The Latin phrase “Sola Gratia” means that God alone saves sinners only because it pleases Him to do so. Scripture tells us that God alone redeems sinners according to His good purpose and pleasure (Eph. 1:5, 11). Apart from God’s grace in Christ and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, who applies the work of Christ to sinners chosen by God from all eternity, apart from God’s wondrous saving work in Christ, no one would ever be saved. In our lost condition, human beings are not capable nor desirous of seeking out or even cooperating with God’s grace (John 3:19-20; 1 Cor. 2:14). By insisting on “grace alone” the Reformers were denying that human methods, means, techniques, or strategies could ever bring anyone to faith. It is God’s grace alone expressed through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings sinners to Christ, releases them from bondage to Satan and sin, and raises them from spiritual death to spiritual life.
It’s also important to understand that God’s grace is not a substance that is poured into the soul of a sinner. Roman Catholic theology wrongly speaks in this manner. But according to the Word of God, grace is the person and work of the Lord Jesus, “Christ clothed in the Gospel,” as John Calvin stated it. Grace is the saving work of Jesus. There is no “thing” as grace that Jesus takes from Himself and then hands over to the believer. There is only Jesus. It is not a thing that was crucified to give us a thing called grace. It was the person of the Lord Jesus that was crucified in order that He might give Himself to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Grace is not some add on to Christ’s being, nor is it some substance that flows from Him. There’s not a substance called grace that saves a sinner, it is Jesus who saves. It is not a substance called grace that dwells within the redeemed, it is Jesus who spiritually dwells within the believer’s soul.
—Pastor S. Henry