No matter how much of a social animal you are, no matter how much you love to spend time with friends and family, everyone needs some alone time once in a while. You know, that time when you can just tune out the outside world and be all by yourself. Alone time can be time for reading, praying, studying Scripture, thinking, or just clearing the mind and relaxing.

There is a different kind of alone time that we all need as well. October is when we celebrate the Lutheran Reformation—that historical series of events when God used a Roman Catholic monk named Martin Luther to restore the truth of the gospel and the Scriptures at a time when that truth had been gradually lost and hidden by an unfaithful and corrupt church. The truths restored by Luther are often summarized as the four great “alones” of the Lutheran Reformation: sola gratia, sola fide, sola Scriptura, and solus Christus or grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone, and Christ alone.

At the end of the month, our Sunday worship services or special Reformation festivals will focus on these significant “alones”—time that we will cherish because of what those truths mean for us. These are the truths that make us Christians and distinguish us as Lutherans.

By grace alone. The church of Luther’s day had distorted the teaching of Scripture regarding what God’s grace is and what it means for us. Luther rediscovered on the pages of Scripture that our salvation, our forgiveness, and our status as children of God come to us completely as a gift of God’s grace—God’s love for us that we don’t deserve. Alone time enables us to marvel at God’s amazing grace that alone makes us his people.

By faith alone. The church of Luther’s day certainly taught that faith in Jesus is necessary, but it also taught that what we do for God plays a role in our salvation. Luther found in the Bible that our salvation comes to us as a free gift from God, not because of anything we do. We receive that gift only through faith that God himself, working through his Word and sacrament, creates in our hearts. Alone time assures us that our confidence in salvation comes by faith in the One who did it all for us.

By Scripture alone. The church of Luther’s day taught that its teachings had multiple sources and authorities: Scripture, traditions, and statements by church councils and leaders. Luther stood solely on one source: the inspired and inerrant teaching of the Scriptures, the Word that God himself has entrusted to us. Alone time moves us to know that what we believe is true because it comes to us from the Word that God himself has spoken.

In Christ alone. The church of Luther’s day taught that saints and relics contributed to people’s salvation. Luther looked only to Christ and his cross for comfort and assurance and believed Jesus when he said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Luther taught that saints and relics have nothing to do with salvation—everything rests on Christ alone and what he did. Alone time enables us to focus entirely on Jesus and his cross, the only way for us to be saved.

These truths will rightly be our focus this month. As you spend your alone time this month with the great “alones” of the Lutheran Reformation, gather with your fellow believers, give thanks, and give God alone the glory for what he has done for his church—and for you.

Author: Mark Schroeder
Volume 111, Number 10
Issue: October 2024