Salvation Summaries

When you became a Christian, did you accept Jesus as your Savior, or as your Savior and Lord? I believe there are many people who accepted Him as Savior, but maybe not as Lord. Why? They sought Him as their Savior to receive forgiveness of sins and go to heaven when they die, but didn’t necessarily “sign up” to change their way of life, which is what making Him Lord would require. Does it really matter? Yes.

I think we can all agree that Jesus came to be the Savior of mankind by forgiving people of, or saving people from, their sins. Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

This was not only proclaimed about Jesus, but also proven by Him. Matthew 9:2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

However, we also read that Jesus came as Lord. Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

And as such, when a person becomes a Christian, they repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus as both Savior and Lord. Romans 10:9-10 ⁹ That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Colossians 2:6-7 ⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (NIV)

But if that is true – if Jesus really is our Lord – then what does that make us? What is our responsibility towards Him?

Jesus’ title of Lord means that He is God incarnate. Although He came to earth in human form, He is God, and as we read over and over in the Old Testament – especially in Deuteronomy – God not only wanted to be acknowledged for who He is, He also wanted to be worshiped and obeyed. Hebrews 1:3 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Hebrews 1:8 8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. Hebrews 1:10 10 He also says, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

In addition, as Lord, Jesus is our master and ruler, which makes us His servant. Paul, Peter, James and Jude even went so far as describing themselves as “bond-servants” of Jesus. What is a bond-servant? Per Webster’s 1828 dictionary, a bondservant is, “A slave; one who is subjected to the authority of another, or whose person and liberty are restrained.” As such, Paul, Peter, James and Jude viewed obedience to Jesus not merely as voluntary, but as a necessity. Should not Christians today view Jesus in the same way?

So, if all of the above is true, then here is our conundrum:

If a person accepted Jesus as Savior but not Lord too, are they truly saved? Is not repentance a change of mind to turn from one’s past sinful way of life and turn toward Jesus and what He wants you to do? If a person did not and has not changed how they live, is it not fair to assume that they did not truly repent?

On the other hand, is it fair to assume that most people, when they became saved, did not know of any distinction between Jesus as Savior and Lord? If so, would it not be unfair to invalidate their conversion if they did not also view Jesus as their Lord? Is it not more appropriate to view one’s obligation to obey Jesus as Lord as part of sanctification, or growing spiritually, rather than salvation?

Between these two opposing views, I place more weight on the latter one, even though I do believe a number of “false conversions” have likely taken place. I also believe that we Christians take sin too lightly, live too worldly, and seek Jesus too infrequently, all of which limits the changes He would otherwise make in us, and stunts our spiritual growth. We are spiritually complacent if not apathetic. If we want to grow spiritually, we must know what Jesus wants from us, and then we must obey Him.

So, dear reader. If Jesus truly is your Lord, then you have a responsibility, if not obligation, to obey Him, right? But what does He want you to do? How does He want you to live? I will address that in my next post.