John MacArthur's Gospel According To Rome

In an article in Bibliotheca Sacra titled “The Terms of Salvation,” Lewis Sperry Chafer draws attention to the Roman Catholic roots of the false teaching popularly known as “Lordship Salvation”. Chafer points out that demanding the unsaved to surrender to the Lordship of Christ was a characteristic of The Oxford Movement, which was a teaching that originated in Oxford, England in the mid-19th century. This movement was essentially a push to return to the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines the Oxford Movement as follows: “Oxford movement, 19th-century movement centred at the University of Oxford that sought a renewal of ‘catholic,’ or Roman Catholic, thought and practice within the Church of England in opposition to the Protestant tendencies of the church.”[1] With this in mind, notice what Chafer says in regards to how The Oxford Movement relates to those who “impose a need to surrender the life to God as an added condition of salvation”. Chafer says the following under the heading “BELIEVE AND SURRENDER TO GOD”:

“On account of the subtlety due to its pious character, no confusing intrusion into the doctrine that salvation is conditioned alone upon believing is more effective than the added demand that the unsaved must dedicate themselves to do God’s will in their daily life, as well as to believe upon Christ. The desirability of a dedication to God on the part of every believer is obvious, and is so stressed in the Sacred Text that many sincere people who are inattentive to doctrine are easily led to suppose that this same dedication, which is voluntary in the case of the believer, is imperative in the case of the unsaved. […] to impose a need to surrender the life to God as an added condition of salvation is most unreasonable. God’s call to the unsaved is never said to be unto the Lordship of Christ; it is unto His saving grace. […] Those attending upon such issues in practical ways are aware that a self-dedication taxes the limit of ability even for the most devout believer. The error of imposing Christ’s Lordship upon the unsaved is disastrous even though they are not able intelligently to resent it or to remind the preacher of the fact that he, in calling upon them to dedicate their lives, is demanding of them what they have no ability to produce. A destructive heresy was formerly abroad under the name The Oxford Movement, which specializes in this blasting error, except that the promoters of the Movement omit altogether the idea of believing on Christ for salvation and promote exclusively the obligation of surrender to God. They substitute consecration for conversion, faithfulness for faith, and beauty of daily life for believing unto eternal life. As is easily seen, the plan of this Movement is to ignore the need of Christ’s death as the ground of regeneration and forgiveness, and to promote the wretched heresy that it matters nothing what one believes respecting the Saviorhood of Christ if only the daily life is dedicated to God’s service. A pseudo self-dedication to God is a rare bit of religion with which the unsaved may conjure. The tragedy is that out of such a delusion those who embrace it are likely never to be delivered by a true faith in Christ as Savior. No more complete example could be found today of ‘the blind leading the blind’ than what this Movement presents.”[2]

