What Is Your Position On Lordship Salvation? | John MacArthur

Question from Gian The Baptist:
It seems to me that “Lordship Salvation,” as presented by John MacArthur, contradicts the 1689. What are your thoughts?

*Register for our RIGHT RESPONSE CONFERENCE: “Theonomy & Postmillennialism”
May 5-7, 2023 | Georgetown, TX
SPEAKERS: Dr. James White, Gary DeMar, Dr. Joe Boot, Pastor Joel Webbon, Dale Partridge

Subscribe to Theology Applied full episodes below:

#theology #johnmacarthur #salvation
_______________________________________________________
Keywords: theology, Reformed theology, podcast, Christian podcast, theology podcast, theology show, Christian show, the gospel

[maxmustermann]

"Why do you call me Lord and not do what I say?" - Jesus, Luke 6:46
"If you love me, keep my commandments" Jesus, John 14:15
Lordship salvation is absolutely Biblical. True believers will be obedient to Christ.

[coriworth]

This is the best clarification on the Lordship Salvation debate I’ve heard! “Jesus is Lord of all, Savior of some” Thank you.

[wib]

Amen, Jesus is lord, no human makes him lord.

[robertmog]

Where there is no Lord, there is no Savior. Too many Western churchians try to separate those two Offices of Christ.

[waynehobbs]

Well explained, thank you and praise God.

[burkulese]

Amen! To claim that any branch can be attached to the True Vine and not produce the fruits of righteousness that the Vine gives to it is to render that vine powerless! Living the “Christian life” all becomes no more than a moral standard for us to try and follow in our own power. Praise God for His awesome work of regeneration! All glory be to Christ the True Vine!

[MyRoBeRtBaKeR]

Makes doesn't mean force. It means to decrease, and this decrease is to make low, to bow, to humble yourselves, that He may be exalted in your heart.

[mkshffr]

To me it seems a bit incongruous to claim salvation while remaining in rebellion.

[jammystarfish]

Lordship salvation as its called is a rejection of easy believism or "carnal Christians" who are never sanctified at all

[zebra]

Heres what i wrote to someone who is caught up in works righteousness, but this addresses the Lordship salvation controversy

So if you are a Christian, does that mean you become morally perfect? Can you be perfect in thought word and deed? Because that's basically what you're saying. Sinless perfection after becoming a Christian is not taught in the Bible. Just read 1 Corinthians; The Corinthians Paul wrote to had all kinds of sin problems, yet Paul affirmed that they were Christians. in fact the Apostle Paul himself taught that as a Christian he still sinned. He said,

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Romans 7:18‭-‬19 ESV

Also consider...

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Romans 3:10‭-‬12 ESV

The bible verses you cited must be interpreted with other scriptures in mind.
Luke 6:46-48 and Matthew 5:48 can not be talking about justification by works because of the other scriptures in the New Testament that teach justification by faith.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8‭-‬9 ESV

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Romans 3:28 ESV

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Romans 4:5 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 ESV

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
Philippians 3:9 ESV

yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Galatians 2:16 ESV

I have been born again as a Christian since 2000, but I still struggle with the same desires and the same sins I had before I was born again, and i still fall into sin. I can not keep the laws of God in thought, word, or deed, so I flee to Christ and the comfort of the gospel for refuge.

Friend It's so important to distinguish between the Law and the Gospel. I'll explain. The Law commands us and tells us how we ought to live. We are Incapable of keeping God's laws. We can not keep the Ten Commandments. We are incapable of perfect obedience. We can not Love as we are commanded. For example...Love is not Gospel, it is Law. Love is a command, and we all fail to love God, the Christian God, with our heart soul mind and strength, and we all fail to love our neighbor as ourself. The law is merciless and serves to show us our inability to keep God's laws, it accuses us and only serves to condemn us, demonstrating our guilt before a holy and just God who must punish sin.

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
James 2:10 ESV

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:20 ESV

Jesus said this...
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:20 ESV

The Gospel tells us what God has done for us. It is the free, unmerited gift of God, of salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ, apart from works of the Law, by trusting Jesus, that He was perfectly obedient to the Law of God, and recieved the penalty for our sins and died the death that we deserve so that we can be forgiven.

