January 2, 2025

Summarizing Lordship Salvation from a Single Page

 In each of the three editions of Dr. John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus there is a single page that summarizes the Lordship Salvation interpretation of the Gospel.

The page I refer to appears in the original and revised versions (pp. 218 and 252 respectively). In the 20th Anniversary edition, you will turn to page 250 and read,
“One of the most comprehensive invitations to salvation in all the epistles comes in James 4:7-10... The invitation in 4:7-10 is directed at those who are not saved...”
This is the passage Dr. MacArthur refers to as an “invitation to salvation.”
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up,” (James 4:7-10).
At this point I want to remind my readers that the crux of the Lordship Salvation controversy is with the requirement for salvation, NOT what should be the natural results of a genuine conversion. In this section on the James passage MacArthur is making his application to, “those who are not saved.”

Is the epistle of James, “directed at those who are not saved?” The epistle begins, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy…,” (James 1:1-2).  “Brethren” appears approximately 190 times in the New Testament, and when it does appear it is used almost exclusively in reference to born again Christians.

Dr. MacArthur views the carnality that James addresses as though it proves these “brethren,” were never saved in the first place. He views them as “sinners…unregenerate…in desperate need of God’s (saving) grace.” MacArthur’s answer to the problem is that they need to be born again. He goes on to delineate what he believes are the ten “imperatives” for the reception of eternal life. The saving message to “sinners,” the “unregenerate,” according to MacArthur is,
“...submit yourself to God (salvation); resist the devil (transferring allegiance); draw near to God (intimacy of relationship); cleanse your hands (repentance); purify your hearts (confession); be miserable, mourn, weep and let your laughter and joy be turned to gloom (sorrow). The final imperative summarizes the mentality of those who are converted: ‘Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord’.”
If MacArthur’s statement was shared as instruction to Christians on how they should live wisely as born again disciples of Jesus Christ that would be a fair application of what he wrote. He is, however, stating what he believes are the necessary conditions of saving faith that results in a lost man becoming a Christian.

What we have in this single page (250) of The Gospel According to Jesus is the Lordship’s classic error of failing to distinguish between the doctrines of salvation and discipleship. Lordship Salvation frontloads faith with a commitment to do the “good works” (Eph. 2:10) one would expect of a mature born again Christian to become a born again Christian.

Do we find salvation by the grace of God through faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8-9) anywhere in James 4:7-10? No, we do not, because James is addressing “brethren” some of whom behaved as “carnal” Christians.

The example from page 250 of The Gospel According to Jesus typifies and exemplifies the error of Lordship Salvation. The crux of the Lordship controversy is contained in the three paragraphs of that single page. That one page is all one needs to know about John MacArthur’s Lordship Salvation to realize he has changed the terms of the Gospel into a non-saving, man-centered message that corrupts the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3) and frustrates the grace of God.
“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain,” (Gal. 2:21).

LM
 

Posted by Lou Martuneac at 12:00 AM

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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous1/14/2025 12:46 PM

    The question should be: Does Justification bring an *inherent* change to the human nature/heart as to enable every recipient of saving Grace to produce fruit and good works as a result?
    That is really the center of the most debated topics in the old intra-dispensational debate between Lordship Salvation and Free Grace (whether FGA or GES).

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    1. Lou Martuneac1/14/2025 8:05 PM

      Thanks for that thought
      I think Ephesians 2:10 gives us insight. "...unto good works..." So, I have maintained that a genuine conversation "should" result in some evidence, "good works." The problem comes when one tries to quantify the "good works." How much or many "good works" proves a genuine conversion. Then, of course, there's the old nature.

      Kind regards,

      LM

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  2. Anonymous1/20/2025 3:59 PM

    Thanks for the reply Lou.
    I understand the concern of "quantifying" the amount of fruit and/or evidence as there is no passage in Scripture that gives us a list of evidences to judge someone's faith. Unfortunately, many Christians for millennia have made works the grounds of a person's salvation. Legalism has been in existence since the early church and still has a strong hold in modern Christianity.
    It is clear that Christians still sin, and even sin greatly after being justified. Paul and the other apostles make that clear in the epistles. The same way it is also clear that a person who has truly believed in Christ as his savior (and not the reductionistic GES heresy), that person has the following benefits:

    -Being adopted as a son/daughter (Ephesians 1:5)
    -Given a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)
    -Freedom from the condemnation and power of sin (Romans 8:1)
    -Made co-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17)
    -Is conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18)
    -Transitions from darkness unto light (Acts 26:17-18)
    -Is made righteous (Romans 5:1)
    -Is indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, Ephesians 1:13–14)

    Now, let me ask:
    - Is there a *clear passage* in scripture that says that only *certain* people receive some benefits listed above and some people won't?
    - If sanctification is *not* an inherent consequence of justification, where does it say so in Scripture?
    - If man is totally in charge of his/her sanctification after justification, that would mean God saves people with -a hope-, but not with a specific purpose as it would be dependent upon man's decision to follow God or not and would be outside of His hands.

    I am certainly not advocating to LS and the twisted gospel of "salvation only by the man-made list of evidence you demonstrate" as depicted by McArthur. But I also don't agree with the belief that a person can be justified and not sanctified. I don't believe a person can have the Holy Spirit living within them while being in total dominion of sin as that would render the Holy Spirit powerless. I don't believe Metanoia is only at the intellectual level of assent and acknowledgment.
    So while I agree that we can't "quantify" works or fruit, they are nevertheless a natural and inevitable byproduct of true faith. Not perfect and always tainted with sin, but they are there.
    A lot of people like to criticize and say "just because you don't see fruit, it does mean its not there" which I agree. But at the same time I say "just because you don't see fruit, it doesn't mean Christians don't produce any".

    Regards,

    John DaVolta

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    1. Lou Martuneac1/23/2025 7:25 AM

      Dear John:

      I think we pretty much see eye-to-eye on these things you raised. I was especially pleased to read you recognize the reductionist heresy of the Grace Evangelical Society. I’ve published dozens of articles exposing and refuting their errors. See- https://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2008/11/grace-evangelical-societys-reductionist.html

      Imo, the GES “Crossless” gospel is the most egregious reductionist heresy ever introduced to the NT church by one of its own (Zane Hodges, Bob Wilkin…)

      LM

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