Lordship Salvation

A condition that is often added to faith in Christ for salvation is “Lordship”. The preacher will say something like; “In order to be saved, it is not enough for Jesus to be your savior, He must also be your Lord”. The idea of lordship is authority or control. The teaching of lordship salvation requires that a person be completely surrendered to the will of God in order to be saved. Perhaps you have heard the catchy phrase, “If Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.” Nonsense. Being God, Jesus Christ is Lord of all no matter what you do.

Lordship is a matter of obedience. We are not saved by being obedient, we are saved by faith, which is depending and resting on the finished work of Christ. Obedience is what we do. Salvation is what Christ does.

When the preacher or evangelist tells unsaved people that they must completely surrender to the Lordship of Christ, he is asking for the impossible. The unbeliever cannot do anything that is pleasing to God (Romans 8.8). In fact, those of us who have been saved for decades still struggle with the Lordship of Christ. I am not completely obedient. I still sin. I still make choices that are contrary to God’s will. Any honest Christian will admit that Christ is not completely in control of their life. If He was, we would never sin.

The issue of Christ’s Lordship over our life is not part of the Gospel. It is a part of the Christian’s spiritual growth. As born-again believers, we must strive to be obedient by surrendering to God’s will. It is a lifelong process that will not be totally attained until Christ takes us to Heaven.

“Beloved, now we are sons of God. It does not as yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in him, purifies himself even as He is pure.
I John 3.2-3