grace alone
Unmerited divine favor
Grace alone is a theological principle, especially in Protestant Christianity, holding that salvation comes entirely through God's unmerited favor rather than human effort or good works.
The phrase translates Latin *sola gratia*, one of the foundational doctrines of the Reformation: We are saved by grace alone, not by anything we do.
It emphasizes that humans cannot earn divine forgiveness—it is freely given.
- salvationDeliverance from harm
- redemptionRecovery or moral restoration
- LutherProtestant Reformation initiator
- John CalvinFrench Protestant reformer
- ReformationReligious movement splitting Christianity
justification · mercy · forgiveness · gift · undeserved · divine love · covenant · cross · atonement · righteousness · Protestant · Westminster Confession · Martin Luther · predestination · total depravity · original sin · sanctification · pardon
grace alonelegalism
Excessive adherence to rules
ritual observance · self-righteousness · good deeds · moralism · obedience
grace alonesynergism
Combined effect exceeding individual contributions
self-reliance · free will · bootstrapping · self-help · pull yourself up
grace, alone, graces, graced, gracing, graceful, gracefully, gracefulness, graceless