On the Lordship of Christ

[The following was a response I wrote to some comments made over a period of a few weeks by a teacher in one of our Wedneday night Bible studies back in 2005. I have deleted references to names. Once I wrote this I made copies and handed them out in class though nobody ever said anything to me so it had zero impact! However, I had done what I felt led to do and the rest I leave to God, right! :)

In any case, I post it here just because I'm posting almost everything else I've written so please excuse any grammatical errors here...and by all means if anyone ever reads this...please point out any theological errors as well.]


Brothers and Sisters in the Lord:

I present this brief paper as a rebuttal to the idea we've recently heard regarding the position of Jesus' lordship in our lives. I pray that you will read it and understand that I do not bring it forward in order to cause division or hurt feelings...indeed this is the last thing I desire! I do, however, want everyone to know where I stand on the issue. A position I hold because I am convinced that it the clear teaching of our Lord's Word. I welcome any criticism of this paper on the condition that our basis be ONLY the Word of God and that we avoid any argument based on how we feel rather than what the scriptures themselves tell us! And I further hope and pray that any discussion of these points draws us closer to His Word and to each other as Believers.

As I prepared this paper I came to the realization that it would entail much more than I could come up with in the brief time (since last Wednesday's class) I have had...but for the sake of presenting this paper to you I rushed through it praying that the Lord would give me the wisdom and the courage to set down on paper the major points I wanted to make. I say this only so that you, the reader, will realize that any grammatical or other mistakes I have made here appear because of that sense of urgency I had. I hope to someday more fully address this issue when I am able to give it the proper attention it deserves. So I apologize for any such mistakes found here.

Another thing. As we ponder the issue of the lordship of Jesus Christ, I hope you will not misunderstand me. Is it possible for the Believer to sin? Of course it is. I am not saying it is not. What I am saying, however, is that the true Believer does not live in habitual sin. That when a Christian begins to stray from the faith the Holy Spirit will bring conviction upon us and bring us back into intimate communion with God. In other words, Jesus IS Lord. We do not make Him Lord! When we are saved, Jesus becomes Savior AND Lord of our lives. We may often live in such a way that we do not acknowledge His lordship, but this does not mean He is NOT actually Lord! Indeed, this is the basic point which has led me to write this paper! I believe with all of my heart (and I rely not on my feelings for this but upon the text of Scripture, as I hope to show within this paper) that the teaching that we MAKE HIM LORD is false doctrine!

So the argument is not that the Believer cannot sin. The argument is not that we do not often live in a way that ignores His lordship. The argument is not that we do not come to a point in our lives where we submit to His lordship and that this is a very real experience for most if not all Believers. The argument is not even that we cannot for a time walk away from the faith! The argument I present is simply that we do not place Jesus on His throne! He IS on it. And the work He will do in our lives WILL be accomplished! Not because we LET Him but because He has said He would do it! He does NOT need our permission to mold is into His own image...and NOTHING we do or do not do will PREVENT the Holy Spirit from accomplishing this task! Indeed, we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and as such we belong to Him!

Anyhow, the first half of this paper will focus on a rebuttal of a small paper that a brother gave to me titled "United with Christ." The second half will consist of my defense of what is known as Lordship salvation, the teaching that upon our conversion Jesus in that instant becomes Lord AND Savior of our lives. Note that I do not say that unless one understands the full implications of His lordship one cannot be saved. This is not what Lordship salvation teaches! Far from it! Only that Jesus IS Lord of our lives. That we do not MAKE Him such, and that there is not a two step salvation process in which He becomes your Savior and then sometime down the line we place Him at the helm of our lives by making Him our Lord!

I. Rebuttal of “United with Christ”

Our brother mentioned above wrote on the bottom of the page under the heading “The Contrite Heart” in regards to Romans 6:22 that “these changes will happen through the process of sanctification. God will nurture us so we can grow spiritually. But [we] have to choose to become slaves to God.” {emphasis is mine}

In using the word “choose” I assume you refer to salvation. While I could argue that point this is not the place for that particular debate :) However, I will point out that since you are referring to the process of sanctification I must disagree with you. Let us grant that we choose to become saved...once we are saved, however, Philippians 1:3-6 assures us that sanctification WILL occur! “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Note the words “will complete it.” While some may wish to insert additional words here, the Scriptures themselves leave no room for adding “if we choose.” Furthermore, in Romans Paul’s point is not completed in chapter 6 but continues throughout the book, including Romans 8:9 which included the phrase “But your are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit...” Again, note the word “not.” Throughout Romans we are encouraged not to live carnally and not to live in the spirit of the flesh. But ALWAYS Paul adds phrases such as Romans 8:9 which serve to remind us that we are in fact in “bondage” to righteousness. In other words, while we might sometimes sin and behave carnally...if we are in fact Believers we will not behave this way for too long! One might say, then, that all of this encouragement is so that we will not forget to whom we are forever indebted and so that we will not despair into thinking there is no forgiveness and no going back!

