Salvation is of the Lord
Introduction
The issue of lordship salvation has turned into a rather controversial issue over the years. The predominant issue of it all stems from a very real disagreement over true faith. Through this paper, this author will try to prove the pro-lordship position as stated in Scripture. This paper will prove what lordship salvation is not, what its biggest questions are, and what it actually is. This is not a simple doctrinal statement that can be brushed aside as an irrelevant issue with no bearing on the soteriological landscape. This author will prove that this issue is relevant and important.
What Lordship is Not and Its Common Grounds.
While advocates of either belief will rally around conflicting points, it must be understood that there are some meeting grounds for the two. They are as follows:
1. The death of Christ and its redeeming eternality in salvation.
2. Justification through faith in Christ alone.
3. Sinful man cannot gain the favor of a righteous God.
4. God requires no preparatory works or pre-salvation reformation.
5. Eternal life is a gift.
6. Believers are saved before their faith produces any righteous works.
[1] John F. MacArthur Jr, Faith Works: The Gospel According to the Apostles, (Dallas, London, Vancouver, Melbourne: Word Publishing, 1993,) 26.
That is where the similarities end for both camps. The following are points that only the advocates of non-lordship hold to:
1. Repentance is a change of mind about Christ. Repentance in regards to the gospel invitation is nothing more than a synonym for faith. No turning from sin, no pursuing of righteousness is necessary.
2. Salvation as a whole is a gift of God. Faith might not last though. A true Christian can completely cease believing.
3. Saving faith is simply being convinced or giving credence to the truth of the gospel. It is a confidence that Christ can remove guilt and give eternal life, not a personal commitment to Him.
4. Some spiritual fruit is inevitable in every Christian’s experience. The fruit, however, might not be visible to others. Christians can lapse into a state of permanent spiritual barrenness.
5. Only the judicial aspects of salvation such as justification, adoption, imputed righteousness, and positional sanctification are guaranteed in this life for believers. Practical sanctification and growth in grace require a post-conversion act of dedication.
6. Submission to Christ’s supreme authority as Lord is not germane to the saving transaction. Neither dedication nor willingness to be dedicated to Christ are issues in salvation. The news that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead is the complete gospel. Nothing else must be believed for salvation.
7. Christians may fall into a state of lifelong carnality. A category of “carnal Christians,” or Christians who live in the church are born again despite their worldly living. This then gives rise to the spiritually indifferent and the “Sunday Christians” who sit on their pews every Sunday morning and do nothing for Christ.
8. Disobedience and prolonged sin are no reason to doubt the reality of one’s faith.
9. A believer may utterly forsake Christ and come to the point of not believing. God has guaranteed that He will not disown those who thus abandon the faith. Those who have once believed are secure forever, even if they turn away.[1]
Now that the similarities and differences have been presented, this author will now do his best to tackle every issue.
The Big Questions
As can be seen, there are major doctrinal issues at stake here. Gospel accuracy must be held in high regard. The issue of lordship is not a battle over works plus faith salvation or faith only. If a biblically illiterate man is stuck in a room with a Bible and told to read through the gospels literally, he would come out of that room knowing that salvation is works free.
As stated earlier, this is a battle over what faith really equates to. The non-lordship follower believes that “faith in Christ” is merely a belief in a set of facts about Christ.
Lordship salvation does not teach that Christians are perfect. No true Christian would ever think this. The key issue is that obedience rather than disobedience becomes the defining trait in the life of the believer. It is a matter of imitation and emulation (Rom 8:29), not just reception and appreciation. Christians will sometimes do what they do not want to do.[2] Christian’s will fail in attempts to live perfectly (Phil 3:12-15). That is a fact of flesh. God will chasten and, if the believer is truly born again, will change his ways (Heb 12:5-11).[3] One has but to look at the lives of these men in the Bible. Abraham failed many times but as God worked in his life he changed into a spiritual stalwart. Jacob began his life as a trickster and deceiver and slowly but surely his life changed towards a theocentric lifestyle.
The main issue in lordship salvation is most assuredly not the role the sinner plays in the salvific process. The crux of the issue is the extent of God’s redemption of the elect. Rebirth (John 3:3, 7; 1 Pet 1:3, 23), freedom from bondage in sin (Rom 6:6), partakers of God’s divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), being a new creature (2 Cor 5:17), being a slave of righteousness (Rom 6:18) are all wrapped up in this. God’s work in salvation begins with His elective decision and ends with glory.[4]
The question lies not with the fact that Christians are saved by grace. The question is what role does that grace play in their salvation?
When it comes to the issue of grace, it must be known that grace is not just a license to sin. Grace is the present and determinable work of God in your life.[5] Jesus wants His children to be a people of His possession predestined to fulfill and perform His specific works for them (Eph 2:10; Titus 2:14). John MacArthur states, “Grace that does not affect one’s behavior is not the grace of God.”[6] This can only give the “Christian” the idea of doing whatsoever they wish because God will grant His grace anyway.
Repentance is integral to the gospel (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30). True Christians will respond to this call for repentance.[7] What is the point in a man raising his spiritual flag of allegiance to Christ if he himself is unwilling to change his lifestyle? The reborn Christian is called to go out and act and live righteously. This is a matter of godliness! This is a matter of holiness! This is a matter of doing the will of God and doing what is acceptable and good and true because God says it is right (Acts 26:20)! The natural and driving bent of man is and always will be for evil. God wants no part of the “carnal Christian.” Paul Washer once said, “If you really are a child of God, then He will break you down into a million pieces and remake you into His image, and HE WILL NOT SHARE YOU WITH THE EARTH AND ITS VANITIES!”
