Lordship salvation

The connection to the word “Lordship” in “Lordship salvation” is that the advocates of the doctrine say you must make Christ Lord of your life and submit to His authority to be saved, which means you must change your life first and stop sinning, to be saved. (King James Version Easy-Reading (KJVER) Bible used and my emphases in bold.)

But is there anything we can do to be saved? Is there anything we must do? Do we have to stop sinning first to be saved? Can a person be saved who is seriously sinning? That is, can he/she continue in sin after salvation?

We are warned,

2 Corinthians 11:3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Romans 10:9  That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.

Romans 10:10  For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.

On Romans 10:9, Dr. Andrew Wommack writes…

“Therefore, this verse is a promise to those who believe on Jesus to the extent that they are willing to change their actions accordingly and confess Him as Lord (God) with their mouths so that they might be saved.”

In the scripture we read:

Matthew 3:2 And saying, Repent you: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Yet Wommack writes:

Note 1 at Matthew 3:2: “Repent” comes from the Greek word “METANOEO” and literally means to have another mind. It is used thirty-four times in the New Testament. Repentance is a necessary part of salvation (Mt 4:17 and Lu 13:3). Repentance may include godly sorrow (2Co 7:9), but sorrow does not always include repentance. Repentance is simply a change of mind accompanied by corresponding actions (Mt 3:8 and Jas 2:17).

Also we read:

Mark 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent you, and believe the gospel.

In the original Greek text, the word Repent in Mark 1:15 is metanoeo, which literally means “to change one’s mind.” Wommack  perverts the Biblical meaning of repentance by adding that a person’s change of mind must be accompanied by corresponding actions. That’s satanic teaching of devils. Wommack has subtly added self-righteous works to faith in Christ, which is no faith at all. The Bible simply requires a change of mind (repentance). There are no corresponding actions.

The Greek word for repentance in the Bible simply (and primarily) means a change of mind; that is, a wholesale change of attitude toward sin and toward God. It is like doing a U-turn in your mind. It is not a turning from the act of committing sin, nor even a willingness to turn from the act of committing sin, but a simple change of attitude towards one’s sin and our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is Biblical repentance.

If you know you are a guilty sinner, condemned under the law of the holy God, only deserving of hell fire and you believe on Jesus Christ, you will be eternally saved. There is nothing more, no conditions, none. That is it!

Romans 3:19  Now we know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

The Law was given that all the world might become guilty before God.Hence they can know they need a Saviour.

There is no doubt, in the minds of the New Testament writers true belief in Christ meant repentance (a change in mind towards sin and God); believing and repentance are inseparable. That is why the Apostle Paul could write:

Acts 20:21  Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 3:19 Repent you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

And yet he also wrote:

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And the Apostle James warns, there is a form of believing in which there is no repentance:

James 2:19 You believe that there is one God; you do well: the devils [demons] also believe and tremble [shudder].

The object of repentance in Mark 1:15 is believing the gospel, not departing from committing sin. We are saved by putting our faith in the gospel (the good news) of Jesus Christ Who died, was buried and rose again three days later according to the Scriptures.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; 2 By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain.  3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Thank you Jesus. It’s that simple. Biblical salvation costs you nothing. Jesus paid for all your sins with His precious blood.

1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation [foolish ways] received [inherited] by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Salvation cost God everything, Who gave us His only begotten Son to bleed, suffer and die for our sins. Anyone who says that it costs you the world to be saved is teaching a false plan of salvation. Jesus didn’t tell us to forsake the sinful world to be saved; but rather, He saved us so we wouldn’t want to live in the world anymore. We don’t cease from committing sin to get saved; but rather, we cease from sin because we are saved. If we remain in sin, then God will chastise and scourge us as His children.

Hebrews 12:6-8 For whom the Lord loves He chastens [disciplines], and scourges [whips] every son whom He receives. 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? 8 But if you be without chastisement [correction], whereof all are partakers, then are you illegitimate children, and not sons.

Any ‘professing’ Christian who can live in unrepentant sin, without Holy Spirit conviction, is not saved.

1 John 1:8-10  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. 

1 John 3:8-10 He that commits sin is of the devil [Satan]; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested [revealed], that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God does not commit [practice] sin; for His seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother.

This might sound contradictory, but it means that a saved sinner no longer is under the power of Satan to sin. The Holy Spirit in him/her gives power to overcome sin.

A Christian living in sin is miserable, as was Lot (Genesis 19:16), whose righteous soul vexed him because of the unlawful deeds of the ungodly.

2 Peter 2:7-9 And delivered just Lot, vexed [troubled] with the filthy conversation [conduct] of the wicked: 8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9 The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Being born-again means having Christ born in us. Jesus is the new man in every believer. The old is passed as Jesus takes possession.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The Lordship salvation advocates argue that the meaning of “Repentance is a turning from sin.” That is the definition used by Ray Comfort, but it is not correct. The idea is based on a false view of scripture. Turning from your sins comes as a result of you trusting in the Living God. He empowers you to do the turning from your sins. They say you need to make Christ Lord of your life, which does sound right, but according to the advocates that means you need to first stop sinning to be saved. But if you add anything to the requirement for salvation, other than trusting in Christ, then you have added works. Salvation is a flat out free gift of God, it is not of any works or pre-conditions that man might add.

 Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Related Reading