Where do protestants get "Personal Lord and Savior?" What is the origin of this phrase?

[Prayer_Warrior]

That is an (awful) paraphrase of Rev. 3:20, which is not simply “make Jesus your personal Lord and savior” but is an invitation to dine with him at the Eucharist.

Agreed on both points! I have never heard of a translation using fellowship rather than a word for “dine” or “sup”. Yikes… that changes the whole meaning of the text! Perhaps the poster misquoted. I checked a parallel bible and not one translation there used the word “fellowship”.

KJV
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

DRV
Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

RSV
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

 

[crazzeto]

Yeah, I’ve looked through various translations on my esword and none of them (not even ESV/ISV) say “fellowship”, rather eat/sup.

 

[EricFilmer]

As a former Evangelical (IFB), I can say that this is a question that very rarely, if ever, came up! I believe they hold that it is inferred in the Scriptures without being explicit.

In trying to discover the origins of the term about accepting Jesus as ones personal Lord and Savior, I have come across some Evangelical Protestant websites explaining their views on what it means to be saved. Some of them have extensive citations from the Bible which demonstrate that the exact term in question does not appear in the Bible but is rather inferred from it. So through my research I have discerned what CWBetts has previously stated (which I’ve quoted above).

Although the Evangelical Protestants will tie a number of Bible verses into the concept of accepting Jesus as ones personal Lord and Savior, the one that seems to get the most focus is Romans 10:9, “For 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” (NAB). As a side note, the articles I read usually concluded with the reader being invited to recite the Sinner’s Prayer.

Here is a link to a brief version of what I have described. Note that this particular author chose not to do an extensive Scriptural examination, so, in the interest of brevity, chose only a single Bible passage as a reference. Seeing as he chose Romans 10:9, this tells me that the Evangelical Protestants view it to be the Bible passage that best expresses the idea of accepting Jesus as ones personal Lord and Savior.
newcovenantidaho.com/acceptjesus.htm

Being Catholic, I don’t pretend to be an authority over Evangelical Protestant practices and beliefs, but from what I have gleaned from these websites, the concept at hand seems to be a response to Romans 10:9. In other words, the term “accepting Jesus as ones personal Lord and Savior” represents (to them) the process being described in Romans 10:9 (about confessing, believing and being saved), and the way to actually do it is by reciting the Sinner’s Prayer with a sincere disposition. In other words, what did Paul mean? He meant accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. And exactly how does one do that? Recite the Sinner’s Prayer with a sincere disposition. Obviously as a Catholic I have different views on what it means to be saved, so all I am doing here is trying to (hopefully) present a fair assessment of what the Evangelical Protestants mean by all this.

The purpose of my post is not to initiate a discussion on the validity of such an interpretation of Romans 10:9. Rather, I am simply showing that the term we have been discussing is not expressly stated in the Bible and is instead inferred (by certain Christians) from a number of Bible passages, the key one being Romans 10:9. With this part of the discussion settled, we can perhaps focus on trying to discern who was the one to originally “coin the term” of accepting Jesus as ones personal Lord and Savior.

 

[zach_dunn]

I’ve read (I think in one of Karl Keating’s books) that the idea of Jesus as “Personal Lord and Savior” comes from Galatians 2:20:

Galatians 2:20
And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for me. [emphasis added]

Here Paul expresses that Jesus died for him personally, that’s just one theory though.

 

[choy]

“Personal Lord and Savior” and “Personal Relationship” is a modern heresy propagated by the Pentecostals, Evangelicals and Non-Denominationals (can we call them PEND?). this revolves around a common doctrine that for one to be saved, one merely needs a “personal relationship” with Jesus. now, there’s nothing wrong with that, we all want a relationship with Jesus, but the heresy comes from the fact that this personal relationship is all we need. and we do not need to be part of the Church. some would even go to say they do not need to be part of an organized religion, thus denouncing faiths with a hierarchy such as Catholicism and Orthodoxy.

they neatly packaged this heresy into those two terms, “Personal Lord and Savior” and “Personal Relationship”

 

[CWBetts]

“Personal Lord and Savior” and “Personal Relationship” is a modern heresy propagated by the Pentecostals, Evangelicals and Non-Denominationals (can we call them PEND?). this revolves around a common doctrine that for one to be saved, one merely needs a “personal relationship” with Jesus. now, there’s nothing wrong with that, we all want a relationship with Jesus, but the heresy comes from the fact that this personal relationship is all we need. and we do not need to be part of the Church. some would even go to say they do not need to be part of an organized religion, thus denouncing faiths with a hierarchy such as Catholicism and Orthodoxy.

they neatly packaged this heresy into those two terms, “Personal Lord and Savior” and “Personal Relationship”

I would say this is an overreaction. We do need a personal relationship with our Lord. After all we are not to be His slaves, but His friends. A personal relationship with Christ is vitally important, but it s not something upon which the whole of theology is to be based.

 

[choy]

I would say this is an overreaction. We do need a personal relationship with our Lord. After all we are not to be His slaves, but His friends. A personal relationship with Christ is vitally important, but it s not something upon which the whole of theology is to be based.

i wouldn’t think it is (of course its my opinioin, but hear me out )

i’ve had many interactions with PENDs. i’m not saying Catholics do not have a Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ, but the PENDs use this as an excuse to throw out the need for a Church. the way they carefully define their beliefs always centers around removing oneself from the Church and relying on this personal relationship with Jesus as their road to salvation. thats the heresy there, because they changed the definition of what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ, and use it to convince people that the Church is not needed, which is contrary to doctrine.

