Central to this debate is one's understanding of what the NT means by "believing" in Jesus Christ. The "Lordship" defenders teach that "belief" in the NT carries more content than mere mental assent. The Hodges/Ryrie/Dallas school of thought teaches that "belief" in the NT simply means agreement with the biblical facts of the Gospel message, and only this kind of belief is required for conversion. One is saved when he agrees with what the Bible teaches about the person and work of Christ.

I believe that the defenders of "Lordship Salvation" are more accurate to the biblical text and that those who oppose this teaching run the danger of preaching "another Gospel," that is, a Gospel that saves based on the mere understanding and assenting to the facts of the Gospel message with no visible expression necessary. The following is a list of 10 reasons why I believe NT "belief" is much more than mental agreement.

• (1) Non-Lordship proponents separate faith and repentance as the two required responses for genuine conversion. However, both Jesus and Peter preached repentance as essential for conversion, and the NT Church spoke of the conversion of both Jew and Gentile in terms of God granting them repentance (Mat 4:17, Acts 2:38, 5:31, 11:18). This demonstrates that assent alone does not save. NT conversion includes faith and repentance. The non-Lordship advocates would argue that repentance is simply a change of mind so that one "agrees" with God. Here is where one can begin to see their position becoming weakened. Once a person "agrees" with God that God is right and he was wrong, then in action he has accepted Jesus as Lord, at least in regard to where he stands without Christ. (Not to mention that repentance bears a change of life not just a change of thought.)
• (2) Matthew 11:28-29. "Come unto me . . ., and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me . . . and you will find rest for your souls." The context reveals that Jesus is speaking of conversion (vv 25-27). Notice that he does not say, "Agree with me." Or, "Assent to my teachings." While "coming" to him would certainly include those things, by using the words "come," "take," and "learn," Jesus is clearly calling for more than mental agreement. At the same time, he is certainly not calling for something other than belief or faith. Therefore, "believing in Jesus" or "saving faith" entails visible expressions. The nature of saving faith is that it expresses itself in allegiance not just in acknowledgement. "Come to me" is Jesus' way of saying "believe in me."
• (3) Luke 9:23. "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Radical self-denial is at the heart of what it means to believe in Christ in a saving way. In other words, one believes in Jesus to the degree that he would willingly lay down his life for Christ. "If anyone would come after me" is synonymous with salvation. "Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" is synonymous with belief. When Paul says in Acts 16:31, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved," he is not saying something other than what Jesus said would save a person in Luke 9:23. He is just saying it in a different way.
• (4) Romans 10:9-10. "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." (Emphasis added) Notice two things. 1. For salvation, one is to confess "Jesus is LORD," not "Jesus is Savior." 2. Belief is a matter of the heart, not the head. Justification is tied to belief in the heart! "Belief in the heart" presses faith much further than assent or agreement. There are many things that we would agree to in our minds that do not move our hearts, but there are no things that we believe in our hearts that we do not assent to in our minds! So what is belief in the heart? I would say it is something like "embrace" or "treasure." In other words, you are not only in agreement with these facts, you love these facts! You believe them "in your heart."
• (5) 1 Cor. 15:1-2. "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you [Paul gives the basic content of his message in vv 3-4], which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you-unless you believed in vain." For Paul, then, saving faith is one that "receives," "stands," and "holds fast." Any other kind of belief would be vain or useless or meaningless or unable to save. So there is a way in which one can believe and that belief be in vain! A vain belief is one that does not "receive," "stand," or "hold fast." I would suggest that a belief that is mere agreement would be a vain belief. A saving belief does not just agree with facts, but acts upon those facts. Even if one argues that Paul is only teaching here the need for perseverance, he will then be leveling the non-Lordship position. For the non-Lordship position argues that mere assent is belief, and belief saves! As I see it, 1 Cor. 15:1-4 is insurmountable for the non-Lordship position. The only other solution to maintain the non-Lordship position would be to advocate a loss of salvation view. That is, one can believe (assent) and be saved, but if he does not hold fast, he will not be finally saved; he believed (assented) and was "saved" in vain! I do not believe that is what Paul meant!