The Gospel places no demands on us to do any good works for our justification, relying only on the Person and work of Jesus Christ for our justification. Our salvation and our assurance of salvation is based on the finished work of Jesus Christ and not our own acts of obedience. By faith alone in Jesus we are free from the curse of the Law, and our standing before God is always perfect, even when we fail to keep God's Law.

This is the simplicity of the Gospel....

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9 ESV

If a person struggles with sins and they become born again, that doesn't mean they are not born again. Those desires and sins only confirm that they are Incapable of keeping God's Laws, driving them to the Gospel and Jesus Christ for refuge. What's most important is their standing before God because of their faith in Christ.

There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1 ESV

We are "in Christ" by faith, not by the works of the law. We do not maintain our right standing before God by doing more Christian things and trying harder to keep the Law, but by trusting Jesus who kept the Law perfectly for us and recieving the punishment we deserve for our sins. This is the beauty and simplicity of the gospel

Try this. When you read your Bible, ask whether a certain verse or passage you're reading is Law or Gospel. When Jesus said,

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48 ESV

....this is Law, and we can not keep the law of God as scripture teaches. But we can be "accounted" as perfect by recieving the righteousness of Christ as a gift by faith.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

Below is Gospel. It demands no works of the Law, and we receive everything simply by believing in Jesus

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 ESV

[jammystarfish]

JMac was refuting the nonsense that was coming out of Dallas Seminary in the 80s. Esp. Zane Hodges and Chuck Ryrie

[mikekatz]

Doesn't Acts 16:31 say, what must i do to be saved? Believe on the lord Jesus christ and thou salt be saved. Done deal.

[davevandervelde]

Joel thank you for your work on this channel. I have seen and experienced a lot of what you are discussing. I have seen most Christians I know struggle with law and gospel which is directly related to this. We ask what do we have to do? I have often asked that wrong questions to myself. I think the right question is who are you? In all of your life, then you always act a certain way and aren't always deciding how to act. What flows out of Jesus as your Lord is that you are a new creation.

[TNYTNK]

Really enjoyed the point on over-purifying the church. Overall, a helpful video, thnx brother.

[danbrown]

Some years ago, I was asked how I'd respond to someone who said, "I accept Jesus as my savior, but I'm not sure I'm ready to make him Lord." My response was similar to yours: He *is* Lord, whether you accept that or not--and if you don't accept it, it's near-certain you haven't (yet, anyway) been saved.

[pierredelange]

Love the way you view this 'dilemma'.

[bloodboughtbigphilr]

I'm on the classic Free Grace side of the issue and Sovereign Free Grace more specifically. That was a good, balanced and Biblical response Brother and especially when we have imbalances on each side of the argument. Like what you said about sanctification and there will be sanctification in the life of the saved believer but a question of what areas, to what degree and at what speed. A big problem I have with the more hardline LS exponents is the basing of assurance on perceived sanctification within themselves or what they can see externally in the lives of others. Assurance is predicated on what Christ did for us not what we do for Him. I have problems too with the attack dog element among Free Gracers who calumnize and anathematize anyone whose soteriology does not square with their own in every detail. Gian the Baptist is not like that at all and a good level headed and gracious brother. I'm not IFB and don't call myself any kind of Baptist but Gian sure represents the better less sectarian and Biblically grounded side of that movement and hopefully their future. Much blessing.

[charlespackwood]

Jesus IS Lord!
And aligning with that fact is called faith.

[JesusIsTheOnlyWayTruthLife]

Right on. 👍

All the "free grace" people in your comments, who don't get it, though. 😔

The fact of the matter is, you cannot have Jesus as Savior without Jesus as Lord of your life. And all the people who argue otherwise show very concerning beliefs. Why try to argue in any way that justifies living sinfully, unless you truly don't *hate* your sin? Which is one of the changes made when one has been indwelt with the Holy Spirit.

[blank-]

This was really helpful and I believe accurate. Thanks.