Lordship salvation

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Lordship salvation is a teaching in Christian theology which maintains that good works are a necessary consequence of being declared righteous before God. The doctrine of lordship salvation is that Jesus cannot be considered a person's savior (that is, bringer of salvation) without simultaneously being lord of the person's life, which is demonstrated by the gradual purification from sin and the exercising of good works (for instance, caring for widows and orphans, James 1:27). The teaching is advocated in many of the creeds of Protestantism, but is not universally accepted. Advocates and opponents of the doctrine within Protestantism agree that acceptance before God is by faith alone through grace alone, but they differ on the necessary consequences of that justification in the individual's life.

Lordship salvation came to the forefront in the late 20th century when Calvinistic evangelical John F. MacArthur argued against the doctrine of carnal Christianity in his book The Gospel According to Jesus (ISBN 0-310-39491-0).

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[edit] Opposition

Some evangelicals such as Charles Stanley, Norman Geisler, Zane Hodges, and Bill Bright have denied the doctrine, teaching instead a doctrine they call free grace that posits that salvation is a gift of divine grace whereby the recipient is declared righteous before God on account of Jesus' atonement and righteous life. Because this gift is bestowed irrespective of the deeds of the individual (as even advocates of Lordship salvation believe), they believe the receiver of the gift cannot do anything to undo what God has done, even by sinning flagrantly and habitually without repentance. Thus, the gift of salvation in this understanding results in a form of eternal security apart from any change in behavior.

This view is also sometimes called carnal Christianity because those who live carnally (in biblical terms, "indulging the flesh", that is living in gross, habitual sin) and show no "fruit" (that is, no evidence of a converted heart) are nonetheless to be assured they are saved because God has granted them salvation and they have accepted it. It is also called cheap grace by critics. By way of comparison, proponents of Lordship salvation claim that true salvation necessarily produces a desire for sanctification and living a righteous life. For them, it is not a matter of undoing what God has done, but of following the natural desires of the truly regenerated heart, and if those desires are not present, then it is evidence that the person is not truly saved.

At least some Christians who teach free grace also believe that sanctification will be an inevitable part of every Christian's life. Charles Caldwell Ryrie, wrote a book entitled So Great Salvation, which is an apology for the free grace viewpoint. In it he says "Every Christian will bear spiritual fruit. Somewhere, sometime, somehow. Otherwise that person is not a believer. Every born-again individual will be fruitful. Not to be fruitful is to be faithless, without faith, and therefore without salvation."

So it appears that the differences between these two views are more subtle than they might appear at first. Many of the opponents of Lordship Salvation disagree more with the proponents' attitudes and usage of Scripture than they do with the actual conclusions of the proponents.

For instance, Lordship Salvation proponents will often quote Romans 2:14 in support of thier view. This verse says "for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified," and on the surface certainly seems to side with Lordship Salvation. However, proponents of free grace point out that the context of Romans 2 is the setting up of a world in which no man can please God and be justified before Him, and thus Paul then goes on in chapter 3 to point out our need for Christ's atonement. Basically, the Lordship view sees Romans 2 as referring to the sanctification process, whereas the free grace view sees this as referring to the lost state of man.

[edit] Biblical passages

Several Bible passages are frequently mentioned in the debate over Lordship salvation (all quotations from the NIV):

  • John 14:15: "If you love me [Jesus], you will obey what I command."
  • Hebrews 12:14b: "Without holiness no one will see the Lord."
  • Ephesians 5:5: "For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."
  • 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."
  • James 2:14,17: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ...faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
  • 1 Peter 1:15-16: "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'"
  • 1 John 2:3-6: "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."
  • Romans 8:5-8: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
  • 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Advocates of free grace understand all of these quotations (with the possible exception of 2 Corinthians 5:17) have a context in which the author is admonishing unfaithful but truly saved people to live their lives as an example to others, and advocates of Lordship salvation add that these passages appear to unequivocally demand sanctification, or "holiness", as an essential part of being a follower of Christ.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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