The Trouble with "Lordship Salvation" - Eli Brayley

(paragraphs edited for easier reading)

I have come to be convinced that the whole point of Christianity is knowing God the Father through Jesus Christ, and in that knowledge we find salvation and rest, peace and eternal life, because through Christ crucified we learn that God is a God of grace.

This grace is righteous, and is expressed at the cross where both God's wrath against us and His amazing love for us come to a head. This is the place of the revelation of the Father through Christ, and if we have seen Him we have seen the Father, and that is enough.

I am greatly grieved over the so-called Lordship preaching that is so common throughout the Christian church, and such preachers completely fail to communicate what Christianity is to their hearers. These men have made faith and obedience indistinguishable, and in so doing they are making Christianity indistinguishable from every other religion.

Many would argue this point, but even though our religion may have its own distinctive facts, like the virgin birth of Jesus, and Jesus walking on water, and the resurrection, and the second coming of Christ the King, if we lose the message of the gospel of grace we are essentially no different than the other religions, which are all based upon works-based righteousness.

What makes the gospel the gospel is that it is the good news of what God has done for us sinners, and we are called to believe that news and have rest and peace in believing. The gospel is the revelation of righteousness through faith alone (Rom. 1:16-17) which alone reveals to us the love of God for us (Rom. 5:8).

Before I was born again I believed in the fact that Jesus had died on the cross for my sins, but I didn't understand the meaning of that fact, and I thought that He did what He did so that if I obeyed His commandments and lived rightly, then I would partake in His salvation. I believed exactly like these preachers, but I was lost, and was full of guilt. I wasn't believing the truth, for the truth sets you free. It was not until I understood the meaning of the death of Christ that I finally had peace with God and received the assurance that I had eternal life.

It wasn't until I understood that God sent Christ to die for me while I was a sinner, and that the work of redemption was finished, and that God had forgiveness for me as a sinner, that my guilt instantly left me. It was not until I understood that God's heart was full of grace for me, that I believed in His goodness and found rest.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9) Notice this verse doesn't explicitly mention either Jesus Christ or the cross. That is because the cross of Christ is found inside the word grace. We are saved by grace (that is, the undeserved love of God for sinners expressed in the redeeming death of Jesus Christ for our sins), through faith.

Faith is not what saves us, but it is the means through which the grace of God saves me. I think it was Spurgeon who likened it to swallowing: my hunger is not alleviated by swallowing, but through swallowing. It is by food that I am filled, through swallowing. If I don't swallow the food I will never be filled, but I can swallow all day without food and nothing will happen.

Thus it is the object of our faith that makes all the difference, and when I have faith in the right object (the grace of God), then it, the object, saves me. The object of our faith - what we are believing as Christians - is that Christ died for our sins and rose again, and that what this reveals is the forgiving heart that God has for sinners. It tells us that God is love, what kind of love it is, and thus we believe and rest in God.

Paul explicitly denies that work has anything to do with the means of salvation; and of course it doesn't, if the above is the whole point. The moment you require any work to be done in order to receive salvation, you have unwittingly changed everything. It is no longer about us looking to see who God is, but it is then about God looking to see who we are. Of course, the lesson of the law is that when God looks to see who is good, He finds no one. All this amounts to a line from a song: "We don't need religion... we could use the love of God."

Christ calls us to come unto Him and rest. He calls us to believe in Him, and in so doing, to believe in the Father (John 12:44). The trouble with Lordship salvation doctrine is that it sends people away looking to themselves and what they need to do in order to be saved, rather than to believing in the Father and what He has done for them through Jesus Christ.

As truly right as it is to serve God (for this is what the law requires), Christ shows us that the gospel is ultimately about God serving us, and not us serving God. Sounds blasphemous, but Christ said to a man who felt that way: "If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with me."

This man then said, "Give me the full treatment!" The gospel leads to us serving God, but it itself is about God serving us. God came into the world, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. For those who see God, they cannot help but worship and adore Him. But that worship is only inspired when we see that God loved us and gave Himself for us, not when we think otherwise.

"Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood... to Him be glory and honor and dominion and power forever and ever!" It is the sight of the slain Lamb that does this. Why did the woman serve Christ, by washing His feet with her tears?

