Eric Douma and Bob DeWaay are pastor and resident scholar (respectively) of Gospel of Grace Fellowship Church in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. They are both also return guests, joining the podcast this month to conclude the series on the Five Solas of the Reformation first begun back with episode 31 in November of 2010. Soli Deo Gloria is the doctrine that states that God Alone deserves glory.
An Outline of the Discussion
- The issue of Monergism vs. Synergism is key to the doctrine of Soli Deo Gloria.
- Synergism robs glory from God.
- “They only consistent Arminian is the Open Theist” – James White.
- A proper understanding of the attributes (characteristics) of God will naturally lead to proper theology.
- God deserves Glory!
- God displays His glory.
- We only know these things because God condescended Himself to come down and reveal Himself to man.
- God is non-contingent. He does not depend on anything outside of Himself for his being, His existence, and His glory.
- So much in regard to religion is directed at the glory of man. This is what Luther contended against.
- Prevenient grace is an attack on God’s character.
- Charles Finney was a Palagian. He denied the doctrine of original sin.
- The seeker-sensitive churches use Finney’s methodology with some tweaks.
- The power in preaching is in the Gospel. Repackaging it in order to persuade people diminishes its power and de-emphasizes God’s glory.
- The “Alone” (Soli) is the key distinction between Biblical theology and man-made theology. Both will acknowledge God’s glory, but only Biblical theology teaches that God alone is glorious.
- If man does anything in the salvation process, God does not get all of the glory.
- We need to have faith in both what Christ has done for us, but also in what is yet to come.
- We are unable, but God is able!
- In the everlasting state, we’ll be different than we are now. We must not assume our present state will negatively affect our ability to glorify God then.
- The glory we see now is mediated. In the resurrected state, we’ll finally see His Glory as it is.
- God enhances His Glory through contrasts. The analogy is that we don’t know the sweetness of a weekend unless we work hard all week.
Scriptures Referenced
- Revelation 21
- 1 John 3:2
- Psalm 96:3-8
- Ephesians 1:3-14
- Matthew 13:11
- John 10
- John 1:9
- Romans 10
- John 6:44
- Mark 10:25-27 / Luke 18:25-27
- Revelation 16:9
- 1 Corinthians 15:43
- Romans 8:18
- Isaiah 6:3
- Psalm 19:1
- Exodus 24
- Revelation 21-23
- Romans 3:26
- Romans 9:23
- 2 Corinthians 4:15
- 1 Peter 4:11
- James 4:14
Additional Resources
- Recovering Reformation Theology: Rejecting Synergism and Returning to Monergism – Bob DeWaay
- Soli Deo Gloria: To God Alone Be the Glory – RC Sproul
- The Five Solas: Soli Deo Gloria – David VanDrunen
- Soli Deo Gloria – Phil Johnson (Youtube)