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Evangelism Explosion's
Lordship Salvation tract

by Larry Harriman

While I believe Dr. D James Kennedy to be a Bible believing Christian and I agree with him on many doctrinal and social issues I must expose his Lordship teachings in his tracts from his Evangelism Explosion ministry. The tract we will be examining is entitled "Partners in Growing" and is clearly marked on the back as being published by Evangelism Explosion International.

Can someone still be saved as result of one his tracts? Absolutely! I believe in the Sovereignty of God and he will use any presentation of the Gospel, even a faulty one, to bring his elect to salvation.

The danger in this tract is that is destroys the assurance of salvation for a new believer. If a believer does not have full assurance of his salvation, he will not be able to function for the Lord as he ought to or could otherwise if he had that assurance.

In the opening flap of the track we see a card with the title "My Spiritual Birth Certificate". In this certificate it first starts out with this verse from Romans 10:13:

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Oh how I wish Dr. Kennedy would have stuck to the simplicity of the Gospel in that statement, but sadly he strays from it in the next paragraph on this card.

"Knowing that I have sinned and that I need the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, I now turn from my sins and trust Jesus for my eternal life. I ask Jesus Christ to forgive me and to deliver me from sin's power and give me eternal life."

Notice what Dr Kennedy adds in front of trusting Jesus for eternal life? - "turn from my sins". That phrase or variations of it like "turn from your sin to Christ" is a large area of contention today in the church. The real contention is not about whether or not we are commanded to turn from our sins. That all Bible believers would agree on. The question is, are we commanded to turn from our sins in order to trust Christ and be saved, or are we commanded to turn from our sins after we have trusted Christ and are already saved?

The word "repent"(a translation of the Greek word metanoeo) in the Bible literally means to have a "changed mind". When the Bible talks about repentance it is talking about "changed minds". Now what we are to change our mind about is determined by the context in which repentance is used. It is a common misconception, simply because of how we use "repent" in our English language, to always think of repentance as having to do with asking for forgiveness of our sin or turning from and stopping sinning.

But this is not what repent always means in the Bible in any given context. Sometimes in the Bible, repentance has to do with the general acknowledgement of one's sinful condition, and other times it has to do with turning from particular sins. The repentance that leads to salvation is one that acknowledges one's own sinful condition and need of Savior, and accepting Jesus Christ as that Savior. The other kind of repentance, repentance from sin, is never commanded as a precondition or co-part of salvation. It is always commanded toward those who are already believers. This is a critical truth for believers to understand, even if they are a Pastor or Teacher.

Consider the following scripture passages, with the literal meaning of repent and repentance in brackets in the verse:

Mark 1:14-15
"14After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent[metanoeo - "change your mind"] and believe the good news!"

Mark 6:12
"They went out and preached that people should repent[metanoeo - "change their minds"]."

Acts 11:18
"When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance[metanoia - "changed minds"] unto life."

Acts 20:21
"I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance[metanoia - "changed minds"] and have faith in our Lord Jesus."

2 Corinthians 7:10
"Godly sorrow brings repentance[metanoia - "a changed mind"] that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."

2 Corinthians 12:20-21
"20For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented[metanoeo - "changed your minds"] of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged."

As you can see from the above passages, any passage talking about salvation never has repent of your sins to be saved. Only the last passage 2 Corinthians 12:20-21, speaks to believers about repenting from their sins. This is not an exhaustive listing of passages with repentance, but it demonstrates the different usages of the word.

Many times in these debates, we accuse the other side of things they do not really believe and then knock down that belief - this is called a straw man argument. I have to be careful of this myself. Those of us who do not teach turning from sin as a condition of saving faith are accused of leaving repentance out of the Gospel - this is an example of a straw man argument. We are not removing repentance, we just are not adding something to repentance that is not there in the case of repentance that leads to salvation. So because we teach repentance is a change of mind about Christ, or a change of mind from unbelief to belief, we are seen as somehow diluting the Gospel. We are simply teaching what the scriptures say, faith alone, is the sole condition for salvation, NOT faith AND turning from one's sins.

I will say that many people who include turning from sin in their Gospel presentation will say its not a pre-condition, but they say it is brought about by God in anyone who has true saving faith. Whether they believe it is brought about by God or not, they are making it a condition of salvation. For instance, I as a Sovereign Grace advocate, believe God causes the belief we have in him. Even though God causes this belief in me, it is still a condition, he just causes me to meet the condition he has set.

So it is completely without Biblical backing to tell an unbeliever they must turn from their sins, or even pledge to turn from their sins, in order for God to save them. There is one condition for salvation, not two. It is found in the very verse Mr. Kennedy quotes on this page - I pray he will see the error of his way and come to purer view of the Gospel and assurance.

I challenge anyone reading this to search the scriptures for yourselves, find one verse in the New Testament that tells someone to repent of their sins and believe and they will be saved. This is the Biblical model of salvation, repent[change your mind] - believe and be saved.