It was because "he that is forgiven much loves much." She was not serving Him in order to be forgiven. She was serving Him, spontaneously and deeply, because she could not stop thinking about how beautiful Christ was, to love and forgive an unworthy sinner like her.

But what about taking up your cross? This, I am convinced, has nothing to do with the proverbial "Die to self" mantra that is so often heard in cultural Christian circles. The common idea is that Jesus is speaking spiritually, and we need to say "no" to our sinful desires and "yes" to obedience. I believe this devotional interpretation of Christ's words is a product of our western culture, where for the most part Christians don't experience much persecution from their families and communities.

But Jesus was actually crucified, and He promised that the world would likewise hate you on account of Him. "They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time will come when whoever kills you will think they are doing God a service: and this they will do, because they do not know the Father, nor me." (John 16:2-3) It is real persecution that Christ has in view when He tells us that we must take up our cross if we are going to follow Him.

By believing in the grace of God, the world will despise you, ridicule you, and even kill you. How interesting that it is the religious world that Christ has in view: they are those who do not know the Father, but think that salvation is all ultimately about serving God and obeying the law. Challenge that idea, and watch the story of Cain and Abel unfold again. Therefore, Christ forewarns, if you believe in me you, be prepared to lose family members, friends, and maybe even your own life; but it is worth it. Take up your cross and follow me.

It is the gospel itself, the grace of God, the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins through faith alone, that gives us peace and provokes the animosity of the world. We must not allow ourselves to miss the point, and fail to see what Christianity is all about.

If we add anything to being saved beside simple faith in Jesus Christ, we not only will find ourselves with a religion no different than all the rest, but we will have lost the true knowledge of God, and eternal life. So everything is at stake.

http://www.timothyministry.com/2011/11/trouble-with-lordship-salvation.html

please as well: http://www.timothyministry.com/2011/12/antinomianism.html

Quote: "These men have made faith and obedience indistinguishable, and in so doing they are making Christianity indistinguishable from every other religion."

Actually Faith and Obedience are absoluely linked.

See Acts 6:7; Romans 6:16; Romans 10:16; 1 Peter 4:17 as a small selection.

Not that I am promoting works salvation, oh not at all, but true faith is obedience to the gospel as our brother Frank says.

Did any of you read Eli's articles or just went right ahead and started writing your thougts?

Krispy I asked a question, so do not tell me not to judge so quickly.

Both articles read should be read:

The Trouble with "Lordship Salvation" - http://www.timothyministry.com/2011/11/trouble-with-lordship-salvation.html

Antinomianism - http://www.timothyministry.com/2011/12/antinomianism.html

I think much of the problem is the esteem of man, and just the plain fact that people want to add works to the gospel. That's why Way of the Master, "turn from your sins" to be saved, and "you can lose your salvation" gospels exist. Sad.

Eli does a good job of explaining the issues and as well there is good dialogue inthe comments section.

I guess it's too bad Eli was not a "big name preacher" or "more aged" of a man, and maybe you would listen to him.

It is clear Eli's articles were not clearly read. I encourage them to be read.

And yes, "we will account for every word at the judgment seat" - which is the very reason that every man cannot preach and speak his own gospel.

"If we add anything to being saved beside simple faith in Jesus Christ, we not only will find ourselves with a religion no different than all the rest, but we will have lost the true knowledge of God, and eternal life. So everything is at stake."

Respectfully, the problem with the above statement, as well as the article as a whole, is that "simple faith" is not defined or described in biblical terms. Yet the Bible over and over warns us about a kind of dead "faith" that does not save anyone. The Bible defines and describes saving faith as a faith that works practical righteousness in the lives of those who are truly saved.

The article did not tackle the Scriptures that declare obedience as an essential part of saving faith. It only gave an unbalanced teaching on the side of grace. It would have been more challenging if the writer would have tried to tackle and explain the meaning of such passages as James 2:14-26 where we are told that faith without works is dead.

So for the sake of readers who are struggling with whether or not obedience is an essential part of biblical Christianity, I will post that passage here:

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your[d] works, and I will show you my faith by my[e] works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?[f] 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[g]And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Here is an article written by A.W. Tozer on the subject:

No Saviorhood without Lordship

We must never underestimate the ability of human beings to get themselves tangled up.