In case someone might think that Chafer was referring to “The Oxford Group Movement” instead of specifically “The Oxford Movement,” even John MacArthur understood Chafer as referring to the latter of the two: The Oxford Movement. This is significant because The Oxford Movement was a return to Roman Catholicism. Concerning this, MacArthur writes: “It is important to note that when Chafer wrote those things, he was arguing against the Oxford Movement, a popular but dangerous heresy that was steering Protestants back into the legalism and works-righteousness of Roman Catholicism.”[3] What MacArthur inadvertently clarifies and affirms is that this is actually a reference to the Roman Catholic roots of Lordship Salvation, because MacArthur has unwittingly adopted some of their views! Pastor John Ricci highlights this very fact when he says the following: “[Some] Protestants have adopted a softer version of Catholicism, they throw out the Purgatory and the Sacraments, but they keep the works! Let me give you an example of what’s being taught now. John Piper has written this about what salvation is. And he’s a big name. John MacArthur is kind of the ‘granddaddy’ of this Lordship Salvation movement, and Piper is like the rock star right now who everybody looks up to and can’t wait for his next book to be printed. And here’s what he says about saving faith: ‘these are just some of the conditions that the New Testament says we must meet in order to be saved in the fullest and final sense. We must believe in Jesus and receive Him, and turn from our sin and obey Him, and humble ourselves like little children, and love Him more than we love our family, our possessions, or our own life. This is what it means to be converted to Christ, and this alone is the way of everlasting life.’ And let me tell you, did you get that? [Piper] added about seven more conditions, which are what? Human works [added] to the simple gospel. Paul was asked in the book of Acts, chapter 16:30-31 by the Philippian jailer right out, as clear as the nose on your face: ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And he was told: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,’ period! You see? […] John Piper’s got a big church, a big ministry, he speaks at a lot of conferences, has a lot of influence over millions of Christians, but he’s an apostate! He is preaching another gospel. He may have done good things in the past, but listen: he is now leading people astray! Because if you follow that plan of salvation: you will wind up in what? Hell! Obeying Christ and following Christ and giving up your possessions and loving God more than your family: that’s part of what? Discipleship! But that has nothing to do with being what? Saved! You get the picture? It’s another gospel! Then there’s the other fellow MacArthur: John MacArthur. And listen to some of the things he’s said. And this is nothing more than a counterfeit gospel. And Satan loves to what? Take that which is what? The truth, right? And then replace it with his counterfeit that looks a lot and sounds a lot like the what? The truth. That’s why the Bible says there’s ‘another gospel’ [Gal. 1:6] and ‘another Jesus’ [2 Cor. 11:4]. But it’s not the true gospel and the true Jesus. And we’ve been warned [not to] be led away from the simplicity that is in who? Christ! [Not to be led] away from the simple gospel message of the grace of God received by faith alone in Christ alone. MacArthur says this: he defines faith. He says ‘faith consists of a firm conviction….’ Pretty good right there. But then he says, ‘…and a personal surrender, and conduct and behavior inspired by the surrender.’ Now did you get that? He went from a ‘firm conviction’ which is faith, to adding what? Personal surrender and conduct, or lifestyle or behavior that’s inspired by that surrender. According to MacArthur, faith includes your behavior: your conduct, your performance, your works. That is another gospel! Faith is simply belief. […] Now listen, I want you to know something: this is two different gospels. The church is divided today. And we’re supposed to love our brethren, but listen. When it comes to something as important as this, you have to expose the heresy, the apostasy, and the lies. Because the very truth of Christianity is at stake! And these men need to repent of their sin of preaching a false gospel and bringing the church into bondage! Of legalism! And it is denying the Lord. They think that they’re the ones honoring the Lord, and in fact they’re the ones who are what? Insulting the grace of God. MacArthur also says, ‘The gospel says give your life to Christ and let Him rule it. Coming to Christ means giving up control of your life.’ No it doesn’t. That’s discipleship. Salvation is what? Believe! […] MacArthur also says, ‘Salvation is the result of a life lived in obedience and service to Christ.’ You wonder how a man could read the Bible and teach for so many years, at one point be used of God, and then preach this garbage! That’s what it is: it’s Satanic! It is works-salvation. Listen to what MacArthur says. And he’s written three or four books on the subject: Hard To Believe, The Gospel According to Jesus, and a few other ones. [MacArthur says:] ‘Salvation is the result of a life lived in obedience and service to Christ. It is the fruit of actions not intentions. The life we live, not the words we speak, determines our eternal destiny.’ Totally wrong! None of that’s right. It has nothing to do with the words we speak or the life we live. It’s what we believe about Jesus that determines our eternal destiny. [The Bible says:] ‘he that believeth on the Son is not condemned, he that believeth not is condemned already.’ [Jn. 3:18.] And folks, listen. You will hear these men on the radio. You will be exposed to them in your travels as you meet other Christians. You need to know this right off the bat, so that you will ‘not fall from your own steadfastness.’ [2 Pet. 3:17.] The best defense against error is to know the truth. […] MacArthur, Piper, Washer, Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, the Hollywood star, he’s caught up in this, […] R. C. Sproul, David Platt, Driscoll, and on down the line: they’re all what? Calvinists, they all believe in the TULIP theology, and they preach this ‘Lordship Salvation’. MacArthur also said, listen to this, when you present the gospel, ‘you are calling people to turn from their sin and follow Christ.’ No you are not. You are not calling people to turn from their sin [in the sense of a change of behavior]. You are calling people to ‘believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ’ [Acts 16:31]. And when the Bible uses the word repent, all that word repent means is metanoia in the Greek, a change of mind: a change from unbelief to belief. That’s all it means. They have taken [the word] repent, which means simply a change of mind, and turned it into the Catholic doctrine of penance! Meaning you have to do these things to prove you have faith. That is not the gospel! Now I hope that you see this. We are saved by believing in Christ and in Him alone; we grow by surrendering our life, by obeying Him, by following Him, by serving Him. We’ll be rewarded for doing those things. But those things have nothing to do with getting into what? Heaven! And listen: you know why it’s so popular? Because religion is ingrained in human beings.”[4]

It reminds me of how Martin Luther, before he came to understand salvation by Free Grace, climbed up the long staircase of the Scala Sancta on his knees, angry at God that “He still further increased our torment by the gospel.”[5] But then God’s grace burst through to Luther’s conscience, as he remembered the great words of the Apostle Paul when he said: “But he who is righteous by faith shall live” (Rom. 1:17). In other words, “He who is righteous by faith, he whose righteousness is rooted in faith (not in works), shall live,’—the emphasis being not so much upon the source of his life as upon the source of his righteousness.”[6]

In contrast to this, the teaching of Lordship Salvation is a distortion of the grace of God because it redefines faith to mean something more than simply accepting the free gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23). According to MacArthur and other Lordship proponents, an up-front commitment of life and even a change of lifestyle is also required in order for a person to be “rewarded” with salvation. While such behavior is a natural and expected result of salvation, it should never been imposed upon the unsaved as a requirement for salvation. Thus, Lordship Salvationists essentially “put the cart before the horse” by imposing upon the unsaved something that is actually a requirement for Christian growth and sanctification. This is how Lordship Salvation subtly adds in works to “faith alone”. 

