Lordship Salvation vs. Free Grace
One of the questions that I get a lot as a pastor is, “How do I know if I’m truly saved?” People fear that they might not go to heaven when they die and want to have that assurance if they can. It can cause real anxiety when you can’t get that assurance.
For example, I received an email a while back from someone struggling with this exact thing. You can feel his worry and fear in what he writes:
Good morning Pastor White, I have been doubting my salvation lately. Many bible verses seem to point to if we don’t obey we won’t make it. I know like 90 percent of churches teach either you make him Lord or teach repent and be willing to obey God’s laws. I don’t think I can ever get my heart to agree to obey 600 laws! The more I look at this, me and almost everyone in my life seem to not have repented perfectly then.
Every time I’m reminded of his email, it breaks my heart to hear the struggle, doubts, and fears being expressed because of a lack of assurance. It doesn’t have to be that way.
The problem comes through the popular teaching of lordship salvation.
Lordship Salvation
Lordship salvation says that one cannot become a Christian simply by believing the gospel but must surrender to Jesus as the Lord of their lives as they put their faith in Him to be saved.
Lordship salvation proponents will say things like, “Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone,” but also point to things like commitment, obedience, and perseverance as necessary for true salvation.
One isn’t truly saved unless they turn from their sins and commit to following Christ in all of His ways.
That commitment will follow with a lifestyle of obedience to God’s commands.
If a person doesn’t continue to persevere in their commitment and obedience, then that is evidence they were never truly saved in the first place.
Lordship salvation cannot offer assurance of salvation. If one must persevere through a lifetime of commitment and obedience to the Lord, then you won’t know if you are saved until you take your final breath. As long as you are alive, you could still deny Christ, fall into sin, and not have persevered until the end.
I get why people doubt their salvation. I understand why they worry if they are truly saved. If they’ve been taught lordship salvation, and they make a mistake or have recurring sins in their lives, then that would potentially be evidence that they have not persevered in their commitment and obedience to Christ.
This is what the reader who emailed me was experiencing in his own life. He was looking for some kind of assurance, but unless he got serious about his commitment again and began to obey there was no way that was going to happen. And really, even if he did, he still wouldn’t know because he might fail in his commitment and obedience in the future again and be right back in the same boat.
Lordship Salvation vs. Free Grace
The term that is often used to counter lordship salvation is “free grace.” Grace is free. It doesn’t cost you anything. It doesn’t involve commitment, obedience, and perseverance.
I get why people use the term “free,” but the word isn’t necessary. Grace means gift. Salvation is a gift that we receive.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
John says to those who receive through belief in Jesus become the children of God. There are no conditions mentioned. Nothing about commitment, obedience, surrender, etc.
A gift is freely given. It is given without conditions. If conditions are given, it is no longer a gift.
When salvation is understood in these biblical terms, one can truly have assurance of salvation.
When the apostle John was writing his gospel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, his goal was to prove Jesus was Lord (deity) and that we might come to believe in Him for salvation.
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
(John 20:30-31)
John says that if you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life. That’s assurance. God wants you to know and live with the security of what He accomplished through Jesus’ finished work on the cross and gives to you by His grace.
Lordship is a Discipleship Issue
Proponents of lordship salvation use terms like “easy-believism,” and “cheap grace” because they don’t want people to think that behavior and lifestyle are not important. Behavior and lifestyle are important, but they are not conditions of salvation.
Lordship is a discipleship issue. It is not a salvation issue.
Some will point to Romans 10:9 to argue that confessing Jesus as Lord is necessary for salvation. However, that is a misunderstanding of this passage.
Here is what Paul Enns says in the Moody Handbook of Theology about this very thing:
“Confession of Christ as Lord (in Romans 10:9) identifies Christ as deity; the issue is not concerning His lordship. Lordship is based on the application of the knowledge of Scripture, and the knowledge of Scripture comes with spiritual maturity, which in turn follows salvation. Lordship is important, but it cannot be a condition for salvation; that is adding to the gospel.”
(Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology)
In other words, Lordship is a discipleship issue. Discipleship follows salvation. When Jesus called the twelve to follow Him as disciples, He was calling them to follow Him as a learner.
After we come to Jesus and receive His gift of salvation through faith and are completely regenerated (born again spiritually in our hearts), then we learn about how to walk by faith in our union with Him as our Lord through discipleship.
To say that it is a condition of salvation causes confusion. There is no way to have assurance. Every time we fail to follow Jesus as our Lord in areas of our lives, will cause us to doubt and wonder, “Am I truly saved?”
Carnal Christians
If lordship is necessary for salvation there could be no such thing as carnal Christians, yet the apostle Paul addresses an entire church in this way.
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:1)
The Corinthian church had a lot of problems. Paul addresses them as carnal or walking by the flesh instead of walking by the Spirit. In other words, they were not living with Jesus as their Lord. They were living carnally, in the power of their own flesh, following their own path.
Yet, Paul addresses them as “saints” in 1 Cor. 1:2 and “brethren” in 1 Cor. 3:1. They were brothers in Christ. They were family. They were Christians.
If lordship salvation is true, then Paul should not have addressed them as Christians. But they were Christians because they had believed in Christ for salvation. Now, on the other side of salvation, Paul was writing to disciple them and teach them how to live with Him as their Lord.
Conclusion
Lordship salvation places conditions on salvation other than belief/trust. You must commit your life to Jesus, obey God’s laws, and persevere in your commitment and obedience.
But there are no conditions for salvation other than belief/trust in Jesus. It is not repent and believe, believe and be baptized, believe and confess Christ publicly, or believe and make Him the Lord of your life.
The gospel is simply this: believe in Jesus for salvation, and you are saved.
You don’t have to doubt your salvation if you fail. Jesus wants you to know that your salvation in Him is secure and to focus on Him and the new creation He’s made you into.
He wants you to know that you are already spiritually seated in heaven, joined in an eternal spiritual union with Him.
He wants you to know that you have a new life in Him.
He wants you to know that He, as the Vine, will express His life through you as the branch.
All this you will learn through discipleship, not on the front end of coming to know Christ as Savior.
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