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GrahamCracker -> RE: Lordship Salvation: What Exactly Is It? (5/8/2008 2:34:27 PM)
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Jordan,
I looked up the other thread that I spoke of earlier. I posted on it so that it now appears near the top of the list in the Salvation folder. There are 14 pages of discussion, many of them going back to last winter and even earlier.
In short, the issue involves what the conditions for salvation are. The subject became controversial among evangelicals when John MacArthur wrote a book entitled The Gospel According to Jesus.
Many orthodox evangelicals of Baptist and somewhat Calvinistic (semi-calvinistic) flavor accept eternal security as a strong doctrine of the faith. However, when someone professes faith in Christ but returns to sin, or even denies Christ, the question begs to be answered: "Was that person ever a Christian?" John MacArthur teaches that a person must recognize not only the Lordship of Christ but must also commit himself as a disciple of Christ in order to truly be saved. While saying that he believes in the Reformers' sola fide (faith alone), that is insufficient if one does not dedicate himself to following Christ.
On the other end of the spectrum is Zane Hodges, who says that if one believes Christ is the Son of God (if you will God, incarnate) then he is saved. Not at issue, according to Hodges, is whether or not one believes that Christ died on the cross.
In between are several variations of belief and that is where most of us are. At issue is what is the nature of repentance. Personally, I get frustrated when people assert a single definition of repentance. Typically, some will take the definition they like best and impose it into a proof text that is central to their particular view.
Also at issue is what it means to believe.
I could get you some more links besides the ones I posted. But there are several links in the Lordship Salvation thread I referenced earlier.
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