Did Pastor Harry Ironside Teach Lordship Salvation?

Romans 4:4-6, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,”

Someone recently wrote to me, suggesting that Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951) taught Lordship Salvation. Dr. Ironside never turned toward a moderate Calvinist theology (as Moody Bible Institute false claims). I have to concede that Pastor Ironside made some disturbing statements, as do nearly all preachers. We must remember that Harry Ironside was only a mortal man, and his writings are not the authority. Only the inspired Word of God is our authority in all matters of life, faith and doctrine.

Here is Dr. Ironside's commentary on Luke 18:18-30 about the Rich Young Ruler, which one of my web visitors thought might indicate he taught Lordship Salvation. If you notice carefully in the following quote from Pastor Ironside, he plainly says that the young man didn't have to turn from his sins to be saved. Yet, Ironside says that Jesus was testing this young unsaved man, to see if he would let Jesus be the Lord of his life. By refusing to let Christ be his Lord, Dr. Ironside says it hindered him from getting saved...

...the Lord now put this young man to the test by saying, “Yet lackest thou one thing.” Your life may be outwardly pure; it may be comparatively clean; in the eyes of your fellow-men you may be a very noble personage, but if you are living for self rather than for God, you are under the condemnation of the law. The Lord Jesus tested this young man in this way, “Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me.” Did He mean that the way to obtain eternal life is by giving everything one possesses to the poor? Not at all; but He was testing this young man, who was egotistic and self-satisfied. Certainly there was nothing to be said against his moral character, but his life had been a selfish life; he had vast possessions; he had great riches, and men and women were living in poverty all about him; yet he continued to go on as he was and did not realize that God had entrusted him with this wealth that he might use it for Him. If God entrusts wealth to you, He makes you a steward, and you are to use your riches to the glory of God and to the blessing of mankind. If we fully surrender our lives and our possessions to the Lord Jesus we shall not be concerned about ourselves; we shall be concerned about the needs of others, and our one object will be to glorify the One who has redeemed us. So the test here is, will you let Christ be Lord of your life? We read that when the ruler heard these words he was very sorrowful, for he had great possessions, and he turned away. He did not meet the test which the Lord put to him. He refused the path of subjection to Christ. Many have taken the same course. It is not wrong to be rich, but it is a terrible thing if riches keep you out of heaven. God giveth us richly all things to enjoy, but it is a catastrophe if one becomes so occupied with earthly treasure that he misses the path of eternal life as this man did.

SOURCE: https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/isn/luke-18.html

I don't like the phraseology that Dr. Ironside used, but if you read all of his writings, and understand that he was 100% free grace Gospel, then it becomes obvious that he's simply saying Jesus wanted this young man to SUBMIT to him so he would get saved. I think Romans 10:3-4 sums up exactly what Pastor Ironside was trying to say. Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” This young rich man was attempting to merit his way to Heaven through keeping the law of God. Jesus used the law the way it was intended to be used, as a measuring-stick, by which when compared men fall woefully short and see their need for the Savior. 

Did H.A. Ironside Teach Commitment Salvation? 

by Pastor Bob Wilkin 

One writer has recently suggested that H. A. Ironside's view of repentance is the same as that of modern Commitment Salvation (i.e., Lordship Salvation) advocates (John F. MacArthur, Jr., The Gospel According to Jesus, p.160). The impression was given that Ironside taught Commitment Salvation. 

This surprised me. I read Ironside's work Except Ye Repent as part of my work on my doctoral dissertation. I concluded that he held to the change-of-mind view of repentance, not the turn-from-sins position. 

Did Ironside indeed teach Commitment Salvation? 

I went back and re-read Ironside. 

Here is what I found. 

Ironside did, on rare occasions, make statements which, if taken by themselves, could be taken to imply a mild form of Commitment Salvation. He said, for example: 

Shallow preaching that does not grapple with the terrible fact of man's sinfulness and guilt, calling on "all men everywhere to repent," results in shallow conversions; and so we have myriads of glib-tongued professors today who give no evidence of regeneration whatever. Prating of salvation by grace, they manifest no grace in their lives. Loudly declaring they are justified by faith alone, they fail to remember that "faith without works is dead"; and that justification by works before men is not to be ignored as though it were in contradiction to justification by faith before God. (Except Ye Repent, [New York: Loizeaus Bros., 1937],p. 11) 

I consulted the immediate and greater context and found that this quote does not prove that Ironside shared the Commitment Salvation view of repentance. The sentences cited are ambiguous as to exactly what Ironside meant. He could have meant that these conversions, though shallow, were real. However, even if he meant that they were false conversions as evidenced by a lack of works, that does not at all prove that he held to Commitment Salvation. We must look elsewhere to see what Ironside had to say on that subject. 

