Lordship v Saviorship Salvation

Amen brother Greg,Christ is not divided up into little parcels we can pick and choose which ones we want to take. He is the Saviour and He is Lord.He Saves us and enters us to reign.Graftedbranch

GraftedbranchI think you may have not copied and pasted what you meant to paste. That is from another post that you commented on. ;-)

This post reminds of something my pastor said last night.You can see Jesus in 3 ways, you need all 3. Usually you will see Him in this order. Jesus is your Prophet. He proclaims to you Truth. Then you accept Him as:the High Priest. He is the One who offered up Himself and contiually interceeds on your behalf. Then He is:The King. He is Lord over you life. I thought that was pretty good. It seems to usually be in that order too. You hear the Word, then accept it, and then live for Him.

I think you may have not copied and pasted what you meant to paste. That is from another post that you commented on. Yes, you are right. Sorry. I have edited it and removed the errant "quote"Graftedbranch

There is just the gospel of Christ. There is not a "Lordship Gospel" in the bible nor is there an "easy believism Gospel. Just the Gospel.The difficulty with the "Easy believism" gospel is that it seems to imply that all that is needed in mental ascent to the facts of Christ's dying for our sin and resurrecting to be saved.The Difficulty with the "Lordship Salvation" gospel is that it is usually presented in such a way that one has the impression that in order to recive forgiveness of sins and be regenerated, one must turn one's life around and commit to a life of Living by the Law. It would seem the firmness of our conversion is determined by the firmness of our resolve. It is not repentance toward God but rather repentance toward a commitment to living a certian kind of way. It is almost as if God says, "I know you can't but you need to commit to trying"One leaves you with no life. The other presents you with Life but places before you a requirement which you have no capicity to fulfill. It sets you on a course you later have to repent of. That is trying to live by the law in the strenth of your determination to please God.The Gospel of Christ brings Christ into us who is the Lord and He reigns through His Spirit. His reign is inward and by Life, not outward by imposing the law. The Spirit writes His laws into our heart. He brings into us His holy LIfe and His holy nature which issues in a life that is pleasing to God. Surely we have to cooperate with Him but it is His Life that produces both the willing and the doing of his good pleasure.I can't live by the strenth of my commitment. I have to turn to the Lord every day and seek Grace and seek His work in me."If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved."The attitude of heart which genuinly recieves the Lord is one who is convicted of their sin and lost condition and confesses, "Lord I have no capacity to live the Chistian Life, Lord help. Lord Save. And the Living Lord regenerats him and brings His eternal Saving Life into Him and from there he begins His reign and the process of sanctification."For we ought to thank God always for you brothers, beloved of the Lord, because He has selected you unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth; to which He also called you unto the obtaining of the glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ."Graftedbranch

It is almost as if God says, "I know you can't but you need to commit to trying"I know you can't... can't what? Can't repent and live a holy life? I know that you cannot be any holier than the blood, but you have to take up your cross. That is a voluntary action. You take it... We have volition. We have a choice whether to sin or not to sin. Holiness (or Him being Lord over your life) is not a set of rules. Yes there are many black and white issues, but its not a set of rules a man follows, it’s that if he is really born again he will do those "rules", even though to that born again man it is not seen as "rules" but as simply pleasing his Lord by walking in constant fellowship, worship, and obedience to Him.

