| abstract | - Sola gratia (betekenis: alleen door genade) is één van de Vijf sola's die een samenvattend uitgangspunt vormt van het protestantisme tijdens de Reformatie, maar ook heden ten dage nog steeds de belangrijkste uitgangspunten vormen voor het protestantisme. Tegenover de Rooms-katholieke Kerk leerde de Reformatie dat het behoud van zondaren slechts mogelijk is uit enkel genade. De menselijke activiteiten (goede werken) dragen niet bij aan het behoud. Weliswaar ontkende de Reformatie niet de noodzaak van goede werken, maar door deze verdient men de verlossing niet. De verlossing van verloren mensen is verdiend door Jezus Christus, hij leed en stierf aan het kruis van Golgotha om het behoud (d.w.z. de vergeving) te verdienen, zo vond de Reformatie. Echter, ook de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk leert dat de mens door genade alleen gered wordt, hieraan dient de vrije wil van de mens wel mee te werken, iets wat de Reformatie ontkende.
- Sola gratia is one of the five solas propounded to summarise the Reformers' basic beliefs during the Protestant Reformation; it is a Latin term meaning grace alone. The emphasis was in contradistinction to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church of the day. Catholic doctrine, as defined by the Council of Trent, holds that salvation is made possible only by grace; the faith and works of men are secondary means that have their origins in and are sustained by grace. During the Reformation, Protestant leaders and theologians generally believed the Roman Catholic view of the means of salvation to be a mixture of reliance upon the grace of God, and confidence in the merits of one's own works performed in love, pejoratively called Legalism. The Reformers posited that salvation is entirely comprehended in God's gifts (that is, God's act of free grace), dispensed by the Holy Spirit according to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ alone. Consequently, they argued that a sinner is not accepted by God on account of the change wrought in the believer by God's grace, and indeed, that the believer is accepted without any regard for the merit of his works—for no one deserves salvation, a concept that some take to the extreme of Antinomianism. Sola gratia is different from Sola fide because faith alone is considered either a work or is insufficient for salvation which can only be granted freely by God to whom He chooses. This doctrine is especially linked with Calvinism's unconditional election and predestination.
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