It is no secret that I hold to a doctrinal position that is called, “Free Grace,” which advocates for a gospel of salvation that is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Free Grace is often contrasted to systems that suppose faith alone in Christ alone to be insufficient. It can also be contrasted to those positions that say faith alone in Christ alone is unnecessary, but while my experience has been that most people under the umbrella of Christendom are on the “unnecessary” side the pendulum, Free Gracers are more comfortable engaging those on the “insufficient” side.
Anyhoo, I have developed a pendulum to present various views:
On the left side of the pendulum are views that claim faith alone in Christ alone to be insufficient for salvation. Many heated discussions have occurred between the proponents of Lordship Salvation and Free Grace and I think that we Free Gracers could do a better job of understanding Lordship Salvationists in the midst of these discussions. In hopes of generating less heat and more light, I would like to point out some key similarities and dissimilarities between Catholicism, Lordship Salvation, and Free Grace.
The Bible says:
For 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. (Eph 2:8–9 NKJV)
That salvation is “the gift of God, not of works,” is problematic for those who spout a salvation through meritorious works. Lordship Salvation proponents, however, are not claiming that their work are meritorious. There is a hard line between Roman Catholic salvation and Lordship Salvation, which can be difficult to see from the perspective of a Free Gracer sitting in the middle of the pendulum, so it is worth explaining in terms familiar to Free Gracers for better understanding.
In the Free Grace scheme of things, faith does not save a person. To use Paul’s words, we are saved “by grace” and “through faith,” but technically, it is God who saved, not the grace nor the faith. One might say that grace is an instrument that God uses to save us (Greek nerds might note the dative case in the phrase τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι), but it is still God who saves. On might say that God saves us as a response to our faith, but being saved “through faith” does not mean that our faith is somehow meritorious to our salvation; it is still Christ’s wok on the cross, not our faith, that paid for our sins.
The basic Lordship Salvation scheme agrees that nonmeritorious faith is necessary for salvation, but it redefines “faith” to include nonmeritorious works (by the way, they often appeal to bad Latin). Lordship Salvationists would agree with the Free Grace notion that “faith does not save, but nobody will be saved without faith.” Lordship Salvationists would also agree with Free Gracers that works do not save. The difference is that Lordship Salvationists would also say that nobody will be saved without works. Just as we believe that faith is necessary for salvation even if it does not save us, a Lordship Salvationist can believe that repentance is necessary for salvation even if it does not save us (by the way, Jesus did not tell Nicodemus to repent to be born again).
Lordship Salvation is distinct from other systems that suppose that works are meritorious to salvation or that we can lose our salvation (by the way, James 5:19–20 does not say that we can lose our salvation). There is an important distinction, though, and it is important not to put words into the Lordship Salvationist’s mouth.
This difference carries with it a host of problems and some of these issues have been addressed elsewhere on this website (for example, here, here, and here). But for now, suffice to say that if we are going to have any helpful dialogue on the Lordship Salvation issue, we need to understand the position and be prepared to present it accurately before attacking it.