Lordship Salvation: True, False, or Confused? Pt 5
Lordship Salvation Is About the Freedom of His Beauty Not the Fear of His Authority
Romans 6:15-18, “What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! Don't you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were transferred to, and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.”
This text is very instructive as to how we should see the Lordship of Christ. First note that we are said to be under the domain of grace not law. Meaning that we are not under the works arrangement (creation, Moses) but under the grace arrangement (Abraham, David, New). God's gracious arrangement (covenant) is the authority that we are under as we relate to Him (we submit under the covenantal dominion of grace). Verse 18 tells us that we were liberated from sin and became enslaved to righteousness. Enslaved to righteousness is in the passive which tells us that it is God who put us under this domain where we are compelled to righteousness. We do not put ourselves there through the submission of will, we are graciously placed there. The grace we are under is that which God sovereignly uses to compel us to righteousness. This is a state that we are in by God's grace not a contingent requirement for verifying and or confirming entrance. The tone of this rule and domain is declarative not directive. We continue to see that this rule and Lordship is about the power of grace (not power of King's law) and that we are passive recipients, not active creators or validators of this reality. God's rule and reign is not an option to reflect on proactively but an objective reality to reflect on reactively. It is not a hoop to jump through but a natural desire to jump through hoops without the need to be told that hoop jumping is essential. Verse 17 tells us that the pattern of teaching (gospel) which we were transferred into (Spirit's work) leads us to obey from the heart. Meaning that it is the work of the Spirit that acts on us through the truths of gospel grace that compels us to do what the King demands. Verse 17 tells us that the pattern of teaching (gospel) which we were transferred into (Spirit's work) leads us to obey from the heart. Meaning that it is the work of the Spirit that acts on us through the truths of gospel grace that compels us to do what the King demands. Meaning that the Lordship of Christ is about the Spirit's compelled and unforced attractiveness that freely conforms us, rather than forced conformity that externally does so. Meaning that those under the Lordship of God do not need to be intimidated, pushed and threatened to do all the dreadful things that the King requires lest they prove themselves to be false (As if contingent demands to prove loyalty become the efficient power to move professors to true allegiance). If the threat of contingency is what moves us to allegiance then it is not allegiance but self-interested pretentiousness. It seems that the implicit tone of the Lordship Salvation point-of-view is that God is a hideous (or tolerable) Lord who needs to regularly intimidate and question His subjects to do all the things that He wants them to do. And it also seems that submission is only achieved through His regular and external calls to submission. Lordship lingo goes to a couple that are kissing and says, “You should love each other.” Lordship lingo goes to a mom who is up at three AM with her hungry infant and says, “You should sacrifice for family.” It seems misplaced and unnecessary as the object of their affection freely compels them to do what is right rather than the threat of relational authenticity. Lordship lingo goes to a mom who is up at three AM with her hungry infant and says, “You should sacrifice for family.” It seems misplaced and unnecessary as the object of their affection freely compels them to do what is right rather than the threat of relational authenticity. Where true loveliness exists and is known, the will that knows this loveliness necessarily follows. The Lord is infinitely lovely and so naturally attractive and compelling. True believers freely choose to obey the King's rules not because they are threatened with the potentiality of being lost due to lacking the necessary submission, but because they are under the grace and teaching that compels them to conformity (v.17). Whether it is their intention or not it seems that the Lordship camp makes obedience to the Lord to be more about His assertion to authority rather than being about the attraction of the affectionate nature of His authority. His Lordship is about how lovely our Lord is and how lovely it is to obey, and it is not about endless sales pitches as to why you should and must surrender. It is more about forcing the volitions to conformity rather than freeing them to conformity. It is more about how morally necessary it is to love the Lord than to be about how morally freeing it is to be loved by our Lord and to consequentially live for Him. Biblically and within the covenant of grace, it seems that the Lordship of God is more about inward freedom than outward force (Jerimiah 31:31-34). The Christian obeys whether He is being told He must obey or not. … the bible focuses on how lovable our Lord is while the Lordship Salvation camp focuses on how much He should be loved by His subjects. Said another way the bible focuses on how lovable our Lord is while the Lordship Salvation camp focuses on how much He should be loved by His subjects. It seems they see the third use of the law not as a guide for the believing but the very efficient cause for law conformity; it is not a guide to the saved but a threat to the potentially and possibly saved.
