Today, as part of my daily Scripture reading, I read chapters 6 and 7 of John . . . in Greek (as one does). I came across a few insights that go against the "no-Lordship" understanding of faith (once-off mere intellectual assent of Christ; repentance-free "gospel").
John's gospel often uses present participles for a (true) believer's faithfulness, indicating that one's "accepting Jesus Christ as Lord" (to borrow common Evangelical terminology) is not once-off, but something that must be on-going until the end. Unfortunately, the KJV blurs things, but when looks at the underlying Greek, this becomes much more explicit. Consider the following:
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)
Both "he that cometh" (ο ερχομενος ["the one coming"]) and "he that believeth" (ο πιστευων ["the one believing"]) are present participles, showing that Jesus is commanding believers to continually come to him and believe on him. This is also reflected in John 7:38:
He that believeth (ο πιστευων ["the one believing"] on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Even in popular "proof-texts" that are often abused for this formulation of "faith alone" (which I will note, is rejected as heresy by many Protestants), when one examines the Greek, refute such a concept. In John 3:15-16, we read:
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, what whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The phrase "that whosoever believeth" is a ινα-clause, indicating purpose, and the purpose is the salvation of πας ο πιστευων, literally, "all the believing ones." Again, on-going faith on Christ, not a once-off intellectual assent, it in view (see my article in the issue of particularity in John 3:16 here).
We see this concept again in the more graphic language Christ uses in the Bread of Life Discourse. In John 6:54, 56-58, John uses the verb τρωγω, which means "to gnaw/much/crunch," after previously using εσθιω, a less-graphic verb. John uses the present participle form of this verb (ο τρωγων) in these verses, as well as the present participle form of the verb "to drink" πινω (πινων):
Whoso eateth (ο τρωγων) my flesh, and drinketh (πινων) my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day . . . He that eateth (ο τρωγων) my flesh, and drinketh (πινων) my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth (ο τρωγων) me, even he shall live by me.
On-going "eating" and "drinking" the flesh of Christ is required for union with Christ (v.56).
(For a refutation of Catholic claims that τρωγω shows Christ was teaching the Catholic understanding of the "Real Presence" in the Eucharist, see my posts here and here).
While the Gospel of John has been abused by proponents of "no-Lordship" formulations of salvation, when one examines the texts, they actually end up refuting such a perversion of soteriology. Furthermore, John clearly teaches baptismal regeneration in John 3:3-5, another refutation of no-Lordship salvation theories:
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into this mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
For a defense of the LDS understanding of this pericope teaching the salvific necessity of water baptism, see my post, “Baptism, Salvation, and the New Testament, Part 4: John 3:1-7.” For now, it will suffice to quote two leading scholars on the Gospel of John:
Jesus’ words are both and answer of an explanation (3.3). In order to enter the kingdom of God, a person must be reborn, that is, start a new lie (3.4). This entrails more than merely perceiving that the kingdom has arrived (3.3.). Rebirth, and the commencement of this new life, are said to come about εξ υδατος και πνευματος, of water and spirit. This phrase (without the article), refers to a rebirth which the early Church regarded as taking place through baptism (1 Pet 1.3, 23; Tit 3.5). In the NT, γεννασθαι εκ occurs only in John and 1 John: εκ at Jn 3.6. (John McHugh, John 1-4 [The International Critical Commentary; London: T&T Clarke, 2009], 227.)
The evangelist appears to have deliberately exercised reserve about the Christian sacraments in writing for a pubic which included pagans whom he wished to influence towards the Christian faith. So he would not say plainly that initiation into the higher order of life is by way of baptism accompanied by the gift of the Spirit. Indeed, he may well have felt that to put it in that way would risk misleading such readers as he had in view. But he could bring in the idea of Baptism allusively. He was already had much to say about John the Baptist. In particular, he has recorded that John was sent to baptise εν υδατι (i.26, 31, 33—the threefold repetition of εν υδατι is impressive) and that he declared Jesus to be ο βαπτιζων εν πενυματι αγιω on the ground that he had himself seen the Spirit descending and remaining on Him (i.33). Thus the association of ideas, υδωρ-πνευμα, is established, although so far it is an association of contrast. Now in iii.22, after the discourse which contains the saying about birth from water and Spirit, we are told that Jesus was baptizing, and that the fact was reported to John the Baptist, who was simultaneously engaged in baptizing at another place (iii.26). The implication is that the two are regarded as competing practitioners of the same ritual, viz., baptism in water. But the reader is not to forget that Jesus is ο βαπτιζων εν πνευματι αγιω. The implication is that the water-baptism administered by Jesus (and therefore also the water baptism of the church, though this is not brought to the surface) is also baptism εν πνευματι. This is quite intelligible in the context of Johannine thought. The opening of the eyes of the blind by Jesus (partly through an act of ‘washing’, i.e., baptism) is also spiritual enlightenment (ix. 5-7) and we are to learn that the ‘living water’ which proceeds from Christ is the Spirit (vii. 38-39). (C.H. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel [Cambridge University Press, 1958], 309-10).
For an LDS appraisal of the Lordship vs. no-Lordship formulations of salvation within modern Evangelicalism, see Jeff Lindsay's analysis here (btw: check out his entire LDS-related Webpages!)
