By Zane C. Hodges*

It is dangerous, Lordship Salvation teachers assert, to offer someone the assurance that they are accepted by God apart from the issue of obedience. For them, there is no such thing as an unconditional love of God that is not, in some way, performance-related…

Instead of promoting holiness, the doctrine of Lordship Salvation destroys the very foundation upon which true holiness must be built. By returning to the principles of the law, it has forfeited the spiritual power of grace…

It goes without saying that an error of this magnitude cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the life of the church.

Neither can it be ignored in the vain hope that it will go away of its own accord. Instead, it must be faced and responded to by all who hold dear the gospel of God’s saving grace. To do less would be to fail the Lord, and to fail His people, and, indeed, to fail the world for which He died.

For if the church itself cannot decide on the nature of the message it is called to proclaim, how can lost men and women be brought into living touch with the redeeming love of God? And “if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle?” (1 Cor 14:8).

It is true, of course, that there is something distasteful about religious controversy. This author does not like it at all. Nevertheless, it must be kept in mind that several New Testament books apparently grew out of some kind of doctrinal difficulty or confusion.

Paul’s white-hot letter to the Galatians most readily comes to mind. But one might also think of Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Peter, 1 and 2 John, and Jude. Were it not for the difficulties that produced them, we would not have these valuable epistles.

So, God knows how to use controversy to advance His own interests and to highlight His own truth.

The same God who commanded light to shine on the first day of Creation proceeded next to divide that light from the darkness around it. Finally, He gave them both their proper names, for “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night” (Gen 1:3-5).

And God has always done this with the light of His truth. First, He reveals it—He commands it to shine. But He also divides this light from the encroaching darkness all around it, calling each by its true name. And in the religious realm, He calls their names truth and error!

This, then, is the upside of religious controversy. It is a tool in the hands of the living God to bring His truth more sharply in focus. Undesirable though it may be in and of itself, controversy serves to make God’s truth more clearly distinct from the error that would distort and hide it.

It is to be hoped that, by the grace of God, the debate over Lordship Salvation will accomplish these very objectives in our own day and time. And should that happen, God’s people would have reason to be grateful indeed.

After all, what could be more profitable to the church than to be impressed all over again with the grand simplicity of God’s saving grace? And what could be better for the world to which we are called to proclaim this grace?

For if we’ve got it straight, we can then tell it straight!

____________________

Zane Hodges taught New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary for 27 years, authored over a dozen books, and was passionate about the grace of God.

__________

^* The following is from Chapter 1 of Absolutely Free: A Biblical Reply to Lordship Salvation, pp. 18, 20-21.