The Lordship Salvation Debate

The argument has persisted among theologians for years. It revolves around the answer to one question: Can Jesus be your Savior without being your Lord? Entire seminaries have gone their separate ways over this question. In some quarters of the church world, your answer to the question is the determining standard by which you will be judged.

I've often been asked what I think about the issue. My response is that, to be honest, the whole argument is a silly one. First of all, why would anybody come to Christ, trusting Him in faith to forgive their sin and give them His life while insisting on still holding onto the deed to his own life? I think everybody who trusts Christ wants Him to take charge of their lives. That's a fundamental aspect of coming to Him for salvation.

Does that mean then that every area of a Christian's life will be fully and perfectly animated by His indwelling life? Of course not. There is room to grow in every one of us. Is Jesus not Lord of my life if there is still an area in which I find my flesh repeatedly rearing its ugly head? If that's the case, we're all in trouble - even those who argue most zealously for the idea of "Lordship salvation."

The bottom line is that Jesus is Lord, not because I make Him Lord of my life but because He that's who He is. He is King of kings and Lord of lords and my response to Him has nothing to do with that. He is your Lord, my Lord, the Lord of heaven and earth. He is Lord over the demons of hell. He is Lord over Satan himself. He is the Lord and we flatter ourselves if we think we have anything to do with that fact.

The higher reality than His lordship over us is that fact that He is our Life. That fact overshadows His saviorhood and lordship in wonderful ways. Jesus Christ didn't just save us from our sin. He's much more than our "boss." (The Greek word for Lord is kurios and means boss.) He is our very Life and "in Him we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:28). He's the air we breath. He is the DNA of our existence. (See 2 Peter 1:3-4)

What do I believe about Lordship salvation? I think it's a elementary schoolyard squabble. Jesus Christ is Life and until we know that, we're missing the main point regardless of which side of the argument we come down on.