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On page 1 of “United with Christ” we find the following phrase: “We who have been joined to the resurrected Lord can even now have our spirit rule over the whole being.” [emphasis mine]

Romans 14:7-8 says that “none of us lives to himself and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” Now then, the context of this verse is in regards to our liberty in Christ. However, the words are indicative of His position in our lives. Does this verse even hint at the possibility of our own spirits (I assume our old sin nature is being referred to here) ruling over the whole being? I don’t see it here or anywhere else. Again, we can often walk in opposition to His lordship, but because of His promise to us He will bring us back...therefore He ALWAYS is in control of our whole being. For us to sin does not mean we have removed God from His throne…for us to rebel does not mean He ceases to rule…

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After first citing Romans 6:13 the following phrase is found: “The believer has a CHOICE, He/she may YIELD to God by faith and enjoy ABUNDANT LIFE, or he/she may YIELD to SIN and ENDURE A DEFEATED LIFE.” [emphasis in text]

As surprising as it may seem, I agree with most of the statement above. However, this does not relate to the argument at hand because we are not speaking of His lordship here. Of course we can yield to sin...nobody is perfect and we will all fail to be completely obedient to Him. This does not mean we should not try! Yielding to sin on occasion, however, and continuing to live in habitual and unrepentant sin are two different things. The first is always possible, the second is not something the true Believer will do.

That we can choose NOT to yield to God however, is untrue. And before someone responds to this let me explain what I mean by this. When I say we are unable to choose NOT to yield to the Spirit, I mean that we as Believers cannot long remain in rebellion for very long because God will convict us of our sin and bring us back to the fold. If this does not happen, then that person is not a lapsed saint but remains a sinner in need of salvation… Again, this does not address salvation and the idea many believers have that one can resist the Spirit. We are talking here about the work the Holy Spirit does in our lives. The promise as discussed above in regards to Philippians 1:6 makes clear that the work is the Lord’s to complete in us and He has promised He will do it! If we do not believe this then we must believe that God does not, even cannot, keep the promises He has made…and God forgive the person that holds to this idea!!

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Later on in “United with Christ” we find the following: “The BLOOD can wash away my SINS, but it CANNOT wash away my “OLD MAN” It needs the CROSS- to crucify ME. The BLOOD deals with the SINS, but the CROSS MUST deal with the SINNER.” [emphasis in text]

Where in the Holy Scriptures do we find the separation between the blood shed on the cross and the cross itself? This statement quoted above is presented without any accompanying Scriptural text. The cross has power because of the blood that was shed upon it! Of itself it has no more power than the cross of the two men crucified on either side of our Lord!

As to the blood not being able to wash away the “old man” and the cross being needed to “crucify ME,” Romans 6:6 says that “...our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, what we should no longer be slaves to sin.”

Again, the cross and the blood go hand in hand. The power of the cross lies in the blood shed upon it! Guess what? The blood DID wash away the “old man”...when Jesus was nailed upon the cross! The cross has already dealt with the sinner! We do NOT need the cross some additional time to crucify me for the simple reason that “Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more...sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:9, 14 The blood was shed for forgiveness of sin...the cross dealt with the sinner when the blood was shed to deal with the sin!!

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This is all of what I want to address in regards to “United with Christ.” The bulk of this paper is intended to show that Jesus is Lord of our lives and refute the idea that we place Him in that position. If the position was that we often live as if Christ was not our Lord then I would have no disagreement. This is obviously true. But the discussion focused on the idea that we MAKE Him Lord, which is false. We do not permit Him to be Lord and we do not stop Him from completing a work in our lives. He IS Lord and His work in our lives is not dependant upon us...it is wholly His work. To make sure I was understanding the position correctly I afterwards asked what exactly sanctification was and it was decided that it was indeed the work the Holy Spirit does in our lives to mold us into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. I was told, however, that we CHOOSE to allow the Holy Spirit to do this work and that if we do not give Him permission to do so that He CAN’T do it. In the section that follows I hope and pray that I will clearly show how this idea is not scriptural. And if you wonder why I felt the need to take the time to address this issue, it is because this idea does influence how we live our daily lives and it also leads to some erroneous doctrines that the church has refuted over and over throughout her history.

II. The Lordship of Christ

Let us begin where we always should; in the Word of God.

Matthew 7:21-23:
"Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord" shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.""

As we see. unless He is Lord of one's life, none may enter into His kingdom. All of those who belong to Him will obey the will of His Father. None who consistently practice evil, who consistently live carnally, are His.

Does true grace leave us the liberty to do as we wish? Of course NOT!

Titus 2:11-1:
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works."

