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Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute.
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"Understanding the Lordship Salvation Controversy" (an article
from the Christian Research Newsletter, Volume 2: Number 6, 1989,
page 3) by Bob Lyle.
    The editor of the Christian Research Newsletter is Ron
Rhodes.

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    _What must I do to be saved?_

    The answer to this question is so controversial that it has
divided some quarters of evangelical Christianity into warring
factions. The issue involved is the nature of salvation and
saving faith: What _is_ saving faith? What does it mean to
receive Jesus as Lord and Savior? How much must one surrender to
the Lord at the time of salvation? What are the fruits of
repentance?

    "Lordship salvation" advocates say that in order to be saved,
one must not only believe and acknowledge that Christ is Lord,
but also submit to His lordship. In other words, there must be --
at the moment one trusts in Christ for salvation -- a
_willingness_ to commit one's life absolutely to the Lord, even
though the actual _practice_ of a committed life may not follow
immediately or completely. Non-lordship proponents argue that
such a pre-salvation commitment to Christ's lordship compromises
salvation by _grace._

    The present debate is largely due to the publication of John
F. MacArthur, Jr.'s _The Gospel According to Jesus_ (Zondervan,
1988). According to an article by S. Lewis Johnson in the
September 22 edition of _Christianity Today,_ this book has
produced "an explosion of comment, discussion, and feisty
debate." MacArthur, Senior Pastor of Grace Community Church and
president of The Master's Seminary (both in Sun Valley,
California) is a lordship salvation advocate. He wrote his book
in response to (among others) a 1981 book by Zane C. Hodges
entitled _The Gospel Under Siege_ (Redencion Viva). Hodges,
former professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary,
espouses the non-lordship view, and argues that much evangelical
gospel-preaching is guilty of compromising the grace of the
gospel. Hodges followed MacArthur's book with still another book
entitled _Absolutely Free_ (Zondervan, 1989).

    Another scholar responding to MacArthur's book is Charles C.
Ryrie (of _The Ryrie Study Bible_ fame). Ryrie recently published
_So Great Salvation_ (Victor, 1989) in which he strongly affirms
the non-lordship position. According to Ryrie, the non-lordship
position states that accepting Jesus as Lord does not refer to a
subjective commitment to Christ's lordship in one's life, but
rather a repentance (or changing of one's mind) about one's ideas
of _who Christ is_ (i.e., He is the Sovereign and God) and
exercising faith in Christ. Ryrie argues that repentance from sin
is what _follows_ in the Christian's daily walk with the Lord.

    Much confusion has overshadowed this controversy because of
the lack of precise definitions of key words (although Ryrie does
provide some working definitions in his book). Neither side is
saying that salvation is by works. Both affirm the clear teaching
of Scripture that salvation is a gift freely given by God to man.
Nor is either side advocating "easy-believism," a term coined by
Lordship proponents to describe the idea that one receives
salvation by simply giving intellectual assent to a set of
doctrines.

    The debate will no doubt continue. It is important, however,
that in future discussions of this issue, a clarification between
the _act_ of justification and _process_ of sanctification be
maintained. _Justification_ is the judicial declaration by God
that the believer has a righteous standing before Him. This takes
place the moment a person receives Jesus as his or her Savior by
appropriating Christ's redemptive work on the cross.
_Sanctification_ is the lifelong work of the Holy Spirit which
conforms the believer into the image of Christ.

    Martin Luther once said that "Faith alone justifies, but not
the faith that is alone." "Works," Luther said, "are not taken
into consideration when the question respects justification. But
true faith will no more fail to produce them than the sun can
cease to give light."

    Our responsibility as Christians is to present the claims of
Christ to a lost and dying world. We may rest secure in the fact
that a person's acceptance of the Gospel will result in the fruit
of repentance -- but this is the work of the Holy Spirit, not
man.


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End of document, CRN0015A.TXT (original CRI file name),
"Understanding the Lordship Salvation Controversy"
release A, March 21, 1994
R. Poll, CRI

(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in
the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)

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