This is an outdated article, archived simply as a historical record of the mistake I made in writing it.
I wrote this article with the goal of reconciling the doctrine of Lordship Salvation with the Bible’s teaching that God grants salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. By writing with that goal, I unthinkingly broke my own rule. That rule is that I approach writing an article much like a scientist conducting a scientific experiment. I may hypothesize about the meaning of a Scripture or whether a common teaching is right or wrong. But I then enter into the topic with an open mind and let the Word of God take me where it leads. Often, it leads me where I didn’t expect.
When I went to write this article, I didn’t have the goal of seeing where the Bible led me. I had the goal of trying to reconcile two opposing views. This led me to make some errors. In the years since writing this article, I’ve come to see that Lordship Salvation cannot be reconciled to the Bible’s teaching on how we are saved. Lordship Salvation is a biblical heresy.
The title of the article illustrates the problem. Lordship Salvation defines repentance as the repenting of our sins that is part of a transaction between God and the sinner. In this transaction, the sinner repents of his or her sins and promises obedience to Jesus as Lord, and, in return, God grants the sinner salvation. You will find nothing like this in any honest examination of the Bible. Such a transaction of works cannot be made to be compatible with true grace.
In this article, I use the king in an allegory of Christ. The king conquers a city of rebels. I go wrong, however, in saying that the king offers these terms: “Any citizen who repents of his rebellion, submits to the king, and pledges his allegiance to him will receive the king’s free and undeserved pardon.” The problem, of course, is that a pardon that demands repentance of rebellion, submission to the king, and a pledge of allegiance is not free. Those requirements are payments. What I illustrated was a transaction that agrees with that taught by Lordship Salvation but entirely disagrees with the free grace of the Gospel.
When I said that the citizens’ “repentance, submission, and pledge of allegiance do not buy them the king’s pardon as it cannot be bought,” that is simply not true. I wasn’t trying to deceive anyone, but I made a grave error in logic. When the king stated his terms, he was clearly implying that his pardon can be bought, and he was announcing his price.
Then I wrote, “God has sent His heralds into the world to announce His terms of peace. These terms are: Everyone deserves eternal death for rebellion. But those who turn from their wickedness, believe on Jesus as their Savior, and submit to Him as their Lord, He will freely pardon. Nothing they do can make them deserve this pardon.” Again, I was wrong. If these were really God’s terms, they would be the payment that God would accept in return for pardon and by which the sinner would—as defined by God’s terms—deserve pardon. My excuse that this would not be a works salvation because “the law makes no provision for these works to merit anything” is a worthless argument. That’s because I have God Himself saying that He will freely pardon those who submit to Him as Lord. Calling such a pardon free is a contradiction because submitting is a price. So, I have God Himself saying that these works merit a “free” salvation. This is a contradiction. But God does not contradict Himself.
So, I hope you see that what I taught in this article contradicts the Gospel. The Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ has died to pay the penalty for the sins of and give eternal life to all who will change their mind and believe on Him alone as their Savior. There are absolutely no terms tagged onto that. Belief is not a payment because it is merely the evidence that Jesus has paid for that person’s salvation. We can think of it as a token that shows that the price has already been paid; it acts as a free pass.
The Bible shows us that the repentance associated with salvation is simply the change of mind one goes through in turning from unbelief to belief in Jesus Christ as Savior. Contrary to how I end the article, there very definitely is a “contradiction between being saved totally by grace through faith and needing to repent and submit to Jesus as our Lord.” The former is the truth and the latter is a lie.
Many of us are familiar with such passages as Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” And it is most certainly true that our salvation is entirely gracious. God gives it to us as a free gift. We cannot earn it; God never owes it to us.
Yet, there are Scriptures that can be troubling because they seem to contradict the freeness of salvation. Matthew 16:24 comes to mind: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Even Scriptures that tell us to repent can seem to be telling us to do something to earn our salvation (see, for example, Matthew 4:17). There are a number of ways that I might go about teaching how these Scriptures do not contradict the freeness of salvation. But I think the simplest way to explain this is with the following illustration.
Suppose all of the citizens of a certain city in a certain kingdom wickedly rebel against their king. The king then brings his forces to reestablish his kingdom in the city, lays siege to the city, and conquers it. The conquering king sends his herald to announce his terms of peace to the citizens of the city. The herald tells them that, without exception, every one of the citizens of the city deserve death for rebelling against the king. But he also has good news. Any citizen who repents of his rebellion, submits to the king, and pledges his allegiance to him will receive the king’s free and undeserved pardon.
Be clear on this point. Any citizen who repents, submits to the king, and pledges his allegiance to him still deserves death for rebellion. The law does not take repentance into account. Only a free and undeserved pardon from the king will save. Several citizens grasp the grace that the king has offered, and they repent, submit to the king, and pledge their allegiance to him. Their repentance, submission, and pledge of allegiance do not buy them the king’s pardon as it cannot be bought. The punishment for rebellion is death, and the law does not take into account repentance, submission, and a pledge of allegiance. Turning from wrong and doing what is right, and submitting and showing allegiance to the king are merely what is expected of all citizens. It is what they should have been doing all along. By doing these things, they do not obligate the king. By doing these things, they have not paid for their pardon. By doing these things, they have not fulfilled a condition that legally results in their pardon. They could very well do these things and still be executed. The king would legally be in the right if he still executed them. The king’s pardon is completely free and undeserved.
This is very similar to the situation between God and humanity. Humanity is in wicked rebellion against God. Everyone deserves eternal death. Through His Son, Jesus Christ, God has conquered the world (the Greek word translated “overcome” in John 16:33 means “subdued” or “conquered”). God has sent His heralds into the world to announce His terms of peace. These terms are: Everyone deserves eternal death for rebellion. But those who turn from their wickedness, believe on Jesus as their Savior, and submit to Him as their Lord, He will freely pardon. Nothing they do can make them deserve this pardon. They should have been doing these things all along. The law makes no provision for repentance, belief, and submission to reverse a sentence of death. These things are not conditions of the law that, if met, will earn pardon. Nevertheless, those who repent, believe, and submit will receive the free and unmerited pardon of God.
But, you may ask, if God will only pardon those who repent, believe, and submit, isn’t that really a works salvation? No, it is not because the law makes no provision for these works to merit anything. They count for nothing. Besides, God gives repentance, belief, and submission as a gift to us. I say “a gift” because repentance, belief, and submission are really just aspects of the same thing. When we believe or trust in Jesus as our Savior, we are turning from our rebellious ways and submitting to Him. The Bible usually calls it faith, belief, or trust (all the same Greek word), but sometimes breaks it down finer into repentance, belief, and submission to Jesus as Lord. So, God gives us this gift which merits nothing with Him but through which we receive His pardon or salvation and which, by the way, also identifies to us who we are—His elect.
I hope this makes clearer that there is really no contradiction between being saved totally by grace through faith and needing to repent and submit to Jesus as our Lord.
The above is an outdated article which no longer expresses the view of the author.
Main Text Copyright © 2010 Peter Ditzel / Introductory Text Copyright © 2024 Peter Ditzel
