To be very honest, I feel that this Romans 10 passage settles the matter of what salvation is and whether or not Jesus Christ is Lord of the Christian, but since the debate continues to rage, I will tackle some more Scriptural evidence to demonstrate that Jesus is Lord, and salvation is submission to His Lordship.
Turn in your own Bible to Luke 1:26-35. Read it...for real... Ok, so Gabriel, God's chosen messenger angel, tells Mary exactly who Jesus IS and will be: the "Son of the Highest", and He will be given the throne, not a throne and He will reign. I don't think that needs very much explaining. The obviousness of Jesus being King and therefore undeniably Lord is all over this passage.
Next, take a look at the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4:1-13. Jesus responds to each temptation with O.T. Scripture. The latter two reveal to us that Jesus clearly claimed His own Lordship. There was no confusion in Satan's mind either, and in this whole temptation, Satan knows from Scripture that Jesus' path to the cross is one that will lead to ultimate authority, to being Lord over all things. (Eph. 1:18-23) Satan understands the cross will be his own defeat and Christ's ultimate exaltation. So Satan's tactic is to get Jesus to seek that authority and Lordship in an illegitimate way. To those two temptations the Lord Jesus responded with:
1."It is written, you shall serve the LORD your God, and serve Him only."
2. "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" He is clearly speaking about Himself and calling Himself, "the Lord your God".
8/3/11
I'm cutting into all the stuff I have on this study. Many things have been occupying my time and study lately, and I just want to sum up this issue of Lordship salvation versus 'easy believism'. It is really very simple. Any serious student of God's Word must come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ IS Lord. There is no disputing that. All things have been put in subjection under His feet (Eph 1) Hebrews, Colossians, Romans, all of the N.T. makes this abundantly clear. The issue in regards to our salvation is whether or not we recognize WHO Jesus Christ really is. If we see Him only as what we make Him out to be, the One who can meet our needs, or take away our bad feelings, or whatever, then we are not believing and trusting in the real Jesus. Admittedly, salvation itself is perhaps the greatest mystery in the universe; the why and how boggle the mind when you really apply yourself to understand it. Yet, the Gospel message is so incredibly straightforward. The conclusion I come to from submitting to the infallible Word of God is that Jesus Christ has redeemed me with His own blood, and therefore, I literally belong to Him, as a slave belongs to a Master, as a son is totally subject to the authority of his father, so I am totally subject to the authority of Christ. Will I occasionally stumble in some sin? Yes, but His Lordship remains real and true. Now, if you believe you can be saved and not be under the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, then I think you may not be seeing Jesus for who He really is.
If you have any questions, or if you want to see the rest of the Scriptures and the study I did on this, please feel free to comment or email me. Thanks for reading, and may the Lord bless you as you read His Word.