Proponents of non-lordship rally around the fact that the teaching of repentance adds to biblical doctrines of salvation something that is not there. If the enemies of God cannot be His children, how can they be His sans repentance (Rom. 5:10)? Even in Scripture wherever repentance is not directly stated, it is most assuredly implied in salvation. John MacArthur states, “If someone is walking away from you and you say ‘Come here,’ it is not necessary to say ‘Turn around and come.’ The U-turn is implied.”
It must be clearly understood that the Epistles most definitely do not teach a gospel different from the one of Jesus Himself. A faith that is not lazy, but lively; it is a repentant, submissive, believing, persevering faith that works.[8]
One of the biggest discussion points posed by the proponents of non-Lordship is the belief that Christians must live perfect lives if they subscribe to the lordship position. As stated before, this is a matter of imitation and emulation. All Christians fail. Some fail horribly. But all Christians seek to, and do, obey. It is a matter of a genuine heartfelt desire to do that which is right.
Lord willing, this has made sense to the reader. The similarities of the lordship and non-lordship stances have been expressed. The questions posed by the proponents of non-lordship have been answered in a detailed way hopefully. From here, this author will now move on to describe exactly what the lordship salvation belief is in great detail.
What Lordship Is
Lordship can best be defined as a beckoning of faith from the gospel whose prerequisite demands sinners must repent of sin and kneel before Christ. God follows His gift of faith(the instrument of our justification) with the gift of persevering faith and repentance(the fruit of justification).[9]
Faith is belief IN Christ, not faith ABOUT Christ. This faith is not in facts about Christ but rather faith in His person as both Lord and Savior. This author holds very strongly onto Rom.10:9 as a flagship verse for the defense of this belief for it speaks not only of a verbal acknowledgment of Jesus’ lordship since even demons believe that. What it is asking for is a surrendering of the will and a commitment to following the sovereignty of Christ. All wrapped up in this verse is the soteriological belief of repentance, faith in Jesus for salvation, and submission to Him as Lord.[10]
The next step in understanding lordship salvation is learning the key foundations or tenets to it. They consist of the inseparable nature of justification and sanctification, the special and incredibly unique nature of true faith, and the massive payment for salvation.
First, sanctification is a progressive process where the believer emulates Christ more and more. All those truly saved will over time become more and more sanctified. Though never perfect here, lordship believes that the believer will persevere.
The union between saving faith and works that justify it are most intricate. This then, proceeding in logic from the preceding statements, would say that faith without works is not true salvation (James 2:26).
The freedom of salvation is just as amazing as how costly it is. Just as Abraham sacrificed his will, wisdom, and self-centeredness on Isaac’s altar on Mount Moriah, so also must the believer take up his cross and follow Jesus, dying to self, and living for the glory and furthering of Christ. This payment is not meant to discourage man but rather to encourage. Count the cost! If it is true then a person’s service will most surely be joyous.
This is lordship salvation. “A faith that, in the New Testament, was not an intellectual assent, but rather a moral element of personal trust.”[11]
Conclusion
Is this issue relevant? Yes it is. Any doctrinal stand regarding the salvation process is immensely important. Is Jesus Lord of the Christian’s life? If He is truly a believer then the answer must clearly be yes! Why then would that fact of lordship be any different through the conversion process? There is no difference. Can believers sin in their spiritual priorities? Yes, Christians can place things before Christ. The factor that sets true Christians apart though is the integral traits of obedience and repentance. Repentance in conversion, and repentance during conversion, is a staple of this belief.
This author prays that the pro-lordship side of salvation was accurately presented, and that no harmful or “well-poisoning” was done towards the non-lordship camp. Is the Christian’s faith directed at the actions of Christ? Or is it directed at the character of Christ and who Christ is as a person?
What the issue comes down to is this:
Lordship Christians are not perfect, do not hold the key to their salvation, are changed by the workings of God’s grace in their lives, and a repentance at and after conversion.
Rom 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord…
John 3:16b “…that whosoever believeth in Him…”
Time to evaluate; Is Jesus Lord or license?
[1] Ibid., 27-28.
[2] Ibid., 30
[3] Ibid., 31
[4] Ibid., 32
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid., 33
[7] Anthony A. Hoekema, Saved by Grace (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wm. B. Eerdsmans Publishing Company, 1989), 71
[8] John MacArthur., Faith Works, 35.
[9] Michael S. Horton, Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1992), 20.
[10] John MacArthur. The MacArthur Study Bible, NASB-U (La Habra, California: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 1680.
[11] Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: MI: Zondervan Publishing, 2000), 710.
The repentance issue is the biggest problem for me. Nowhere in the Bible does it say to repent "of sin" for salvation. To me, that phraseology would strictly imply a work. Why wash your hands before taking a shower? Christ cleanses.
ReplyDeleteThe three references in Acts you brought up-- 2:38, 3:19, 17:30-- all seem to suggest a changing of mind, or perspective, to embrace Christ. 3:19-- "turn to God" (NIV), "turn again" (ESV). 17:30-- Greek "metanoeo" means to "think differently" or "reconsider" (Strong's). Coupled with faith, repentance is a moving of one's heart and mind to fully receive Jesus.
That said, I do believe, as Martin Luther said, all of a Christian's life is one of repentance. This physical acting out of the righteous Christian life is something that we do once we are enabled to live victoriously by the Holy Spirit. We cannot say that these things make us saved or even prove that we are saved-- our trust is in the blood shed on the Cross.
That's the main spot where I would disagree here.
That's interesting that Strong's says that. My definition of that same word that I had was "to change your purpose." Again repentance is a shift in lifestyle, and repentance is a step one takes in finally pursuing Christ.
ReplyDelete"If we confess our sins he faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9
Seems to say that God's forgiveness of our sins cleanses us and brings us into/restores fellowship, which I believe to be accurately stated in my paper.