I'm biased. Very biased. And I admit it. My bias puts me at odds with much of the current religious climate. You see, I'm biased towards salvation by grace, salvation by God's unmerited favor, and not by any religious rituals or personal promises.
I don't know if I've ever been fully submitted to Christ's Lordship. I desire that. But I have no way of knowing if I am or ever have been. And I don't think any Lordship folks know if they are either. Given the old man within, I'm sure I've deceived myself more than once into believing I was more committed than I was. (The flesh does have a way of flattering itself.) Really, what believer can honestly say he's one-hundred percent sold out to Christ, that every facet of his life is under Christ's lordship?
To me, salvation by surrender is a very troubling gospel, perhaps even a form of salvation by works. Instead of blatantly saying faith plus works are necessary for salvation, the Lordship gospel says a faith that works is necessary for salvation. Catch the subtle difference? Lordship advocates have a very peculiar notion of saving faith because it distorts the Biblical teaching. They define faith in terms of works, something Scripture never does. In lordship theory works and faith are so intimately and inextricably tied together that works become the heart of saving faith. Consequently, if Christ isn't Lord of all; He isn't Lord at all. Thus any believer who isn't fully consecrated to Christ (allowing of course for short-lived slip ups here and there) isn't saved. He's deceived. He's living a lie because submission and salvation are synonymous.
To me, salvation by surrender is a very troubling gospel, perhaps even a form of salvation by works. Instead of blatantly saying faith plus works are necessary for salvation, the Lordship gospel says a faith that works is necessary for salvation. Catch the subtle difference? Lordship advocates have a very peculiar notion of saving faith because it distorts the Biblical teaching. They define faith in terms of works, something Scripture never does. In lordship theory works and faith are so intimately and inextricably tied together that works become the heart of saving faith. Consequently, if Christ isn't Lord of all; He isn't Lord at all. Thus any believer who isn't fully consecrated to Christ (allowing of course for short-lived slip ups here and there) isn't saved. He's deceived. He's living a lie because submission and salvation are synonymous.
Don't misread me. I'm a lordship advocate, but I'm not a lordship salvation advocate. I'm for believers surrendering fully, sacrificially, and intentionally. That's Scriptural enough. Nevertheless, questions about obedience, sacrifice, commitment, surrender, consecration, mastery, and dedication are settled after salvation, not before. To require them before is to require something Scripture doesn't. Scripture knows nothing of promising to serve Christ as a prerequisite to salvation. The truth is it's only after one receives salvation that he can practice sanctification, and submission is part of sanctification. The new life must precede the Christ-life. Demanding an unbeliever to hate his mother, father, sister, brother, wife and kids before inviting him to receive salvation is spiritual confusion. It inverts the Biblical plan that salvation precedes sanctification and that only believers (as enabled by the Holy Spirit) can present themselves a living sacrifice to the Lord (Ro. 12:1,2).
Again, I'm leery of the Lordship gospel. Why? Because, although I desire total commitment, there are things that surface in my life from time to time that truly shock me. And it forces me to ask myself how long they were there before I knew it. Were they there when I thought I was solid out? If so, was I truly surrendered? And if I failed the requirement of full surrender for salvation, did I fail of salvation itself? Again, I can't say I've ever known full surrender, though I desire it. Personally, I think it's rather haughty for believers to strut their submission, to say they're fully surrendered when they've never experienced the kinds of circumstances and situations in life that would prove it. I dare say John MacArthur, a leading lordship salvation advocate, sees as much unfaithfuless in his people as any non lordship pastor does. Regardless, salvation isn't measured by faithfulness; it's measured by faith . . . and faith alone in Christ alone. Yes, faith should affect our faithfulness. But it's spiritually disastrous to make the fruits of faith the conditions of it.
Like many believers I desire to follow the Lord and to know the power of His resurrection in my daily fray with sin and temptation (Php. 3:10). But, sadly, I often follow haltingly. Within me lurks no good thing (Ro. 7:18). If we're honest, we'll acknowledge the passions, desires, attitudes, thoughts, feelings, and impulses within us that run contrary to Christ's lordship and hinder full commitment (Ro. 7). So what's the remedy? In short, dying to self (1 Cor. 15:31) and walking in the Spirit (Ro. 8:1,4; Gal. 5:16,25), allowing the Lord to live His life once again through us (Gal. 2:20). Unfortunately, dying to self isn't easy. By dying to self I mean not only reckoning ourselves to be dead with Christ positionally (Ro. 6:11-13) but presenting ourselves a living sacrifice daily (Ro. 12:1,2), slaying every contrary thought and habit and appropriating the victory of Christ (2 Cor. 10:4).
But all this takes time. Much time. And tons of patience. Unfortunately, lordship salvation doesn't provide for that time.
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