Lordship Salvation; Is It Biblical? Part 1

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, Acts 16:31

We are commanded in Scripture to test all things and to hold fast to what is good, 1 Thessalonians 5:21. For a while now I have been hearing so many confusing teachings from some preachers I greatly respected. I was tired of hearing so many things that sounded just like the truth but in actual sense wasn't. I do believe we are living in the times of great apostasy and many false teachers are deceiving many. But great is His faithfulness because over the past months the Lord has been teaching me things I never thought I would ever understand.
For a while now I have been battling this issue of Lordship Salvation. And because it is taught by some very popular bible teachers who are respected by many Christians and considered great men of God, I found this issue a rather confusing one. But glory to God who is able to do far beyond what we can ever ask for. I realised that I was esteeming teachings and doctrines of men instead of going straight to the bible and let the Holy Spirit lead me. Does the bible teach Lordship Salvation? Does the bible actually teach that we need to surrender to Christ's Lordship or we need to make Jesus Christ Lord of our lives in order to be saved? I know some may chose not to believe this, but the actual truth is that not one place in the scriptures do we see such teaching. The fact is hat Jesus Christ is the Lord. He is Lord. That is who He is. We do not and cannot make Him anything for that matter. He already is what He is! Lord! Nor can we surrender to Him as Lord, simply because He already is! He is the Lord of glory, James 2:1. The sad thing is that those who preach Lordship Salvation have so complicated the simple message of the gospel and are laying heavy burdens on people that even they themselves cannot carry. When a sinner becomes saved they are not surrendering to the Lordship of Christ, they are surrendering to the Lord Jesus Christ. When a lost sinner becomes saved they are not making the Lord Jesus Christ their Lord, He will be their Lord God. The sinner does not make Him Lord, nor does a sinner surrender to a Lordship. This teaching is unbiblical and heretic at its core.
What does scripture say a person must do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, Acts 16:31. Note that scripture never says surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, nor does it say make Jesus Christ your Lord and thou shalt be saved. Now one may ask what harm does Lordship salvation do? I personally have seen the serious errors of this heretical teaching that sadly many believe is biblical. I have a friend who has been subject this heretical teaching and was so confused about how a person gets saved. Does one stop sinning first, surrender to Christ's Lordship then believe to be saved? Lordship salvation does more harm than what people may like to believe. It complicates the gospel. Instead of focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe Lordship salvation focuses on the Lordship of Christ. People are led to surrender to a Lordship rather than surrender to the Lord. When the Lord graciously saved me, my eyes were opened as to who I really was, a sinner. What did I then do to be saved? I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I was saved! Right as the bible says. It is not easy believism that many who support Lordship salvation argue. It is the truth. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, Romans 10:13.
Easy believism is not biblical either. Just recognising facts about the Lord is not enough. Such a faith is dead! The demons believe and tremble. Many people that I know are not saved. Believing is not easy. Faith is not easy. Many a times my faith is weak. Peter denied the Lord Jesus Christ in a moment of weakness. The Lord Jesus Christ often rebuked the disciples for their little or lack of faith. Yes the disciples where often weak in faith even though they saw the Lord of glory with their own eyes, witnessed many miracles, but they still doubted. At one point they even asked the Lord to increase their faith. Thomas doubted when told the Lord had risen, and only believed when He had seen, how much more harder is it for us who have not seen. That is why the Lord said blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. So those who say rejecting the false doctrine of Lordship salvation is teaching easy believism need to think again. Real faith is never easy, the bible make that clear.
What Lordship salvation has done is to redefine the gospel. What it actually teaches is that God did not really mean it when He said, believe! He meant something else. Its not enough to believe on the Lord, that's way too easy, lets really tell the world what God really meant when He commanded us to believe! That is what Lordship salvation really is. Its another Gospel. A redefined gospel with grievous errors. What the enemy does is that he mixes so much truth with error, that way the error is not easy to detect though it is enough to confuse and deceive. That is exactly what Lordship Salvation is, the error in it is at times hard to detect. One argument that is often used by teachers of Lordship Salvation is that the Lord often used language like deny yourself, take up your cross and count the cost. They then interpret the teachings of Christ to have been a call to surrender to Lordship or a call to make Him Lord; which is not true. I believe that there is no greater denying of oneself than what happens at salvation! When a proud wretched sinner is humbled by God to realising who they really are and that they desperately need a saviour and they put their trust in the Lord. Being a Christian means denying yourself. Being a Christian means taking up your cross. The disciples left all they had to follow Christ, they did not surrender to a Lordship nor did they make anyone a Lord, they simply followed the Lord.
I would ask people to search the scriptures for themselves and see if Lordship Salvation teaching is so. Go to your bible and read it for yourself (maybe without using the MacArthur Study Bible )let the Holy Spirit lead you instead. I am learning to let the bible mean what it actually says literally, no need to complicate it. Its totally amazing how the Lord will open our eyes to the truth, if we just ask Him. The truth is Lordship Salvation is not biblical.
PS; The Lord willing in the next blog I will be looking at another aspect of Lordship Salvation teaching that focuses on faith and works. Is there such a thing as a carnal Christian? Can a person be saved but live as a heathen?