Extra Nos: Word of the Week

 Extra Nos

Literally, “outside of ourselves”. The Latin term is often used in reference to the location or source of salvation as being completely external to the human being. In other words, to suggest that salvation is extra nos is to deny that salvation occurs on the basis of anything inherent in humans, whether a human act of the will or a human thought. Instead, salvation extra nos affirms that salvation is completely an act of God; that is, God freely and sovereignly bestows salvation upon a person.

To access more definitions, The Lutheran Lexicon.