Seeing Christ as the one and only mediator

Protestants believe that the sacramental system of the Catholic Church incorrectly puts the clergy as the mediators between God and man. In a Catholic’s eyes, the individual Christian is dependent on the Church for matters pertaining to salvation (such as baptism) and the Christian life (such as confession and the Eucharist). But this practice prevents the average Christian from being able to go directly to God without mediation by priests.

In contrast, Protestants hold 1 Timothy 2:5 up as their slogan: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus.” Christians believe that Jesus was the one who lived a sin-free life and sacrificed himself so that people can be justified before God the Father (check out Chapter 5 for more). Therefore, to Protestants, “only Christ” means that Christianity is about Christ and what he’s done in order to make salvation possible, not something individuals or the Church can do.

Being saved by grace alone and faith alone

Although all Christians believe that salvation is made possible only by God’s grace, they disagree on how he gives that grace. Protestants say that Christians receive grace simply by accepting and believing it, but Catholics believe they receive grace by accepting it in faith and by participating in the sacraments. Orthodox Christians believe that Christians receive grace as they participate with God in the work of salvation through living a life of holiness and worship.

See Chapter 3 for a complete discussion of the issue of grace, including an exploration of the Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox positions.

Giving kudos to God alone

The idea behind Soli Deo Gloria (“To God Be the Glory”) is that humans didn’t pick themselves up by their own bootstraps and find God, but instead, God did all the work, leaving nothing for the Christian to do but accept the offer of salvation.

The opposite perspective that Luther noted is what he termed the theology of glory, in which humans trust in their own efforts to bring about salvation rather than trust in God alone. This theology of glory also leads people to rely on their own wisdom and understanding rather than be humble before the Lord and trust his wisdom as chronicled in the Bible. Instead, Luther argued for a theology of the cross, which states that all humans are miserably sinful and can’t ever escape sin, and it’s only the saving work of Christ on the cross that can give real hope to people.

Because of what God has done for humans, Soli Deo Gloria is the reason and basis for Christian worship. God has done everything, so the natural Christian response is to worship God in gratitude and humility. (Check out Chapter 12 for more on Christian worship.)

Considering all Christians as equal in God’s eyes

A final classic belief of Protestants is the belief in the priesthood of all believers (Revelation 5:10). That doesn’t mean that every Protestant has to go to seminary and wear a collar around his or her neck. Instead, what Protestants mean by the phrase is that all Christians are the same before God. They don’t fit into a holiness hierarchy, and God doesn’t make a distinction between those who work in the Church and those who work in the secular world. Relying on the Holy Spirit to guide them, Protestants believe that God uses them as his ambassadors in either of these vocations.