There were five principles that have been drawn from the heart of the teachings of the Reformers. While some will look at John Calvin and what is known as Calvinism and think that those principles would be the so-called “five points of Calvinism,” they are simply wrong. The five points of the Reformation are the real heart of Christianity and without them, even if one is a five point Calvinist; the real points of the Reformation have been missed. These are the vital issues of Christianity.
Soli Deo Gloria: (to God alone be the glory)
This point is at the heart of the Reformation and the Bible. This is the essence and core of why God created anything at all and of all biblical theology. While this point is last in many lists, it will be listed first here. It will be listed first because the other four points of the Reformation flow from it. The focus of this point is that all must be done to the glory of God and all that God does is for His own glory. This point flows from the Great Commandment in which all are commanded to love God with all of their beings. This flows from the command given in I Corinthians 10:31 where we are told this: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” This reflects the cry of the Psalmist when he prayed: “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory” (115:1). When we look at the whole of Scripture, it tells us to know that we were created for the glory of God and that all we do is sin if it is not for the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in order that it may be to the glory of God alone. We are sanctified by grace in order that we may live in a way that manifests the glory of God. This principle is the heartbeat of Scripture and should be the heartbeat of all true believers. Several catechisms reflect this in different ways when we are told that the main purpose and goal of man is to glorify God.
All of biblical theology when seen in its truth is seen to flow from the God of all glory who in His holiness seeks the manifestation of His own glory. As Jonathan Edwards set out in his magnificent work The End for Which God Created the World, what other end could God have had in creating anything at all? If we could look back into eternity past and imagine that there was nothing but God, we can ask why God would have created anything at all. Would God have created the world for the benefit of beings that He would bring into being at a later point? Did God have a greater being to create for? Did God have a being more worthy than Himself to create for? Did God have another being that He should love more than Himself? The obvious answer to all of those questions is a simple and emphatic “no.” God is holy and will do nothing that is not for His own glory. God would have created only with the most noble and holy of reasons and that would be His own glory.
Since there is only one reason for why God would have created anything at all, it is easy to see the purpose of man in all that he is and does. We can see the primary motive and purpose of the Bible as it is the revelation of God in His glory and how man is to live for the glory of God. The fall of man is away from sin and man’s attempt to find a purpose and reason in life apart from the glory of God. The Gospel is all about how God saves and restores man to his original purpose in living for His glory in the Gospel of the glory of God. The Scripture speaks of the Gospel as a message that is saturated with the glory of God and how it comes to man as that. While man has tried to change the Gospel message to be primarily about man, the Scripture knows nothing of a so-called gospel like that.
When men get away from the Gospel of the glory of God (II Corinthians 4:4-6; Ephesians 1:2-14; I Timothy 1:11) it becomes a statement of man’s worth and inherent goodness. But the true Gospel shows that God saves to the manifestation of the glory of His name and not man’s. Sanctification flows from how one perceives the Gospel. If the Gospel comes to man as a statement of man’s worth, then sanctification should be motivated by similar motives. However, if the Gospel comes to man as a declaration of the glory of God and as a way that man may be restored to live for the glory of God both now and in eternity, then sanctification is all about the glory of God. If the Gospel itself shines forth the glory of God and renews and restores man to where God may glorify Himself through man, then all must be done to the glory of God. That is what happened in the Reformation. A Gospel that was centered on God was restored and lives that focused on the glory of God were restored. In this, therefore, man joins the purpose of God by singing and living in a way where it is Soli Deo Gloria or to God alone be the glory.
God Loves... Himself 
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