Tim Suffield.com

If you haven’t noticed or been pointed to it yet, the Pulpit Blog has been running a series on the issues/controversy of so-called “Lordship Salvation” - although to be frank it’s only a controversy because some people seem to find it grossly distasteful and so reject the last couple of thousand years of Christian soteriological orthodoxy. The most recent post contains a wonderful little round-up of quotes from ‘big name’ theologian types on the subject. It reads a little like watching a heavy-weight boxer pummel a small child.

Just to explain a very little if you’re unfamilar with the term - Lordship Salvation is the idea that salvation includes in it recognising Jesus as Lord, changing Kingdom and ruler, submitting to Jesus as guide and teacher and, wait for it … repentance.

Yes some people do deny this. No, I can’t really fathom it either. I guess it’s pretty comforting to assert that when you see a brother falling into sin and not repenting when called to by the church (part of the reason churches without active church discipline are a problem) and perhaps even when this brother or sister recants their faith - it must be pretty comforting to reassure yourself that since they once accepted Christ he saves them even though they don’t seem to want him to, and even though they reject the kingdom rule of the King of heaven.

Yeah. Right.

It’s easier to either talk about people ‘falling away’ rather than never having been saved or to just assume that Christ saves everyone who ever uttered the magic words. It’s easier to be Arminian, Semi-Pelagian, Synergistic or even Crypto-Universalist than to believe what the Bible teaches. It almost certainly hurts less. Because hell isn’t nice.

However, Jesus is a King of great big Kingdom. A Sovereign of pretty much everything going. And probably then some. If you don’t bow to him as Lord, you certainly aren’t in his covenant people, you don’t have a ticket to heaven, you aren’t going to produce the righteous fruit that’s our only sign of whom God has justified, your magic mystic prayer that you repeated at that big revival meeting has no power to save, your faith is dead, your life is in tatters, you’re a slave to sin, you have no hope, no home, no righteousness, no salvation, no joy, no life, no Christ. You’re screwed.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 30th, 2006 at 11:41 am and is filed under Theology, Jonathan Edwards. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.