A Simple Soli Deo Gloria Meaning with Bible VersesLord's Library

Lord’s Library contributor Jared Helms offers a simple Soli Deo Gloria meaning in English for Christians with Bible verses and key Scripture. Check out Jared’s YouTube channel and two blogs: A Light in the Darkness and Blind Faith Examples. Lord’s Library’s Ministry Leaders Series is a collection of contributed articles written by ministry leaders on key Christian topics.

The Five Solas include both direct and indirect support throughout Scripture. This is the very reason we hold these distinct doctrines as Protestants, they are thoroughly Biblical. So when asked to provide proof texts for the Five Solas of the Reformation, our first thought is to point to the whole of Scripture; and we maintain this is a valid response. However, there are a few clear passages to support Soli Deo Gloria below.

In this resource, we offer a Soli Deo Gloria meaning by citing the clearest and most direct Bible verses. Providing a Soli Deo Gloria meaning from the Scripture is fairly simple. It’s also important to note that some verses will appear in support of multiple Solas, but this does not indicate that we are lacking proof texts. Rather, it shows that the Solas are connected and that their connection is Bibiblical and not of human origin.

Note: To help draw out the connections and provide a basic Soli Deo Gloria meaning, we will use a classic formulation as our header below.

Soli Deo Gloria Meaning

Soli Deo Gloria Meaning: To the Glory of God Alone

Soli Deo Gloria means that all of salvation, and all of life is to the glory of God. That is to say, God alone gets all the credit and reconnection. The ascription of glory is God due for the glorious things He has done, which display His most awesome attributes revealing His innate glory. No one shares in God’s glory, as no one else is worthy to share in it.

Even the apostles say very clearly that it was God who worked in them and through them. Consider John 15:5, the fruit-bearing life is in Christ alone, and it is that life alone which causes us to be fruitful so that all glory again rightly goes to God: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

See also Romans 11:35-36: “Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

Where churches and men insert works with grace or faith, add co-redeemers with Christ, or raise some other source to equal authority with the Bible; glory is taken from God and given to men. Reasons for reverence become confused, authority is abused, and corruption sets in. All of this has happened and continues to happen. It may seem to us that some men really are worthy to receive some glory as they appear to do great works. However, even the Apostles say very clearly that it was God who worked in them and through them.

This is confirmed in Isaiah 48:11: “For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.”

Soli Deo Gloria Meaning: Bible Verses

Romans 11:36: “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

This Sola flows logically from the others, after all if the work of salvation was accomplished by Christ alone, graciously offered to us without condition, and received simply by believing it is so. Then God has done everything and deserves all the credit. It is the inevitable conclusion of the Solas’ theological progression. That said we see in passages like Isaiah 48:9-11, and John 9:3 that God is always working for the sake of His glory.

Isaiah 48:9-11: “For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.”

John 9:3: “Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”

Final Thoughts

As we have said, this is not an exhaustive list of Soli Deo Gloria Fide meaning supporting Scriptures as that list would just have one entry for the Five Solas of the Reformation: “Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21.” The Solas are not man-made ideas, but rather man’s summation of God’s good news to all of us. Any of us can be saved from the eternal death we deserve by grace through Jesus Christ alone. God’s own word tells us so. To God be all glory. Amen.

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Jared Helms

Jared received his Bachelor of Arts from Bryan College in 2012, and his Masters of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2017. He has pastored churches in Kentucky and Tennessee. Most importantly, Jared has walked with Christ most of his life. His interests extend from theology to church history, but he is particularly passionate about ecclesiology and homiletics.