Rom 10:9 – If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.

There is great controversy within many Christian circles today about the term “Lordship” salvation. It is centered around the question of whether or not a Christian is required to submit to the “Lordship” of Jesus Christ as an essential element of eternal salvation. There are many today who teach and contend that submission to Jesus Christ as Lord, while good, is not required to secure one’s eternal destiny and that there is indeed a Lordship-“less?” path to heaven. Many that hold this view suggest that to subscribe to a Lordship requirement is to “add” to the Gospel and not rely on faith in Christ “alone” to save us. In this view, “belief” or “faith” only requires a mental agreement with the claims of Christ as savior and verbal consent that you are “trusting in Christ for salvation” to once and forever secure a future spot in heaven.  The contention is that submission to Christ’s Lordship is basically optional and only a discipleship / rewards issue.

I think the best way to answer this controversy is to look to the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels and to what is presented in the Epistles. Did Jesus, or the Apostles ever intimate or convey the idea of a form of Christianity that would permit a person to retain their status as a saved believer, but not require them to actually follow Jesus or commit to His lordship in their lives? Did they, at any point, go out of their way to ensure that everyone understood that discipleship and following Jesus Christ was totally optional and would not affect their eternal destination? Did the Apostles Paul, Peter, James and John make it abundantly clear that all of their admonishments and exhortations in the epistles are “good advice” but not a requirement to be considered beloved children of the most high God, the saved and the redeemed? Was Jesus just kidding when He said “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me”? (Matt 10:38)

I believe the answer is No, they did not. In fact, I don’t think they even really considered the concept of a discipleship-less Christianity and would marvel that it is actually being presented as a viable option today. Jesus was quite direct in answering the entrance to heaven requirement by stating: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that DOETH the will of my Father which is in heaven (Matt 7:21). Those rejected and told to depart are those who absolutely considered themselves to be Christians in their hearts, but their deeds and manner of life contradicted that profession because they were “workers of iniquity”. Matt 7:23 – And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that *work iniquity*. So, rather than focusing on their supposed “belief” and verbal confession as being Christians, Jesus instead focused on their actions and deeds as the true test of their faith and profession.

Some may contend that because there are a few scripture passages that, taken by themselves, would seem to indicate that just mental agreement with the claims of Jesus and a verbal consent that you “believe” them is all that is required. But when taking into consideration the *full* counsel of the Word of God, it becomes abundantly clear that there is way more to it than that and that submission to His Lordship is part and parcel to what it means to be a Christian. What are we supposed to tell an inquiring person asking if he can have Christ as savior, but not as Lord? Well yeah sure, but it’s not recommended? 

Now, some may argue that submitting to Christ’s Lordship cannot be a requirement because no one can honestly say that they have successfully made Jesus Lord over *every* aspect of their lives. But I would say it’s not a question of utter perfection, but one of heart commitment and intent. If someone asks us if we are committed to Jesus’ Lordship over all aspects of our lives, our response should be: “Absolutely, that is always my intent!”, not: “NO, and I never will”. You see the difference? The Apostle Paul put it this way: Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded (Phil 3:12-15).