Mankind appears to have a positive genius for twisting truth until it ceases to be truth and becomes downright falsehood. By overemphasizing in one place and underemphasizing in another the whole pattern of truth may be so altered that a completely false view results without our being aware of it.

This fact was brought forcibly to mind recently by hearing again the discredited doctrine of a divided Christ so widely current a few years ago and still accepted in many religious circles. It goes like this: Christ is both Savior and Lord. A sinner may be saved by accepting Him as Savior without yielding to Him as Lord. The practical outworking of this doctrine is that the evangelist presents and the seeker accepts a divided Christ. We have all heard the tearful plea made to persons already saved to accept Christ as Lord and thus enter into the victorious life.

Almost all deeper life teaching is based upon this fallacy, but because it contains a germ of truth its soundness is not questioned. Anyway, it is extremely simple and quite popular, and in addition to these selling points it is also ready-made for both speaker and hearer and requires no thinking by either. So sermons embodying this heresy are freely preached, books are written and songs composed, all saying the same thing; and all saying the wrong thing, except, as I have said, for a feeble germ of truth lying inert at the bottom.

Now, it seems odd that none of these teachers ever noticed that the only true object of saving faith is none other than Christ Himself; not the “saviorhood” of Christ nor the “lordship” of Christ, but Christ Himself. God does not offer salvation to the one who will believe on one of the offices of Christ, nor is an office of Christ ever presented as an object of faith. Neither are we exhorted to believe on the atonement, nor on the cross, nor on the priesthood of the Savior. All of these are embodied in the person of Christ, but they are never separated nor is one ever isolated from the rest. Much less are we permitted to accept one of Christ’s offices and reject another. The notion that we are so permitted is a modern day heresy, I repeat, and like every heresy it has had evil consequences among Christians. No heresy is ever entertained with impunity. We pay in practical failure for our theoretical errors.

It is altogether doubtful whether any man can be saved who comes to Christ for His help but with no intention to obey Him. Christ’s saviorhood is forever united to His lordship. Look at the Scriptures: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9-13). There the “Lord” is the object of faith for salvation. And when the Philippian jailer asked the way to be saved, Paul replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). He did not tell him to believe on the Savior with the thought that he could later take up the matter of His lordship and settle it at his own convenience. To Paul there could be no division of offices. Christ must be Lord or He will not be Savior.

There is no intention here to teach that the earnest believer may not go on to explore ever-increasing meanings in Christ, nor do we hold that our first saving contact with Christ brings perfect knowledge of all He is to us. The contrary is true. Ages upon ages will hardly be long enough to allow us to experience all the riches of His grace. As we discover new meanings in His titles and make them ours we will grow in the knowledge of our Lord and in personal appreciation of the multifold offices He fills and the many forms of love He wears exalted on His throne. That is the truth which has been twisted out of shape and reduced to impotence by the doctrine that we can believe on His saviorhood while rejecting His lordship.

Hi Appolus,
If Faith and obedience are two sides of the same coin then we need not worry about obedience because once we know that we are saved(faith) we will see according to Tozer"s logic obedience being their automatically.Then if reverse Tozer's Logic if we find obedience we will also find salvation.
Therefore their is no point in preaching obedience,it is their already if we are saved according to Tozer,
Yours Staff

Hi,
On the issue of Lordship Salvation,I think this is where "Ten Shekels and A shirt "goes wrong as well in my opinion.The author expects a higher degree of "salvation" from others than he originally had himself which is inconsistant.
I think the view of salvation "I am saved the day I commmit to God and am infilled with The Holy Spirit" "I am being saved in my journey with God""I will eventually be saved out of this world by the rapture or death" is accurate,
Yours Staff

Hi Appolus,
I am just disagreeing with Tozers view from what was written in the post.His logic does not carry through consistantly if he says faith and obedience are two sides of the one coin meaning that the coin is the same no matter which side you look at.
Their are a couple of definitions for that idiom as far as I can see.

I think that some people are saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit and battle all their life to be under the lordship of Christ while others from the word go have no problem with the Lordship of Christ.The problem is when the latter looks at the former and are critical and judgemental.
Yours Staff