He sent His Son to pay the penalty of our sin. That is not free! The penalty of our sin was completely paid for in full for all eternity by Christ on the Cross Hebrews , It is impossible for us to add anything to our salvation.
It was all taken care of on the cross about 2, years ago. The fact is we are totally spiritually dead to God who has to make us spiritually alive to be saved Ephesians ; It is true that many professed Christians sputter out in their lives. That is anticipated in the parable of the sower where people have different responses to the Gospel Matthew There will be false conversions, but they would be false even if they said they submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Another issue is that when a person is born again, a new life has been implanted in their being by the Holy Spirit.
That new life will bring forth results in the form of Christian faith and virtue. We would expect professing Christians to have some Christian growth over time. He works with us on His time table, not ours cf. Philippians Consequently, this is one main problem with Lordship salvation: someone makes up a list of rules that they think people should be doing if they are really sold out to Christ.
Helen, in my opinion, as I understand the Bible, salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing. If regeneration is by faith alone, then it's not by faith and repentance. Try telling Jesus that justification and regeneration can take place in your life without repentance.
Our Lord's first sermon summed up what is necessary in order to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit: "Repent and believe the good news. And try telling the apostles that the doctrine of justification by faith makes repentance unnecessary for salvation. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter declared: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. Repentance and faith in Jesus Christ are presented in the New Testament as the only way to be converted.
After His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples that "repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations. This miracle is worked by the Holy Spirit, John ,13 and it takes place at the beginning of a person's relationship with God.
But does a believer's conversion last? The New Testament knows nothing of a "believer" in Christ who is not also a "follower" of Christ, or vice versa. Likewise, the New Testament knows nothing of a Christian who lives a perfect life of discipleship, completely free from any sinful thoughts, wrong attitudes, or spiritual shortcomings. While many Christian theologians would be quick to challenge the idea that "faith involves personal commitment to Christ," these same theologians would be quick to affirm the following statements: -Christianity involves personal commitment to Christ -Discipleship involves personal commitment to Christ -Sanctification involves personal commitment to Christ -Following Jesus involves personal commitment to Christ -Loving God involves personal commitment to Christ -Repentance involves personal commitment to Christ -Conversion involves personal commitment to Christ While one must be ready and willing to follow Christ in order to be saved, it is critical that faith not be redefined in the process.
Speaking of repentance and conversion, you might enjoy these two topics I have previously addressed: "Has God Stopped Commanding People to Repent? The grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit set this monk free.
Luther's robust teaching as a pastor and theologian regularly included his famous phrase, "What does this mean? Do modern definitions help to correctly convey and unpack the biblical teaching concerning salvation, or instead, merely cloud the Gospel and confuse the glorious doctrines of justification and sanctification? Thankfully, every Christian has received God's free grace, Eph. John While justification is secured instantaneously the moment an unbeliever repents and believes the good news, the process of sanctification on the other hand is progressive.
Justification is complete at conversion, whereas wholeheartedly submitting every thought and action to Christ's Lordship becomes a lifelong undertaking for those who follow Jesus.
Rather than adding something helpful to the biblical explanation of Christianity, the expression "Lordship salvation" turns attention away from the clear doctrinal distinctions between justification and sanctification.
Here are 4 reasons why I believe "Lordship salvation" is a misleading expression, and how redefining "faith" mingles Law and Gospel. Placing "Lordship" in front of "salvation" inadvertently implies that the miracle of the new birth lacks the power to produce a committed life of discipleship.
Saved souls bear spiritual fruit. In the genitive here, their work is accomplished in faith. Paul is not describing the moment when they first had faith, but rather the work they are accomplishing in that faith. Adding reference to labor of love and steadfastness of hope, Paul completes a symmetrical compliment of the church — they are demonstrating faith, hope, and love.
Later in the letter Paul will emphasize that the church needs growth in these areas hope, but nonetheless he offers no rebuke. Paul recounts how the Thessalonians came to that state of relative maturity.
First, they were chosen by God Then the gospel came to them by word, and in power and the Holy Spirit, and by the good example of the apostles Finally, they became imitators of Paul and of the Lord Notably Paul expects imitation from believers, not unbelievers see 1 Cor , ; Eph Further, Paul describes how they had received the word even amidst trial and joy in the Holy Spirit Acts 17 describes how the gospel came to Thessalonica, and how there was an immediate persecution of believers , and how they ultimately became an example to believers in Macedonia and Achaia The Lordship view stands in opposition to the Free Grace position by teaching that an unsaved person must believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and submit to Him as Lord or Master of his life.
They teach that believe includes submission, commitment, and obedience. Though specific biblical answers could be given see past GraceNotes , here we simply state some reasons why Lordship Salvation is so popular.
All these reasons can be reduced to one: Failure to comprehend the full riches of God's free gift of grace leads many Christians into Lordship Salvation. Their perspective implies that such grace is too good to be true, so it requires from a person either commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ to be saved, stay saved, or prove that one was ever saved. Free Grace, on the other hand, accepts the amazing and underserved nature of God's saving grace and therefore teaches that eternal life can only be received through the response of faith apart from any merit on the sinner's part.
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