From these verses...Who does the purifying? Who redeems His people? Is it not Jesus? Where, then, are we given the authority to tell Him He cannot work out this purification in us? Such a power is nowhere given to mankind! On the contrary, the opposite truth is found everywhere in Scripture.

Philippians 1:3-6
"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Note the promise: He "will complete it." What will He complete? The good work! And what is the good work? Salvation? No, for that was completed the moment we became His? So then the good work must be the process of sanctification that will make us acceptable to Him, the process that will shape us into His very image! Where do we read, anywhere in the Scriptures, that this promise is conditional? Where do we read that it is dependant upon us? NOWHERE!

The question we must ask ourselves is, "what is sanctification?" Is it not the process mentioned above, by which we are being perfected by the work of the Holy Spirit?

Romans 8:28-30:
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son [this is sanctification!], that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."

Where in the verses above is sanctification OUR work? What part do we have in the process of sanctification? If we are reading the same Bible we must conclude that sanctification WILL happen in the life of the Believer...and furthermore that the work is fully His!

We must be clear about this: when we come to Christ He becomes Savior AND Lord of our lives! The two are inseparable. We come to Him filled with sin and with hearts that have no desire for Him, but once His we are transformed, our nature is changed, our desire is now for Him! This is the true teaching of Romans 5 and 6!

Indeed look closely at Romans 5:8-11: “But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation”

Look also at Romans 6:1-2, 6-7, 14:
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to it live any longer in it?...knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died [note that this refers to our rebirth and not to a later event, as evidenced by the old man being crucified with Him] has been freed from sin...For sin shall no longer have dominion over you [obviously the key word here is “dominion“], for you are not under law but under grace.”

Read also Romans 8:1-10: For the sake of space, I will point out only the following:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit...[s]o then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness”

Note the following: those who are His will walk, not might walk, will walk according to the Spirit. One can only walk in the flesh if the Spirit is not in us...and if the Spirit is not in us then we are not His.

So is the Believer free to disobey Christ? Can the Christian walk in disobedience?

John 10:27:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”

What does it mean to follow Christ [He is the One speaking in the verse above]? It means to obey Him! And Jesus has said that His sheep (all Believers!) hear Him and follow Him!

Read John 14:15:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

Was Jesus pleading with His people here? Was He saying, “Okay, I’ve saved you, now make me Lord”? NO! He was stating quite clearly that the sign of a Believer is obedience to His commands.

To see this more clearly, look at 1 John 2:4-5, in which the Apostle says “He who says “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him”

Now look at 1 John 3:10:
“In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God...”
So let’s make sure we understand this completely. Jesus says if we love Him we should keep His commandments. To those who say that one can be saved without being obedient to Him as Lord, the Apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes that those who do not walk in obedience are not His!

For a look into what happens to those who do not bear fruit, look also at Luke 3:7-9! It is quite clear that Scripture equates faith with obedience!

Now let’s quickly return to Romans. The idea that one can be saved and yet live a carnal life was popular among the Antinomians. They rejected, in a very real sense, the idea that Jesus became Savior and Lord of one’s life upon conversion. This Antinomianism has been rejected over and over by the church throughout its existence! But again, let’s look at what the Scripture says:

Romans 10:9-10:
“...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Note the “if.” What does it refer to? Confession of Jesus as Lord! Only when this is done is true conversion realized! It is acknowledgment of Him as Lord that leads to salvation! And please do not misunderstand what this means. It does not mean that full understanding of His lordship is necessary for salvation to occur. All it means is that when we become saved we accept Him as Lord and Savior...that we realize we are repenting of our sin...that we recognize we must change...in other words that He becomes Lord!

Now look at Romans 14:9, in which Paul says that “..to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”

For what purpose did Jesus die and resurrect? The Scripture says so that he could be Lord! Do we make Him Lord? NO!

Acts 2:21: “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” Call on whose Name? Jesus’! And what is He? Lord!

Acts 2:36: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” Who made Him Lord? God...NOT us! And just in case you miss the meaning...Christ is Messiah...Savior, therefore Lord and Savior!

Acts 10:35-36: “...in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus--He is Lord of all...: He IS Lord of all...we do not make Him Lord nor do we prohibit Him from being Lord!

Acts 16:31: “So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” Believe on Who? The LORD Jesus Christ! And what happens when we believe in Him as our LORD Jesus Christ? We are saved!

Just so we can get a better understanding, if you do a basic search on a good Bible software program, Jesus is referred to as Lord 747 times in the New Testament...92 times in the book of Acts alone!

Make no mistake, we do not make Jesus Lord, He IS Lord...and do not fail to understand that His promise to us is that He WILL accomplish in us the good work He has begun. This promise is not based on what we allow Him to do but on what He ALREADY did on the cross! So the promise is not conditional...if we are Believers, the Spirit will do the work in us that Jesus said He would do! Indeed, nowhere in the Scriptures can we find the teaching that we “make” Him Lord. We do not “allow” Him to sanctify us...He does what He promises to do!