In addition to...John 3:16 says "that whoever believes in Him shall not perish."The verse does not say, "whoever believes Him shall not perish." Rather, there is a specific preposition there, "whoever believes IN Him."We can't just believe Christ. We need to do more. We need to believe in Him. Believing in Christ is to accept Him as truth. We need to accept Him into our heart, not our head. This cannot be accomplished by reading the bible, or by knowing the meaning of mercy. It is not a matter of works either. Faith is a matter of the heart. Whatever person has said, "I believe this with all my mind." Sure, the facts may seem logical, but to accept Christ is to believe in Him. Jesus was a free gift from God. We did nothing to deserve Him. Rather, we do not deserve Him. And yet, God took favor upon us and gave us His son. This gift is not something we can work for. There is no proving of oneself. Rather, Jesus is available to everyone who is willing to call out to Him in humility. Has Jesus ever turned anyone away? Yes, in order to recieve salvation it must come from Christ. You cannot recieve any other way. And Christ is a gift whom must be accepted. Truly, Jesus is not something taken. He is sought after, asked for, requested, and recieved. He is a gift. A gift worthy of celebration and praise for all eternity. In love,Blake

Good thoughts! We also have to allow Him to be the Lord of our life. This means to die to self, which means those things that separate us from God. The pull of the carnal is very great and each of us need to recognize how our carnal nature wants to pull us away from our relationship with Him. Many are not taught this as they are taught that mere belief or a head knowledge is sufficient. Therefore, they never realize the depth to which they can really experience Christ as Lord.

Romans 10:9-10 if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. There is no receiving Jesus as Savior then later receiving Him as Lord. Jesus is a person! You can't receive part of Him. It's all or nothing.

I know you can't... can't what? Can't repent and live a holy life? I know that you cannot be any holier than the blood, but you have to take up your cross. That is a voluntary action. You take it... We have volition. We have a choice whether to sin or not to sin.Brother, I think here our difference is you see Christ as Lord "over" our life. Which in my mind is a sort of Picture of Christ in the heavens ruling with a rod of iron and demanding we act and behave in a certian way.Rather what I see in scripture and my own experience of Christ is that He reigns in us as Life. That is He is within us. He transforms us from within as we love Him, grow in Him, and "grow up in all things into Christ who is the Head out from whom the whole body grows with the growth of God...".Christ is Lord and he comes into us as Lord. But the key here is 'comes into us". He comes in to reign from within us. He sanctifies us by the Spirit thrugh the Word and He grows in us and gains more and more Ground in us. This is the reality of the Kingdom of God today. it's manifestation will be in the comming age when Christ will indeed rule the nations with a rod of Iron. But today He reigns from withus as the Life Giving Spirit. Can we repent and live a Holy life? Is that the call of the Gospel? Or is it, "repent and believe into the Lord Jesus Christ?To repent toward God is to repent of an independant Life from God. It is to repent of a life centered in Self and our own rightousness and our oun way to embracing Christ as our indwelling Life and turning to a dependant Life.Can we live a Holy Life? Only by the Indwelling Holy One who imparts His life into us and form's Christ in us and conforms us to His image."We all with open face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the Glory of the Lord and being transformed into the same Imange from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom." (2 cor 3)It is the Spirit whithin us who transforms us into the same image as we behold the Lord with an unveiled face.We can choose not the drink, smoke or chew or run around with girls who do... But this does not make us holy. We can meet with the church, go to hear sermons, and do all the right things in an outward way but this does not make us holy. We cannot of ourselves produce holiness. Only God is holy and only by our living by Christ who lives within us is God's holiness worked into our being and we express God as the Holy One.Graftedbranch

Brother, I think here our difference is you see Christ as Lord "over" our life. Which in my mind is a sort of Picture of Christ in the heavens ruling with a rod of iron and demanding we act and behave in a certian way.Jesus is Lord over my life. Jesus is Lord in my life. Jesus is Lord through my life. Jesus is my Savior. Jesus is my King. I don't see him lop-sided as just over me. He is in me too. I honestly don't see him as a hard taskmaster at all. All I'm saying is that if you love him you will keep his commandments. If you don't love him you will not. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, but of course we can't forgot that charity if the end of the commandment. We need a balance. He is the lover of your soul, but don't forget he is also the judge of your soul.

Jesus is Lord over my life. Jesus is Lord in my life. Jesus is Lord through my life. Jesus is my Savior. Jesus is my King. Amen brotherGraftedbranch