In his book Full Assurance Ironside answers the question of whether we should look within ourselves for our assurance of salvation: 

Looking into your own heart for a ground of confidence is like casting the anchor in the hold of a ship. Cast it outside and let it go down into the great, tossing ocean of strife and trouble, until it grips the rock itself. Christ alone is the rock, and He is the manifestation of the infinite love of God for sinners. (Full Assurance, [Chicago: Moody Press, 1968, revised edition of the 1937 original, pp.120-21). 

Are those the words of one promoting Commitment Salvation? Surely they are not. 

When Ironside spoke of the need to "grapple with the terrible fact of man's sinfulness and guilt," there is no reason to assume that he meant that unbelievers need to commit themselves to the Lordship of Christ and turn from their sins to be saved. Elsewhere he taught that one had to recognize his own sinfulness and need of grace (Except Ye Repent, pp. 11-12, 34), turn from all other confidences and place his faith solely in Jesus Christ (p. 175), and go from rejecting to accepting Jesus and His Gospel (pp.53, 174). 

That is not the Commitment Salvation view of repentance. 

Ironside actually taught a Free Grace view of the Gospel. He said: 

Repentance is the very opposite of meritorious experience. It is the confession that one is utterly without merit, and if he is ever saved at all it can only be through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, "who gave himself a ransom for all." Here is firm footing for the soul who realizes that all self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our salvation." (Except Ye Repent, p.36) 

And again:  

If these pages fall into the hands of any anxious, troubled soul, desirous of finding the way of peace and earnestly seeking to be right with God, let me urge such a one to give up all struggling. Just believe God. Tell Him you are the sinner for whom the Saviour died, and trust in Christ alone for salvation. His own word is clear and simple: "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death into life" (John 5:24). (Except Ye Repent, p.189) 

If one is not careful he can misrepresent an author by selectively quoting him. [One could even selectively quote a Commitment Salvation writer and make it appear that he held to Free Grace Salvation.] Such is the case here. It is misrepresenting him to suggest that Dr. Ironside taught Commitment/Lordship Salvation. He would be deeply grieved by such a suggestion. Let the record show that Dr. Ironside was a proponent of Free Grace Salvation and assurance based on our infallible Savior, not our fallible works. 

Bob Wilkin is the Founder and Executive Director of Grace Evangelical Society. 

SOURCE: https://faithalone.org/magazine/y1989/89june2.html

The following beautiful quote from Dr. Ironside clearly evidences that he believed in a free grace view of the Gospel, and not the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation...

“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past… 

Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.” [emphasis added] —Pastor Harry A. Ironside, from the sermon: 'What Is The Gospel?'

Read what Dr. Ironside said in his Gospel tract, ANOTHER GOSPEL? ...

“When anyone comes promising salvation to those ‘who make full surrender' of all that they have to God, and who 'pay the price of full salvation' he is preaching another gospel, for the price was paid on Calvary's cross and the work that saves is finished. It was Christ Jesus who made the full surrender when He yielded His life on Calvary that saves us, not our surrender in any way to Him.” [emphasis added] —Pastor Harry A. Ironside, from the Gospel tract, 'Another Gospel'

With all these truths in mind, it is obvious to me that regarding his commentary for Luke 18:18-30, Dr. Ironside was simply saying that money often hinders rich people from submitting to Christ's righteousness by faith. Salvation requires an act of submission to God's righteousness through faith. We read that in Romans 10:3. I think that is all Pastor Ironside meant. To claim more is to go against his many writings showing that he didn't believe in Calvinist, turning from sins, nor Lordship Salvation. 

Moreover, Harry Ironside would be the first to admit that he is not the authority, the inspired Word of God is. Psalms 118:8, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” Jeremiah 17:5, “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.” 

“Salvation can only be evidenced by works, if works are required to be saved.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, “Why Lordship Salvation Is Wrong!”