But let’s look some more at what the Scriptures say, since they are the standard upon which all of our arguments should be based. Indeed, all of our arguments stand or fall upon their foundation!!

Luke 6:46-49:
“But why do you call Me “Lord, Lord” and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings, and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great”

Do you understand that this speaks about the heart? Those who are His do what He tells them to! If you mistakenly think that a Believer can be saved and yet not have Jesus as Lord then I will point out that the foundation of the one who does NOT listen to Him does not exist!

The Believer DOES have a foundation! Indeed, the Apostle Paul says that we as Believers “are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:19-20) We do NOT lack a foundation, therefore the second man referred to by Jesus is not a Believer who has just not yet submitted to Him as Lord, only as Savior! He is simply one who is not a Believer!

1 Corinthians 1:2:
“To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours.”

Again, whose Lord is Jesus? Well quite frankly He is Lord of all, even of those who are not Believers...but with whom has He entered the special relationship...of whom is He intimately Lord? All Believers! Not some, not even most, but ALL!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11:
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?...And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Note that conspicuously absent is ANY idea of the Lord or the Spirit needing our permission to work out our sanctification! No indeed...this will be done because God keeps His promise to us and because sanctification is wholly the work of God!

1 Corinthians 12:3:
“...no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit”

So let’s see...the Spirit cannot sanctify us unless we give Him permission to do so by acknowledging Christ as Lord...yet we can only acknowledge Jesus as Lord by the Holy Spirit?!?! So, then, who is in control? Us...or God? Who gives the other permission? Common sense along with the Word gives us a very clear answer!

There will come a day, as we are told especially in Philippians 2:11, when everyone will acknowledge Him as Lord. How much more, then, is He Lord of His elect? If He calls us to Him, then how are we able to limit the work that He can do in our lives? To suggest that we have even a small hand in our sanctification is to believe in a works based salvation...something that should be totally anathema to any true Believer! Indeed, Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9 that “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

If you still harbor any doubts that Jesus is Lord of our lives and that we can somehow give Him permission to sanctify us, read Ephesians 5:25-26, in which Paul writes that “...Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word” Now, let’s go back to Bible 101. Who is the church? The Believers right? And what will Jesus do to us because of His great love for us? Sanctify and cleanse us!! Where does it say He will do this only if we give Him permission?

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8:

Lest anyone say “AHA!”, let me quickly point out the following: it is the will of God that we be sanctified. Yes, there can be a rejection of this, but Paul says in verse 8 that he who rejects this idea (that God wants us to be sanctified) rejects not man, but God. Think about it. Can the Believer reject God? If you believe this we may as well embrace conditional salvation and be prepared to lose and gain our salvation over and over! The key here is that God wants our sanctification...and we have already seen in Philippians 1:6 that He will complete the good work He has begun!

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24:
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

Note the highlighted words above. Who will sanctify us? God! And how much will He sanctify us? Completely! No half- measures here...because it depends upon His work and not ours! But note also that Paul calls Jesus “our Lord.” Who is the “our”? Some Believers or all Believers? And if all Believers are being addressed...whose Lord is He? Draw your own conclusions!

Hebrews 2:11:
“For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren...”

Who is He who sanctifies? Jesus! Who are those being sanctified? Believers! Again, where in the verse do we find Jesus seeking our permission to accomplish what He has said He will do?

Brothers and Sisters, we could go on and on and on searching the Scriptures and we would be drawn to the same conclusion. When we come to Jesus, He becomes our Savior AND our Lord! The call to salvation is and always has been a call to discipleship. Any theology that seeks to separate the Lordship of Jesus from His role as Savior makes salvation a “process” it is not. And this theology lends itself too easily to what John MacArthur refers to as “easy-believism,” in which too many people deceive themselves into thinking they are saved just because they prayed a prayer. True salvation WILL result in a changed life! True salvation involves repentance and repentance means turning away from a habitual life of sin! So let us not be enablers of those so deceived. Instead let’s make sure we teach true salvation! Antinomianism as a term was first used during the Reformation, but the theology to which it refers has been declared false by the church for two thousand years (beginning with our Lord!)...let’s not start upon that slippery path that will lead us straight to a resurrection of this dangerous teaching.

As I mentioned earlier, if you wish to discuss this, or if you wish to respond to this position, please feel free to do so. I do not claim to have all of the answers...but I do have one goal uppermost on my mind and that is to see Him glorified. If in holding this position I am in error, please show me from the Scriptures why this is so. The worst thing you can do as a brother or sister in Christ is to leave me in error.

2 Timothy 3:16-17:
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”