Page "Five solae" Paragraph 10

Solus Christus is the teaching that Christ is the only mediator between God and man, and that there is salvation through no other ( hence, the phrase is sometimes rendered in the ablative case, solo Christo, meaning that salvation is " by Christ alone ").

While rejecting all other mediators between God and man, classical Lutheranism continues to honor the memory of the Virgin Mary and other exemplary saints.

This principle rejects " sacerdotalism ," which is the belief that there are no sacraments in the church without the services of priests ordained by apostolic succession under the authority of the pope.

Martin Luther taught the " general priesthood of the baptized ," which was modified in later Lutheranism and classical Protestant theology into " the priesthood of all believers ," denying the exclusive use of the title " priest " ( Latin, sacerdos ) to the clergy.

This principle does not deny the office of the holy ministry to which is committed the public proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments.

In this way, Luther in his Small Catechism could speak of the role of " a confessor " to confer sacramental absolution on a penitent.

The section in this catechism known as " The Office of the Keys " ( not written by Luther but added with his approval ) identifies the " called ministers of Christ " as being the ones who exercise the binding and loosing of absolution and excommunication through Law and Gospel ministry.

This is laid out in the Lutheran formula of holy absolution: the " called and ordained servant of the Word " forgives penitents ' sins ( speaks Christ's words of forgiveness: " I forgive you all your sins ") without any addition of penances or satisfactions and not as an interceding or mediating " priest ," but " by virtue of office as a called and ordained servant of the Word " and " in the stead and by the command of Lord Jesus Christ " Lutheran Hymnal, ( St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941 ), p. 16.

In this tradition absolution reconciles the penitent with God directly through faith in Christ's forgiveness rather than with the priest and the church as mediating entities between the penitent and God.