LORDSHIP SALVATION? PART 1
June 19, 2019
READING TIME: 4-6 MINUTES
“Dave, what is Lordship Salvation and is it biblical? If it isn’t biblical, I’ve heard you say one of the best ways to refute wrong teaching is to ask questions of the person who holds to the teaching in question. Could you please give me some questions to ask a person who believes in Lordship salvation to encourage them to think more clearly about what they’re teaching?”
In short, “Lordship Salvation” is not biblical.
I’ll answer this question in two parts. Part 2 will include the Sources I used.
First, let’s define “Lordship Salvation.” Lordship Salvation critic Robert Lighter defines this doctrine as follows: “Lordship Salvation refers to the belief which says the sinner who wants to be saved must not only trust Christ as his substitute for sin but must also surrender every area of his life to the complete control of Christ.”
- How many conditions does an unbeliever need to submit to before they can receive salvation?
- If you don’t agree with salvation by faith alone (which the Gospel of John teaches), then how would an unbeliever know when they’ve believed? How about an unbeliever know if they have genuine faith? Do you believe a person’s works prove eternal salvation? If you do, how many works are necessary?
- What do you think saves an unbeliever, your faith, or Jesus who is the object of your faith? And if the object of your faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, saves you, shouldn’t you validate your faith only by whether it rests in Him?
- If you think repentance is other than a “change of mind,” how do you know when you’ve thoroughly repented? Since you are not conscious of every sin (cf. Leviticus 4:2; 5:15), what if some sins are overlooked and not repented of? At what point do you think you’ve adequately repented: When your attitude changes about the sin? When you resolve to change your conduct? When your conduct changes? When you make restitution or ask for forgiveness? Or when you are sure that there will be no repetition of the sin? And if repentance is not just a change of attitude but a turning from sins and a change in conduct, then why does Jesus tell people to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Luke 3:8)?
- Do you believe a believer can have an assurance of salvation? How do you know when you’re completely committed to Christ’s Lordship? How much commitment is enough to secure your salvation? Is the willingness to commit enough, or must you commit everything? How much surrender is required? How long is this surrender to last? How much fruit must this surrender produce? And how would you know what everything involves, especially as an unbeliever? Since you believe the commitments required for discipleship are also commitments needed for salvation, and they are ongoing (e.g., deny yourself, take up your cross daily, follow Jesus, abide in God’s Word, love Christ supremely, etc.), how do you know when you have fulfilled them? Because these questions are never precisely answered, the believer spends the rest of his Christian life wondering if he truly made enough of a commitment to become a Christian in the first place. Because of the believer’s potential for “backsliding,” the Christian can never really know until his dying day if he is a committed Christian. Thus, Lordship Salvation steals the joy that accompanies the knowledge that one’s eternal destiny is sealed. Many laboring under this works-oriented system ends up serving God out of a motive of fear so that they bear enough fruit to prove that they are Christians rather than serving out of a motive of worship and gratitude.
- How can you expect an unbeliever to make spiritual decisions that reflect spiritual maturity and an understanding of God’s will? Aren’t you getting the cart before the horse? If an unbeliever is dead in sin, how can that unbeliever know and desire what God wants him or her to do and obey? Isn’t knowing and obeying God’s will the essence of the Christian’s life after one believes? Aren’t you placing an impossible requirement upon the unsaved who is dead in his trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), and thus incapable of doing anything of spiritual value, such as obey, submit, forsake, and so forth? By making these other items the conditions of salvation rather than simply believing, aren’t you placing obstacles in front of the unbeliever that he or she is incapable of fulfilling?
- Have you remained completely committed to Christ’s lordship? If you haven’t, isn’t that an indication that you were never fully committed? And wouldn’t that mean you were never really saved? Or is it admission to the reality and power of sin, a reality that would make it impossible for anyone to make the full commitment demanded by your view of salvation?
- Which sins disqualify a person as a true believer? Again, is there a list of certain sins that prove one is not saved? What about King David’s sins of murder and adultery? Since he was surely saved, do sins have to be worse than his to prove one is unsaved? How much sin is a Christian capable of? Since you undoubtedly agree that Christians do sin, how much is too much before you deny he or she is a true Christian? Where do you draw the line? Why does the Bible instruct church discipline for Christians who sin?
Source UsedLightner, Robert P. Sin, the Savior, and Salvation, 202
KEY PROPONENTS OF LORDSHIP SALVATION (not a comprehensive list)
Richard P. Belcher
James Montgomery Boice
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
D.A. Carson
Walter Chantry
Kenneth L. Gentry
Wayne Grudem
William Hendriksen
John F. MacArthur, Jr.
J. I. Packer
A.W. Pink
John Piper
Charles Price
R.C. Sproul
John R.W. Stott
A.W. Tozer
Dallas Willard