A Very Fine Line Indeed

I was talking to a good friend the other day and we were discussing the idea of Lordship (simply put the idea of submitting to Christ as Lord, obeying His ordinances) and where that came into play with salvation. It seems that many people stress Lordship when sharing the gospel and it is very common, especially in the Bible belt, to come across someone who claims to be a “Christian” and yet does not submit to the Lordship of Christ (which is impossible for a Christian to do says 1 Cor. 5:14-15). So the question arose because isn’t it simply faith in the works of Christ that saves a man? Yet, we find so many other people and denominations screaming something else. So let us look at the matter further…

There are many different views on how someone can be saved. Some say it is faith alone. Others say you need baptism as well, some would also say that you need repentance, or confession, or Lordship you get the idea. There are so many different ideas to how someone gets saved and most of these ideas can be found in the book of Acts. This book (which is an account of the early church immediately following the resurrection of Christ) has caused much confusion when dealing with salvation. In the book of Acts you will find multiple sermons by the apostles and others and at the end of most of these sermons you get some sort of command, or response action. For example in Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 he ends it by saying, “Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins” (verse 38). Here Peter says simply that if you repent and are baptized then you have forgiveness of sins (saved). Many people see this as a claim that baptism is necessary for salvation, some even say that you need to follow the 5 pillars (hear, believe, repent, confess, and baptism). This seems convincing until we get to Acts 3 where Peter ends his very next speech, or sermon, by saying, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away” (verse 19). Here Peter left out baptism, as a matter of fact there is no mention of baptism in the entire chapter. This is the problem that begins to crop up throughout the entire book of Acts. So many people want to argue that because the apostles commanded men to do it (repent, baptism, etc) for salvation that it must be necessary in order to be saved. Let us examine that claim further.

What we find in Acts is no standard. We find multiple different things a man should do when considering Christ, but they seem to be different each time. Some take this to mean that God has said we need to do it all to be saved, but I would argue that this must mean that those things are not necessary for salvation. If baptism was essential for salvation then I think Peter would have included baptism in every sermon, as the same for Paul. However, we do not find such thinking for the apostles. Instead they seem to want a response from their hearers. Why would they want that? Two reasons, first back in the early church people were being persecuted for professing faith in Christ, so when people were baptized or began to confess that they believe in Christ it was a big deal, it would be like putting a bullseye on your face.

Second reason, I would suggest that there seems to be a common denominator in everything that the apostles ask of their hearers in Acts. Paul wrote in Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” Here Paul puts it simply, man is considered justified (made right before God, sins completely forgiven) when that man puts faith in Christ. Even Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Faith is what allows men to respond in repentance and baptism. Faith alone is what saves a man, but we cannot see faith. But we can see repentance, baptism, confession, prayer, Bible reading, and so on. It’s funny, we walk on a very fine line between saying that works are what get us into heaven, yet if a man does not repent, or is baptized, or makes disciples, or prays then we begin to doubt that person’s profession of faith in Christ. We must understand that faith alone is what brings a person into the New Covenant with Christ. However, God does something supernatural in the lives of all His children that causes them to repent, to be baptized, to confess sins, to kill sin, to read the Word of God, to pray, to evangelize, you get the idea.

So in conclusion there is much more that could be said about this topic and there is much that has been said on this issue. I just wanted to give you a little dose of what it is all about and a small taste of what I think about this topic. It is simple, faith alone in Jesus Christ for cleansing of sin.