Lordship Salvation: True, False, or Confused? Pt 6

Lordship Is About Sonship Not Slavery

2 Samuel 7:11-14, “The Lord declares to you: The Lord Himself will make a house for you. When your time comes and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me.”

2 Corinthians 7:16-18, “And what agreement does God's sanctuary have with idols? For we are the sanctuary of the living God, as God said: I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’”

There is something vital about these texts that contribute to this Lordship conversation. The first is that in 2 Samuel 7, we see that the Kingship is about Christ the Son. Vital to the concept of Kingship is the concept of sonship. The second thing we see in 2 Corinthians is that this King who is the Son makes us sons in Him by and through the King's gracious covenantal administration. Essential to understanding Lordship is understanding the doctrine of sonship. The third thing we see in the Romans text is that there is a contrast between the spirit (relational disposition) of slavery leading to fear with the Spirit (third person of the trinity) of adoption (sonship). So let's follow the trail here. The Lordship of the King is administered by the eternal Son of God who is also the created son of God in the line of Adam. This in turn makes our relationship to the King who is the Son to be one of our sonship in Christ the Son. This sonship that we possess in Christ the King/Son is contrasted to earthly paradigm of Lord and slave. Meaning that the Lordship of God is not about the economic fear that a sovereign vassal instills in His subjects but about the father's affection that defines and affects His children. In the Lordship conversation it seems that the tone and ambiance is one of a divine boss and ruler who intimidates his workers and employees based on the intensity of their submission to legal demands. However, if our Lord and ruler has slaves and servants who are simultaneously and supremely sons, there is a tone and ambiance that is affectional and sure not economic and unsure. Meaning that the way sons relate to the authority of their Father is different than the way slaves and servants relate to the authority of their master. A mere slave and servant feels that his relation to his lord goes so far as his submission and performance. When you think of the King, think of obeying in a family room that you will never be kicked out of rather than a cubicle, factory, or courtroom that you may or may not have a future in. A Son however realizes that the relation to His Father who is the Lord goes as far as Christ the Son's credited perfections. If Christ Kingship is about sonship then our understanding of His Lordship must be qualified and understand in light of that paradigm. This means that being the King's Son is about affection not economic fear. This means that being the King's Son is about assurance and confidence not doubt and despair. This means that being the King's son is about compelling obedience by the Father's person and affection not merely the Father's demands and superior position. This means that being the King's son is not about proving and vindicating yourself to your Father but about Him proving Himself to you. The supremacy and rule of the King is accompanied by the gracious condescension and tenderness that is consistent between fathers and sons. The tone of the Lordship camp seems to mimic and elevate the way it feels to be in a room doing an annual review with a boss that continues the relationship so far as recent performance would merit. We must obey the King and do so but this obedience is the obedience of a son that lives from and out of a tender and sure affection rather than a mere slave who lives out of servantile-performance fear. When you think of the King, think of obeying in a family room that you will never be kicked out of rather than a cubicle, factory, or courtroom that you may or may not have a future in.

Lordship Is More About the Plunder Given for Distribution Not the Plunder Demanded for Divine Appeasement

Ephesians 4:7-13, “Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the Messiah's gift. For it says: When He ascended on high, He took prisoners into captivity; He gave gifts to people. But what does ‘He ascended’ mean except that He descended to the lower parts of the earth? The One who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.”

