Lordship Salvation?

Steven R. Cook

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

Galatians 2:16 Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”

Salvation comes by grace alone (Eph. 2:8-10), through faith alone (Gal. 2:16), in Christ alone (Acts 4:12).  Grace alone means God treats us better than we deserve, and He demonstrated this by providing His Son Jesus as an acceptable substitutionary atonement on our behalf. Faith alone means we accept God’s provision of salvation simply by trusting in Christ as our savior. In Christ alone means that salvation is completely the work of Jesus on our behalf, and we do nothing to add to His work. That salvation is completely the work of Christ is the primary truth that drives a stake into the heart of the lordship salvation issue.

Once a sinner believes in Christ for salvation, God gives him eternal life (Jo. 10:28), and imputes His righteousness to him (2 Cor. 5:21). This is important, because the sinner is declared righteous not because of any efforts of His own, but solely because of the finished work of Christ on his behalf (Rom. 4:5; Tit. 3:5). To be clear, salvation is never what we do for God, but rather, what God has done for us based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. Faith does not save, Jesus saves; faith is merely the means by which we receive that salvation. If we must make Jesus Lord in our life in order to be saved, then the emphasis shifts away from what Jesus did for us to save us, to what we do for God to save ourselves and keep ourselves saved until we die. Lordship salvation means we will forever be looking to ourselves as the focus of our faith, wondering if we are good enough, and if we’ve truly been saved. Such a life will never produce assurance of salvation, because one might go his entire life living God’s word as best he can, and then fall into sin, even for a moment, and think himself lost because the fruit of his life does not reflect the lordship of Christ. Does your faith rest in what God did for you by providing salvation through the work of the cross? Or does it rest on your ability to live out the Christian life? The former produces confidence, whereas the latter produces uncertainty and fear.

I would distinguish between faith in God that leads to salvation, and faith in the Scriptures that leads to Christian growth. A sinner is justified before God by a single act of faith that occurs in a moment of time when he believes in Jesus as his Savior, whereas the Christian is sanctified over his lifetime as he learns God’s word and lives His will. It is possible for a person to believe in Christ resulting in salvation, and then go negative to God’s Word and thereby not experience Christian growth, and therefore, no fruit. Please understand, fruit is the product of growth over time as the believer lives God’s word every day by faith (Matt. 4:4; 1 Cor. 2:6-3:4; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Heb. 5:13-14; 1 Pet. 2:2). Of course, this assumes that one has time to grow, and does not die shortly after salvation like the thief who was crucified next to Jesus.

If we spend our lives as fruit inspectors trying to determine who is and is not saved, we will find ourselves in a bit of a quandary because every believer in the Bible demonstrates sin, whether it is Moses who killed an Egyptian; or David having sex with Bathsheba and then killing her husband Uriah; or Peter denying the Lord three times; or Thomas doubting the resurrection, etc. One has only to read through the letter to the church at Corinth to realize that “saints” can act as worldly as any unsaved person.

The arguments for lordship salvation quickly fall apart as one reads through the Bible and considers the lives of saints who engaged in every form of sin, and yet never lost their salvation. Of course, when believers turn away from the Lord and practice sin, they also bring upon themselves the most awful divine discipline, and may even face a terrible death by the hand of the Lord for their rebellion (1 Sam. 16:14-16; Acts 5:1-5; 1 Cor. 5:1-5; 11:27-30; 1 Jo. 5:16-17). Sin is never a light issue in the life of the believer, and certainly his lifestyle does not glorify God. However, we must be careful not to change or diminish the gospel message, which is one of pure grace based on the finished work of Christ. Salvation is of the Lord, and nothing man does can add or detract from that truth.