John MacArthur: Lordship Salvation
John MacArthur: An Introduction to Lordship Salvation
I personally do not like the term "Lordship Salvation" (I really see MacArthur's view as the Calvinist view of salvation!), but here is a good article.
The truly saved individual will be marked (not perfectly but observably over time) by following Christ. I allow that there may be some Lot-like individuals who are saved but not apparently saved.
But I marvel that Christians are so sure of the salvation of recently dearly departed loved ones who have no observable evidence of salvation except a baptism certificate or confirmation statement or card signed as a child indicating that they "invited Christ into their heart".
The one who is saved ... will follow Christ. It is a work of the Holy Spirit!
Ephesians 2:8-10 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
It's like the old saying "no fruitage ... no root-age"!
John 15:1-8 "“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[b] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."
The Lordship salvation position seems to be largely based upon a failure to understand what the Greek word kyrios means in various passages. The Greek word kyrios may indeed mean "lord" (boss) or it may be the standard Greek word used for the Old Testament YHWH, Yahweh, the personal name of God. For example in Romans 10:13 we read: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
ReplyDeleteSince this is a quotation from the Old Testament, as simple look at the OT should convince one that Lord (kyrios) here here stands for the tetragrammaton, YHWH and does not mean "boss."
The issue then in such a passage is not that one is promising to obey Jesus as boss or "lord," but that one is approaching the Lord Jesus as YHWH, that is as very God.