Is Submitting to Christ's Lordship A Requirement or a Result of Salvation?

First the definition of the word "submit" as used in day to day language:

a : to yield to governance or authority
b : to subject to a condition, treatment, or operation <the metal was submitted to analysis>

2
: to present or propose to another for review, consideration, or decision; also : to deliver formally <submitted my resignation>

3
: to put forward as an opinion or contention <we submit that the charge is not proved>
intransitive verb
1
a : to yield oneself to the authority or will of another :surrender
b : to permit oneself to be subjected to something <had tosubmit to surgery>
2
: to defer to or consent to abide by the opinion or authority of another

The "lordship salvation" controversy has been divided into these truths vs. lies issues that are the following which can result to a both "yes" and "no" depending on what it means to submit to Christ's lordship for salvation with the following truths:

  • Jesus as Lord and Savior is acceptable terminology for salvation and is pretty understood to what it really is but it's sadly being misapplied by the works salvation crowd.  The Greek for Lord here is Kurious or "supreme in authority" because unless a person sees and recognizes who Jesus is, as Lord, they'll NEVER see the need to get saved.  No real Christian would ever wish to separate the two functions of His because every person who got saved by Him see Him as Lord.  However, to say that a person must submit to the Lordship of Christ in the sense, living in obedience, in order to be saved or to stay saved is a lie.  No, Christians DO NOT obey Him further after being saved to stay saved, they submit because they are ALREADY saved and once saved, always saved can be demonstrated by the new nature that NEVER goes away.  Those who claim to be Christians but believe they can continue to live in sin with little or no guilt are most likely a type of Judas Iscariot in the local pulpits, NOT SAVED TO START WITH!
  • If we are to talk about submitting to Jesus as Lord in order to be saved, trusting Him alone for salvation is a very act of obedience to Him as He commands it to ALL like when a person gives his/her hand stretched out when the rescuer asks them to- the person acknowledges the authority of the rescuer over him/her.  The emphasis of Jesus was to believe on Him and He will change the person's life and that person, as a result submits to His Lordship further (after obeying the believe command) by obedience and doing good works for Him.  If a person really trusts Jesus, it will result to changes by God's grace.  Obedience starts when a person trusts the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation.  However this is different from submitting to Him as Lord in the sense of obeying Him DAILY as part of the Christian growth and obedience is an inevitable result.  The call is always "Lord".  Romans 10:9-10 is never complete without calling Jesus as Lord.  However this again, does not emphasize works salvation.
  • And of course, Christians will desire to obey the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what.  As said, old things are passed away (2 Corinthians 5:21).  The Christian serves Jesus as Lord not to stay saved but because they are saved.  Salvation always results to a change of life.  John 14:15 has it that Christians obey out of love.  A Christian may fall into carnality but God chastises them and gets them back on track (Hebrews 12:5-6).

As said, a Christian cannot lose his/her salvation and it can be evidenced by:
  • Bearing good fruit for the Lord even if inconsistently.  Peter denied Christ but being a saved man, he repented as a result of his salvation.  If he did lose his salvation, Peter would have just wantonly lived his life as he wanted after he lost it by lying.
  • Doing good works but not for his/her own glory but for the LORD.
  • The change of mind for the better about sin and the Savior remains the same even if they do stumble (1 Corinthians 1:7-8).  Example is how David and Solomon despite their failures still returned to the LORD as a result of their salvation.  If they lost their salvation when they sinned, they would no longer return to the LORD's service.
  • Never departing from the faith (1 John 2:19).  This made Judas Iscariot different from the other disciples.

Apparently, the Christian world as of today is suffering from a problem of semantics or terminologies.   Terminologies have gotten so crooked and confused that, it can be mistaken that whenever a preacher uses the term "Lord and Savior" that he is teaching works salvation or another, only using "Savior" that the preacher is teaching that a person can get saved and snooze all they want- which of course both arguments are a lie provided that both teach salvation is by faith then they emphasize submission to Jesus day by day as a result of salvation.  The stand is plain and simple- salvation is easy as entering a door then it results to a life of good works, forsaking all (and this is NOT selling everything but rather, loving Jesus above everything else and treating everything as but entrusted) and a different lifestyle from the world no matter how hard they stumble into sin, God will NEVER fail to chastise them because He will never leave them or forsake them.