Here we have Paul citing a Messianic Psalm (68) about the King's triumph and the corresponding spoils. Paul sees this Psalm as being typological of Christ's redemptive work and ascension triumph in the local church. This is a text and Psalm about the royal victory and dominance of the King as it pertains to His subjects. Notice a few things about another Lordship explicit text. First His royal rule and triumph is about His descent from heaven to earth and ascent from earth to heaven. This means it is not about our moral and volitionally ascent unto His throne but His movements. The language of Lordship here is the Lord's movements not ours. Second His royal rule is about Him capturing the spoils which are the particular spoils of His elect (v.8). Again, His rule is about His objective captivity of us more than it is about our being captivated by Him (though both are true). Third His royal triumph is about Him filling all things which again means that this royal triumph and position is more about the King's benevolent grace gifts and less about the subject's offerings. His triumph is about dispensing the spoils of His descent and ascent not receiving tribute. Fourth these gifts from the King's triumph and position are given to us to then share and give to each other for our mutual good not to return to the King. The King does not need anything from us as He has captured us and, in a sense, given Himself the gifts He deserves (His redeemed). In a sense we can say that He bought His own tribute. And He fills the church so it can give to each other in their needs not so it can give back to Him in His need of tribute. The King who is in need of nothing from His subjects gives to His subjects so that they can in turn give and provide for each other from His gospel-enabling abundance. It seems that in the Lordship Salvation conversation the obsession is about how the King's subjects are regularly meeting God's need to receive some kind of behavioral or affectional or volitional gifts of tribute to the King. In this Lordship text we see that our submission to Him is more about giving to others what He has given us for their need and less about our vertical tribute. …we see that our submission to Him is more about giving to others what He has given us for their need and less about our vertical tribute. In a sense, God the Lord is saying that He does not need to receive from us but rather it is His people that need to receive. Living under the Lordship of Christ is about dispensing His free gifts to one another for one another rather than being about providing the tribute that He demands and needs that verifies our loyalty. Paul is saying in a sense that if you want to properly be under the Lordship of Christ then you should direct your works towards your brother for their good and growth rather than towards God for assurance and divine appeasement. How do you honor the King who has rewarded Himself with the spoils of His people by His descending and ascending actions? According to the text it is by seeing your works as being horizontally necessary rather than vertically authenticating. In a sense Paul is saying to the Lordship Salvation camp that biblical Lordship moves us away from proving our allegiance by tribute towards God to as already approved subjects providing for others the King's love gifts. This text about the Lord and His subjects is all about the King's redemptive movements for us, His accomplishments for us, and His provisions for us as they are shared for our brothers. Once again you find the Lordship language and rhetoric of conditional surrender unto positional assurance lacking in the actual language of the texts concerning Christ's Lordship.

In summarizing this six-part article, I believe that all believers are morally and volitionally surrendered to Christ's authority. I simply do not believe that the Lordship of Christ is emphatically about the quality of our surrender but it is emphatically about the quality of our Lord's actions, power, and rule over His subjects. Lordship salvation does not exclude the extent and quality of our moral surrender but biblically it is more about the Lord who conquers us rather than the conquered. It seems that in the Lordship world the doctrine of Christ's Lordship became a cause for fear and doubt but in actuality what we have seen is that it is a cause for assurance and faith. Christ being the Lord or not is not the quintessential issue; He is the Lord. The quintessential issue is how is He the Lord who saves. Is His Lordship more about His power and ability or about what we do with that power or ability? Christ being the Lord or not is not the quintessential issue; He is the Lord. The quintessential issue is how is He the Lord who saves. Is His Lordship more about His power and ability or about what we do with that power or ability? Our examination of various Messianic texts would prove that Lordship salvation is about the Lord who saves in Himself and provides for those He saves rather than being about the volitional veracity of His subjects as it pertains to His law. Biblically, Lordship salvation is about increasing our confidence in Christ's works as the King and His domain as the King rather than decreasing our confidence in Christ while increasing our confidence in our works for the King. So again, the question is not is Christ the Lord or must we obey; the answer is emphatically yes. The question at hand is whether it is valid for those to speak of Lordship in a way that mixes faith in the Lord and faithfulness to the Lord as valid way to define Lordship. The question is about whether it is valid to make the Lordship category an obsessively subjective one rather than an objective one. The question is whether either in conversion or after that the Lordship of Christ is only as valid as our moral submission would show. The question is about whether it is valid to make the Lordship category an obsessively subjective one rather than an objective one. The question is whether either in conversion or after that the Lordship of Christ is only as valid as our moral submission would show. Christ's Lordship does not mix our faith and His faithfulness as defining and grounding the relationship but Christ faithfulness alone grounds the Lordship bond. Our faithfulness is the consequence not the cause of this Lordship/servant relationship. Christ's Lordship is objectively preoccupied as it pertains to His person, actions, and new creation domain not subjectively obsessed as it pertains to the subject. The world is not about you. The bible is not about you. And yes, Lordship is not about you, it's about the Lord. The validity of Christ's Lordship is not as valid as the quality of your submission, but it is as valid as the quality of the Lord's subduing rule. Therefore, let us not undermine the Lordship of Christ through holding to some weak and wimpy Sovereign who can do nothing in His subjects to incline themselves to Himself in obedience. However, let us not think that the solution to this issue merits creating another one where the subject's submission eclipses the Savior. The cause of this worldly Christianity is not due to subjects not being legally serious and surrendered, this is the symptom of something much deeper. The cause of all these professing lawless subjects is that they are not knowing and trusting the crucified-resurrected-ascended Lord who subdues all in His domain by the exaltation and sufficiency of Himself. All this lawlessness is the fruit of having a spirituality that is obsessed with the Christian more than the Christ of Christianity. Let us not see the solution to be more and deeper and severe obsessing over the Christian. Lordship salvation is always most powerfully effective when it is more about the surety of the Lord who saves and less about the subjects who serve.