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Does Lordship Salvation teach that even though placing one's faith in Christ, repenting of sin, submitting to God's authority, and surrendering one's life to Christ take place at the moment of conversion, faith is the sole means that justification is received?
Correct. Salvation is often conflated with solely justification in evangelical circles. In reality, salvation encompasses justification, regeneration, repentance, sanctification-- all the way to glorification.Does Lordship Salvation teach that even though placing one's faith in Christ, repenting of sin, submitting to God's authority, and surrendering one's life to Christ take place at the moment of conversion, faith is the sole means that justification is received?
Lordship Salvation highlights the biblical teaching of the interconnectedness between justification and sanctification; there is no such thing as being justified and not being sanctified. So, in other words, you not "repenting of sin, submitting to God's authority, and surrendering one's life to Christ" is evidence of you not being regenerated.
Does Lordship Salvation teach that even though placing one's faith in Christ, repenting of sin, submitting to God's authority, and surrendering one's life to Christ take place at the moment of conversion, faith is the sole means that justification is received?
Lordship Salvation highlights the biblical teaching of the interconnectedness between justification and sanctification; there is no such thing as being justified and not being sanctified. So, in other words, you not "repenting of sin, submitting to God's authority, and surrendering one's life to Christ" is evidence of you not being regenerated.
And the root of all this is that God has regenerated you so that you can have faith ....
I'm not familiar with the term "Lordship Salvation" but I suspect it is a reaction to the poor theology of groups like Campus Crusade that tried to teach you could make a "decision for Christ" then sometime later make him "Lord of your life."
Does Lordship Salvation teach that even though placing one's faith in Christ, repenting of sin, submitting to God's authority, and surrendering one's life to Christ take place at the moment of conversion, faith is the sole means that justification is received?
Does Lordship Salvation teach that even though placing one's faith in Christ, repenting of sin, submitting to God's authority, and surrendering one's life to Christ take place at the moment of conversion, faith is the sole means that justification is received?
To try to respond to your question...
When MacArthur first took on the task of refuting easy-believism by insisting on the lordship of Christ in a true believer's life, he used language that made it sound like he might be advocating salvation by faith plus obedience. Some good Reformed people challenged him on this, and my understanding (someone correct me if necessary) is that MacArthur responded to the constructive criticism by reframing his argument to more clearly affirm justification by faith.
So when you ask what "Lordship Salvation" teaches, you have to first define what part of that debate you're talking about. MacArthur at the start? MacArthur later on? Reformed critics who generally agreed with MacArthur's rebuke of easy-believism but thought he went too far? They aren't the same. Furthermore, a simple yes/no answer to your question is insufficient. Rather, we need to explain what we mean by sola fide, salvation by faith alone.
Personally, I like to explain that faith in Christ means faith in the whole person of Christ. One can't just have faith in Christ as Priest (who dies for our sin and pleads for us). Christ is also our Prophet and King (whom we learn from and obey, among other things). So faith that doesn't treat Christ as Lord is no faith at all—at least not faith in the whole person of Christ as he is revealed in the Scriptures. This means that repentance is an inseparable part of the life of faith... yet it is still all by faith in Christ, not self-effort. This way of thinking about it puts the focus on Christ rather than on what we have done.
I don't know if that approach is helpful for everyone, but it seems helpful to me. The Lordship Salvation discussion is not an easy one to follow. But Reformed believers affirm salvation (not only justification, but ALL of salvation) by faith alone, while still declaring that Christ must be Lord of a believer's life.