God — the Lord Jehovah — because only God can save a lost sinner." Thus he agrees, and rightfully so,
He Opens Blind Eyes
Chris tian magazine published an article arguing that Jesus' lordship is an inappropriate topic to bring up in the course of witnessing to the lost. The decision to "make Christ Lord" is possible only for those who have already trusted Him as Savior, the article said, and so it argued that the gospel presentation should contain nothing about yielding one's life to the lordship of Christ. A member of our church was disappointed to find such an article in a normally trustworthy magazine and wrote a letter of concern to the editor.
The editor wrote back, saying, "The article that we published in no way questions that Jesus is Lord, that is, Jehovah God. It raises the question whether a lost sinner must become a theologian before he can become a Chris tian."1
Is that really the issue? Does the lordship controversy have to do with whether people must become theologians to be saved?
Certainly not. But it is a revealing statement. Those who argue against lordship salvation have a tendency to identify the object of faith as a basic set of biblical facts. To them, the gospel is largely an academic issue, historical and doctrinal data about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Trusting those things alone constitutes saving faith, they say. Everything else is peripheral. Any talk of obedience, submission, or Jesus' right to rule is refuted as adding to the gospel, an illegitimate attempt to turn a pagan into a theologian.
Lest you think I'm unfairly presenting someone else's position, let me quote from an essay written to argue that lordship salvation corrupts the gospel: "This [referring to 1 Co rin thi ans 15:34] is the essential message of good news
1. Near the end of his letter, the editor wrote, "Certainly a sinner must know that Jesus Christ is God — the Lord Jehovah — because only God can save a lost sinner." Th us he agrees, and rightfully so, that there is a core of theological truth to be known and affi rmed before an individual is saved. My question is, what kind of faith is it that permits a person, having affi rmed Jesus Christ as Jehovah God, to continue in an unbroken pattern of sin and rebellion? Is that not demonic faith (James 2:19), orthodox but not effi cacious?