sola gratia: Latin for “grace alone,” this term is a catchphrase for the
characteristic Protestant insistence that believers are saved simply by God’s
grace, without any contribution of their own merits.
sola scriptura: Latin for “scripture alone,” this term is a catchphrase for
the Protestant conviction that no teaching is binding on the conscience
as necessary for salvation except what is taught (explicitly or by clear
implication) in scripture.
soteriology: From the Greek word for “salvation,” this technical term refers
to the part of theology concerned with the nature of salvation.
Stoics: An ancient school of philosophy which taught that the life of wisdom
and happiness consisted of living by reason without passions—a radical
version of the most common form of moralism in the ancient world. The
Stoics were also materialists, believing that both God and the soul were
made of living ¿ re.
subordinationism: This view of the Trinity was widespread before the
Council of Nicaea, according to which the preexistent Logos or word of
God (prior to the Incarnation) is a divine intermediary between God and the
creation, an intelligible image of the incomprehensible God, but existing at a
lower and more understandable level.
subtlety: In medieval theology, a quality of glori¿ ed human bodies after the
resurrection, which means they can enter or pass through another body like
¿ re or air. (See agility, clarity, and impassibility.)
successionism: The view of Baptist history advocated by Landmarkism,
according to which the Baptist churches of today can trace their roots through
an unbroken succession of Baptist churches going back to the Baptism
of Jesus.
superessential: (See hyperousios.)