

Soli Deo gloria is the teaching that all glory is to be
due to God alone, since salvation is accomplished solely
through His will and action — not only the gift of the
all-sufficient atonement of Jesus on the cross but also
the gift of faith in that atonement, created in the
heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit.

The reformers believed that human beings—even saints
canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, the popes, and
the ecclesiastical hierarchy—are not worthy of the glory
that was accorded them.

That is that one should not exalt such humans for their
good works, but rather praise and give glory to God who
is the author and perfecter (finisher) of these people
and their good works.

6) Soli Sangre Christi ("blood of Jesus Christ alone")

Soli Sangre Christi is the teaching that faith and trust
in the shed blood Jesus Christ alone is the only
sufficient sacrificial payment debt and only
satisfaction for God's wrath upon Sin. The actual shed
blood of Christ (not transubstantiated blood) is
presently sprinkled upon God's "mercy seat" in heaven
and continually washes "cleanses" the regenerate of sin
until the day man's perishing body (the flesh) is
replaced with his new redemptive body.

7) Sola Veritas ("truth alone")

The solid non changing Truth of God is founded in His
living Word, steadfast in Jesus Christ