Lordship Salvation Is About Pardon Not Accusation
Zechariah 3:1-4, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan: ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn't this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?’ Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the Angel. So the Angel of the Lord spoke to those standing before Him, ‘Take off his filthy clothes!’ Then He said to him, ‘See, I have removed your guilt from you, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.’”
Often the Lordship Salvation conversation carries an accusatory tone with the visible covenant community. Implicitly it seems that the Lord is on His throne above His local church with an accusatory and condemning demeanor as it pertains to His position as Lord. His Lordship is cause for condemnation not consolation. The Lordship camp seems to implicitly be conveying that His Lordship over His people is cause for regular accusation concerning their legal submission to His Lordship. It is as if He is on His throne always dissatisfied with the incomplete submission of His subjects and thus always demanding. Consider the passage in Zechariah as it speaks to the tone of the Lord on the throne over His people. Notice first that Satan takes the posture of accusation concerning Joshua's sinfulness. The idea being that because of his sin he has no right to be in the presence of God before His throne. Ironically, the Lordship camp seems to convey the tone of the devil towards the people of God as they see themselves in their sin before His rule. It sounds like, “you are not fully surrendered so why are you here?” In verse two the Lord is said to rebuke Satan for accusing the people of God as being unfit to be in the presence of His rule due to their moral deficiency. The Lord does not rebuke Joshua for his unfitness and sin before His rule, He rebukes the accuser who is vigorously claiming his unfitness. The Lord in the heavenly courtroom takes the position of advocate not accuser, consoler not condemner. He does not deny His unfitness but takes gracious, unilateral action in the face of such accusations. He then proceeds to stage the story of the gospel through the taking off of Joshua's filthy clothes (imputing our sins to Christ) and the putting on of clean clothes (imputing Christ's righteousness to us). Intriguingly when we see ourselves as sinful and unworthy before the throne of God, the voice and tone of the Lord is not to prove our loyalty through more holistic law conformity, but to assure us that His throne provides a moral position for the sinner through gracious provisions external to the sinners morality. Intriguingly when we see ourselves as sinful and unworthy before the throne of God, the voice and tone of the Lord is not to prove our loyalty through more holistic law conformity, but to assure us that His throne provides a moral position for the sinner through gracious provisions external to the sinners morality. The Lord's throne is one of pardon in our error and filth for His own sake not one of condemnation and question for our sakes. Satan is the accuser who demands that the Lord's throne decree our utter condemnation for our insufficient allegiance while God is the pardoner who uses His throne to absolve us of our soiling of His rule due to His promises towards us, His actions for us, and our position in those promises and actions. Notice that the Lord does not make Joshua internally righteous to resolve these accusations, but He forensically and externally and declaratively makes Him righteous. God's covenantal conversation amongst the persons of the Godhead is what resolves this moral dilemma before the throne. You see the Lord's throne over His people is about pardoning promises for the unworthy not assaulting accusations for the unworthy. It is not a bilateral throne (pardon for what God does and His subject then does) but a unilateral throne (pardon for what God does and says to His subjects). Satan's presentation of Lordship justifies shame and banishment for the moral deficiency of the professing believer while God's presentation of His Lordship justifies pardon for the grace efficiency of His throne towards His subjects. While the Lord may practically accuse us from His throne for our sin and lack of allegiance, the positional tone of the throne in our sin and lack of allegiance is one of grace pardon and gospel assurance not law accusation. And so it is if we desire to convey the Lordship of Christ over His people we should do so in a manner consistent with the actual conversations that we see in the throne room in scripture rather than the conversations we see in the Lordship world.