Should we teach repentance from sin? Absolutely! That is what the whole New Testament teaches us as believers to do. But to ask unbelievers to do what believers are commanded to do is to get the cart before the horse. That is the error in tracts such as this one from Dr. Kennedy.

Consider this next quote from Dr Kennedy on the Spiritual Birth Certificate:

"I now give Jesus Christ control of my life.

From this time forward, as He gives me strength, I will seek to serve Him and obey Him in all areas of my life."

Where in the scriptures do we see Christ or his Apostles telling people that in order for Christ to save them, they must offer their life to him and pledge to obey and serve him in all areas of their life in exchange for him saving them?

Its an easy answer - its not there. Now lets take one passage that many use to say its there and address it(this passage is also paralleled in other places in the Gospels):

"24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done." Matthew 16:24-27

What does Christ mean by "come after me"? Most would agree it means be his disciple. But what does it mean to be his disciple? A disciple is one who tries to imitate his master. So those of us who are disciples of Christ, are trying to be like our master - Jesus Christ. But is a pledge to be like Christ, and give him complete control of our lives a condition of salvation? While it is commanded to believers it is never made a condition of salvation, it is however a condition of reward (vs 27 "he will reward each person according to what he has done") and also a condition of harmonious fellowship with God.

So if I want to be like Christ, I must deny myself each day when I wake up, and determine to follow Christ's will for my life.

But what about losing our life for Christ? Verses 25 and 26 and have been used by Lordship advocates to try and show Christ is connecting discipleship with eternal life, and not just reward. Is loosing our life for Christ equivalent to giving control of my life to Christ and submitting all areas of my life to Christ? Dr Kennedy would have us believe just that. Consider what he says on page two of his track:

"The person who has committed his life to Jesus Christ and thereby received the gift of eternal life ..."

So we receive the gift of life by committing our life to Jesus Christ? I thought it was by believing on his name. Again, for Dr. Kennedy and Lordship advocates, they have not just added commitment of(pledge of) one's life as a condition for salvation, they have also made it the dominant condition as well.

Loosing our life, is letting go of the things we cling to for our salvation. Some cling to money, others to good works they do for their eternal security. The only way to gain eternal life, is by letting go of those things we will believe will save us and placing our faith in the only true person who can save us - Jesus Christ.

This last quote, which is also from page 2, is perhaps the most disturbing of the entire tract. So just imagine you have just accepted Christ as your Savior after a Sunday morning service, and a deacon hands you this booklet from Dr Kennedy and you start reading it. Here is the quote just 2 pages into the booklet:

"Only the person who truly repented(forsaken, turned away) from his sins and placed his faith in Jesus Christ's sacrificial death genuinely has received eternal life."

So here is a brand new believer, he has just recognized his sin before God and accepted Christ as his Savior, now asking himself - "Am I able to quit smoking? Am I able to give up this show I know I shouldn't watch, Am I able to give up this or that bad habit, if not then I am must not be saved". His entire sense of assurance rests on his willingness or ability to give up his known sins.

While God wants us to give up all our sins the moment we are saved, he does not make this a second condition for salvation along with belief - faith alone saves. God commands us and gives us a goal the moment AFTER we are saved - that goal is to become like the one who saved us - Jesus Christ. That is discipleship. So in a sense we all start out on the road of discipleship the moment we are saved, but it is not how well we progress in our discipleship that saves us, we are saved by believing on his name alone.

Unfortunately some Christians do not grow as they should, and they show little fruit in their in their life. There will be change in the life of any true believer, but with many, it is not as visible or as measurable as we would like it to be.

It is unfortunate, that many Pastors are ashamed today to say that belief alone saves. It is too simple, too easy. Salvation is more than belief on the name of Christ - that is what many say. I have talked to many Pastors, via email or in person who believe turning from sin and commitment of one's life to Christ are conditions along with belief. The common thing I see in all of them is this sense of taking up an offense for God.

They can't stand the uncommitment of many people in the churches today. They can't stand to see sin in the lives of professed believers, or to see professed believers bogged down in certain sins. Well God does not like the lack of commitment either, and God does not like to see his children defeated by sins when he gives them the tools to defeat sin. The important truth to remember is, we are not saved based on our victory over sin after we are saved, but we are saved because of Christ's victory over sin at the cross. God saves all believers, the committed ones and the uncommitted ones, the ones whose lives are patterns of righteousness, and even the one's who lives are patterns of failure.

From a human perspective we cannot understand this grace of God, but that is just what it is, the unmerited favor of God. If it is not free grace, then its not grace at all.

Dr Kennedy, like many other Lordship advocates, spends a great deal of time after these statements I have given you telling of how salvation is a free gift,and we can do nothing to earn it or merit it. But before he gets to these wonderful truths, he has already removed his foundation by telling people they must turn from their sins and commit their lives to Christ AND have faith in Christ in order to be saved.

I will close with these words from the same Christ who told us about counting the cost of following him (discipleship - being like him) when he is now speaking of salvation:

"28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." John 6:28-29

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.