Lordship of Christ

The Lordship of Christ is an interesting term. Books have been written on it, debates have been engaged around it, and controversy and division have sprung from it. To fully understand the Lordship of Christ, we would need a large thousand page book along with a concordance and understanding of the original languages. I know I believe in the Lordship of Jesus and understand it to be a Biblical truth, set down by God's Word. So I want to define it a little today in answering a few questions. This will help me understand its clarity better and maybe answer a question that others might have on the Lordship of Christ also.

What does the Lordship of Christ mean?
The Lordship of Christ means that Jesus is Lord. Claiming Jesus to be Lord first puts a focus on the fact this means Jesus is King. Secondly, when it uses the term Lord in capital form, it is saying that Jesus is King God, Yahweh. So this phrase not only means that Jesus is King of a kingdom, but He is on par and equal to God the Father in His Kingly office and role. And this all makes clear that Jesus is not only a Savior but He is also a King.

Who is Jesus Lord of?
To understand that Jesus is a King, we must also understand who He is King of. In one form, Jesus being equal with His Father means that He is King with His Father over all creation. Jesus being God, means that He has total control, power, and reign over all the universe and ever single molecule in it. But the term the Lordship of Christ has a more specific meaning (in my understanding) than the general reign of Jesus. The Lordship of Christ connects to the salvation of Christ and the people of Christ. In the specific sense, the Lordship of Christ is referring to His people that He saves. So we would say that Jesus is King over His people. That is why we as Christians should call Jesus our King.

Where is Jesus Kingdom?
This might be the hardest questions to fully grasp a hold of. If Jesus is King over His people, then the simple answer is Jesus kingdom would be the lives of His people. And in one sense this is correct. But in a more specific sense, the people of God as one body form the church. So we could also say, Jesus kingdom that He reigns as Lord over is the kingdom of the church. But the fact is, the church local is more like an embassy than it is a kingdom. So in one sense Jesus is ruling as King now partially but one day He will rule in full perfection when all that is around Him, are His people. Jesus kingdom is the church body right now spreading His kingdom out farther into the broken world. And Jesus kingdom is also coming in full one day in all its glory.

Why is this term important?
To answer that question is easy, yet hard. This term is important becasue it is all over the Bible. If we believe and hold to the Bible, we believe and hold to Jesus as King. This term is also important becasue it puts in perspective that Jesus is coming again as a conquering King to bring His full perfect glorified Kingdom with Him. So we, as the church must look towards that day. And this term is also important becasue it keeps in our mind the fact, we are not our own. Jesus bought us with a price as Savior and know rules us with that price, as our Lord. If we truly claim to love Jesus becasue He saved us, then we must also submit to Jesus becasue He rules us as King. We need to keep all 3 of these important truths in our mind and that is why this term is critical to the Christian faith.