Lordship of Christ

Consider This...

Theological Thoughts to Encourage the Heart & Stir the Mind ___________________________________________________

Volume I         February 2011         Issue 7

         The second attack on the Biblical teaching of redemption that we will be considering this month is the denial of Christ’s Lordship in relation to Salvation. The Lordship of Jesus Christ has been debated for many years, if not centuries. It is not an issue that is debated much among liberals, but has caused divisions among the most conservative of Believers. It is our desire in this article, to bring a clear understanding of what is meant by the Lordship of Christ.

         The Theology of Lordship Salvation is this: one, who receives Christ by the complete work of the Holy Spirit of God, cannot help but produce good works in his or her life. These actions will accompany genuine salvation. It is not a works based salvation, but a salvation that produces the desire to do good works. Knowing what Christ Jesus has done for those who believe in him, with our heart totally devoted to him, and our lives changed by repentance, we cannot help but obey his commands (his word). Because we have called upon the Lord Jesus Christ, he has saved us (Romans 10:13). Ephesians 2:10 declares that we have been saved for good works which God has prepared for us to do in advance. Therefore, faith in Christ will motivate the genuine believer to accomplish what God has laid out for him to do (Isaiah 26:12).

“Opponents of Lordship Salvation insist that such a view introduces works into the gospel and compromises grace. Faith should, but may not, produce works of obedience. According to this view, you can be a Christian without necessarily being a disciple; you can receive Jesus as Savior without necessarily submitting to him as Lord. How you live and what you believe after you profess faith in Christ has no bearing on whether you really believed in him in the first place. On this view, it is altogether possible that a born again believer may repudiate the faith, turn his back on Jesus, and become an unbeliever. However, advocates of the non-Lordship, free grace position, generally affirm eternal security. Thus heaven will receive saved unbelievers!”1

              If one can believe in Jesus and continue in the life they were living, why receive Christ (2 Cor. 5:17)? Why commit to religion (James 1:27)? There are many habitual adulterers who believe in Jesus. There are many habitual murderers who have said they believe in Jesus. Are these actually going to enter heaven and attain eternal life just because they “believe” in Jesus? The list may go on and on. In fact, a majority of us may have claimed belief in Jesus. Yet now, having been truly born again, would confirm that in the past we would have gone to hell, separated from Christ, for the reason that we were never truly saved.

         There have been many books written on The Lordship Salvation debate, both for and against it. Two authors that have written at least a couple of books on the subject are John F. MacArthur and Zane C. Hodges. Zane C. Hodges, who was an advocate for the Non-Lordship position, taught and believed “the free gift of eternal life is without cost to the believer. It comes through simply believing in Jesus Christ.”2 Hodges did not believe repentance was necessary for believing and having faith in Christ. Repentance may have been a preparatory step, but was not required to be born again. He uses the gospel of John for this argument. The gospel of John was written to unbelievers, yet John never used the word “repentance” in his book.

         “This teaching makes a mockery of Jesus’ sacrifice. Matthew 1:21 tells us that Jesus died to save us from our sin, not in our sin or with our sin.”3 John MacArthur states, “Submission to the will of God, to Christ’s lordship, and to the guiding of the Spirit is an essential, not an optional, part of saving faith.”4

         The Apostle Paul wrote of the Christian life. We are compared to a soldier (2 Timothy 2:4). We are to look at ourselves as athletes (1 Cor. 9:26). We are encouraged to live as a servant to our master (Titus 1:1). All of these examples given are positions that involve movement. They involve taking action for the one who hired or enlisted you. We cannot be given a job or task and remain idle. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:9, “those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you”(KJV). Paul did not believe you could receive Christ Jesus as Savior and not have good works follow. Nor could you live a life without Christ being the central, main source...Lord! These good works do not save you, but they show you have been saved.

         Grace through faith saves you, but it is not a dead faith as James declares (James 2:18). Everyone who showed saving faith in Christ did not continue in their sin, neither did they not act upon their belief. Mary Magdalene and Zacchaeus, the tax collector, are examples of this. In John chapter 9:38, the blind man who received his sight declared to Christ, “I believe, Lord” and he worshipped Him.

         The Non-Lordship position holds that Acts 16:31 does not declare that repentance is needed for salvation, only belief. Yet, in verse 33 of the same chapter, we read that the jailer was baptized immediately. Obedience to God followed faith in Him. The whole Word of God must be considered, not just a few verses that exclude certain words. For we see the Apostle Peter declaring in Acts 2:38,” Repent and be baptized every one of you...” Considering the whole counsel of God, it is obvious that the jailer would have repented before being baptized by Paul.

         Finally, let us look to the father of our (active, working) faith, Abraham. In Genesis 15:6 we read, “and he (Abram) believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” I believe Abraham had a working faith even before Genesis chapter 15. In Genesis 12, God called him to leave his country. In obedience, Abram left. In Genesis 12:7, after the LORD spoke to him, he built an altar to the LORD, who appeared to him. In the very next verse (8) Abram built another altar and called upon the name of the LORD. Finally in Genesis 13:18, while in Hebron, once again Abram built an altar to the LORD.

So we see from Genesis to Revelation, the whole counsel of God, that men who were genuinely saved, called of God, no longer lived and did things the way they wanted. These people were changed. The things they did, and the way they did them, lined up with how God and his word spoke to them.

         To say you have Christ and yet produce no fruit, or exhibit a changed life, proves you are a liar (1 John 2:4). To have Christ and, with the Holy Spirit leading you, produce fruits worthy of repentance, shows you have been genuinely saved and are obedient to the commands of Christ.

—Ed Delgado

1 Storms, Sam. 2011. Enjoying God Ministries. All Rights Reserved.

2 Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zane_C_Hodges. 3 http://www.christianissues.biz/lordshipsalvation.html. 4 The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Ephesians. Moody Publishers: 1986, pg. 249