Commenting on a review of MacArthur’s book The Gospel According to Jesus that was written some years ago by John W. Robbins of The Trinity Foundation, Manfred Kober points out what both he and Robbins have concluded: that Lordship Salvation is essentially a return to the Roman Catholic view of faith! Regarding this Kober writes: “Robbins offers a critique of MacArthur’s book from a Reformed perspective. He correctly observes that ‘MacArthur attacks justification by faith alone and suggests that works be understood as part of faith.’ He thus ‘rejects the Biblical view of justification and adopts the Roman Catholic view’ (Part 1, pp. 1, 2).”[7] Although MacArthur seems to have changed some of his views related to justification to conform more to the Protestant understanding of it, MacArthur has not changed his views on saving faith. In an article titled “John MacArthur’s Lordship Salvation,” Ron DiGiacomo points out the following: “It completely escapes MacArthur that personal commitment and forsaking of life are true works of righteousness, which are fruits of sanctification and not elements of faith. What MacArthur also misses is that justifying faith is merely an instrument through which the unrighteous lays hold of Christ’s righteousness. (Westminster Shorter Catechism #73) Not only does MacArthur add works to justifying faith, he leaves out the crowning element of justifying faith, which is child like trust in the perfect righteousness of Another. But it is worse than that. Much worse. Not only does MacArthur add works to faith while leaving out trust, he would have us believe that the traditional view of trust (often referred to as fiducia) is not reliance upon Christ but rather surrender. [MacArthur says:] “This ‘trust,’ or fiducia, faith’s volitional component, is the crowning element of believing. It involves surrender to the object of faith.” Faith Works, The Gospel According To The Apostles, p. 44. In essence, MacArthur takes the volitional component of justifying faith, fiducia, and turns it into something other than mere child like trust in the righteousness of Christ. MacArthur redefines trust. For MacArthur fiducia is not to exercise trust in Christ’s alien righteousness but rather it is the work of bringing to Christ our own righteous deeds in the form of forsaking of oneself, commitment, and surrender.”[8] DiGiancomo summarizes by saying: “That is Rome, not Westminster.”[9] DiGiancomo goes on to point out: “It’s my understanding that MacArthur may have repented of his views of Justification, just like he repented of his denial of the eternal Sonship of the Second Person of the Trinity. He has not yet recanted on the nature of justifying faith, however. If anything, he has doubled down.”[10] 

 

For more information see the article by Paul Holloway titled “A Return to Rome: Lordship Salvation’s Doctrine of Faith”.[11]

 

 

References:

[1] “Oxford movement.” Britannica (accessed July 30, 2023).

[2] Lewis Sperry Chafer, “The Terms of Salvation.” Bibliotheca Sacra (Oct-Dec 1950), pp. 406-407.  (accessed July 30, 2023). Cf. Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 vols., vol. 3, pp. 385-386.

[3] John MacArthur, Faith Works: The Gospel According to the Apostles (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1993), p. 229.

[4] John Ricci, “Assurance of Salvation: False Gospels” (November 1, 2013) Grace Christian Fellowship channel, YouTube.  (accessed July 30, 2023).

[5] Martin Luther, quoted by J. H. Merle D’Aubigne, Henry Beveridge, Translator, History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century (Glasgow: 1845), vol. 1, p. 148.

[6] John Edgar McFadyen, The Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians (New York: A. S. Barnes & Company, 1909), p. 239, comment on Galatians 3:11-12.

[7] Manfred E. Kober, “Lordship Salvation: A Forgotten Truth or a False Doctrine?” p. 16. Note: In the article by John W. Robbins, Robbins points out the connection between Cardinal John Henry Newman and John MacArthur. This is significant because John Henry Newman was one of the founders of The Oxford Movement. Robbins actually says that MacArthur is the “unwitting disciple” of Newman! For more information see the article by John W. Robbins, “The Gospel According to John MacArthur” (April-June 1993), The Trinity Review, p. 3.

[8] Ron DiGiacomo, “John MacArthur’s Lordship Salvation” (August 20, 2020), Philosophical Theology blog, emphasis his.

[9] Ibid.

 

[10] Ibid.  

[11] Paul Holloway, “A Return to Rome: Lordship Salvation’s Doctrine of Faith.” The Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society (Autumn 1991).