All the Solas of Reformed theology mingle themselves together here upon this covenant table.
Sola Gratia – Everything presented to you here is all by God’s gracious gift. It isn’t because you cleaned yourself up that God welcomes you to this table. Rather, He clothed you in the clean robes of Christ’s righteousness. Having dressed you in a righteousness that wasn’t yours, He then brought you to this table to assure you of the twofold gift of sins forgiven and life everlasting.
Sola Fide – There are two ways of looking at this table. One is to look upon it and only see a bare religious ceremony that earns brownie points with God. The second way is to look at this meal in faith and see in and through it the death and resurrection of Christ. By looking in faith this meal is made a true sign of your salvation, instead of a barren ritual.
Sola Scriptura – God has spoken clearly to us of His will to save sinners through His Son, and He’s made this way of salvation plain through Scripture. It isn’t by the cunning of man’s words, but by the covenant Word which God spoke by His Spirit in the mouth of the prophets and apostles whereby we know that we can come to this visible Word with certainty about all that God promises to us here.
Soli Deo Gloria – This is all arranged in order that the God of all glory might be made more glorious in this story of man’s downfall through sin and God’s mighty redemptive work. This meal isn’t a way to make you feel better about yourself. Rather, God has you made alive by His Spirit; by this new life you can now render unto Him alone all the glory due to His name.
Solus Christus – This meal is Christ alone. Your salvation wasn’t a group project. It wasn’t as if Christ was simply the star pupil of all the Bible characters. Rather, He is what the entire story of Scripture is all about. He alone is the priest which offered Himself as the lamb which reconciled us unto God.
By all this you can now come to this banqueting table of the Father’s infinite love.
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