 

[CWBetts]

i wouldn’t think it is (of course its my opinioin, but hear me out )

i’ve had many interactions with PENDs. i’m not saying Catholics do not have a Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ, but the PENDs use this as an excuse to throw out the need for a Church. the way they carefully define their beliefs always centers around removing oneself from the Church and relying on this personal relationship with Jesus as their road to salvation. thats the heresy there, because they changed the definition of what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ, and use it to convince people that the Church is not needed, which is contrary to doctrine.

I think we agree, I was afraid you were throwing the baby out with the bath water.

 

[5254rrn]

I have always been puzzled by the question, “Have I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior”? Somehow some evangelicals think that is the criteria for salvation? My standard answer has been, “You can not emagine how close a Catholic is to Jesus at the moment they receive Him in the Eucharist”. That’s a personal relationship with Jesus as we accept Jesus into our hearts, body, blood, soul and devinity. I always thought that many protestants have a real need to have that “personal relationship” as many no longer have a Eucharistic meal and even when they do it may be more a communial meal and not anything like our perpetual celebration of Christs dying and rising to gain our salvation,establishing the new Covenent with the Father. Many protestant sects gave up the Mass simply because they did not know what it is. May God have mercy on us if we don’t pass along the truths of our faith especially the Eucharist and Mass to our faithful.

 

[Grace_Seeker]

As has been noted many times in this thread, there are many things believed by both Catholics and non-Catholic Christians that are NOT explicity stated, but rather inferred from scripture – the Trinity comes to mind.

As for the question, “Is Jesus your personal Lord and Savior?” Churches like the United Methodist Church don’t actually ask that question, we simply ask new members: “Do you confess Jesus as your Savior … and promise to serve him as your Lord?” But, even then I think the personal nature of doing this can, and even should, be inferred. One of the reasons I might therefore use the phrase “personal Lord and Savior” in a casual conversation is my belief that people need to recognize that this is something they personal need to do, not just accept that it has been done to them. In the UMC, as in the Catholic church, we practice infant baptism. I know more than one person of both our respective denominations who mistakenly (IMO) think that because they where presented for baptism by their parents as an infant that this event in and of itself saved them and they can now live however they wish. Such a person may be technically be a Christian, but such nominal Christianity is not what our Lord desires. He doesn’t need a bunch of institutionally declared Christians. He needs people who are willing to personally avow him as their own Lord and Savior and subsequent to that live their lives in conformity to such a declaration.

The problem with the phrase, “personal Lord and Savior” as I see it, is not in the term “personal”, but that it has become so ubiquitous that people are neglecting the true meaning of saying “he’s my Lord”.

 

[pieuse]

What is the most important?
To have a personal relationship with the L’ord and Savior or to be one with Him?
Personally, I’d rather be one with Him.
The first one is rather pale in comparison! To be united or to be one with Christ is the sumum a human being can achieve here on earth. :heaven:

Quotations:
“For indeed, the kingdom of God is 'within you.” Luke 17:20

“…you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” John 14:20-21

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words.” John 14:23-24 (some other translations write this way: “and we will dwell within him.”).

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered…” John 15:4-6

 

[Grace_Seeker]

What is the most important?
To have a personal relationship with the L’ord and Savior or to be one with Him?
Personally, I’d rather be one with Him.
The first one is rather pale in comparison! To be united or to be one with Christ is the sumum a human being can achieve here on earth. :heaven:

Well, since you spoke personally, I think I will as well. Though the two thoughts might be arrived at from different inference, it’s a rather fine hair you’re splitting. Personally, I don’t see how in practical terms one idea could be true without the other being true as well.

 

[pieuse]

I have always been puzzled by the question, “Have I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior”? Somehow some evangelicals think that is the criteria for salvation? My standard answer has been, “You can not emagine how close a Catholic is to Jesus at the moment they receive Him in the Eucharist”. That’s a personal relationship with Jesus as we accept Jesus into our hearts, body, blood, soul and devinity. I always thought that many protestants have a real need to have that “personal relationship” as many no longer have a Eucharistic meal and even when they do it may be more a communial meal and not anything like our perpetual celebration of Christs dying and rising to gain our salvation,establishing the new Covenent with the Father. Many protestant sects gave up the Mass simply because they did not know what it is. May God have mercy on us if we don’t pass along the truths of our faith especially the Eucharist and Mass to our faithful.

Yes, very true! I completely agree here. I always thought that I could never really leave the Catholic Church even in the midst of serious doubts and the terrible scandals of the Church because of the sole treasure of the Eucharist! It is already Heaven on earth when we receive Him. And to know that so many nominal Christians receive Him with indifference and even sin by doing so, that’s ‘killing me!’ (It’s an expression!). I even read a Yahoo question that shocked me to the bottom when a young girl was actually almost boasting of the fact that she had spit the host and then was shocked to see blood on It. She was asking if that weird experience happened to anyone! I don’t even know how to pray for her. I answered as best as I could and even my daughter was shocked by what she did. And she’s not a great spiritual person herself!

 

[geekborj]

i wouldn’t think it is (of course its my opinioin, but hear me out )

i’ve had many interactions with PENDs. i’m not saying Catholics do not have a Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ, but the PENDs use this as an excuse to throw out the need for a Church. the way they carefully define their beliefs always centers around removing oneself from the Church and relying on this personal relationship with Jesus as their road to salvation. thats the heresy there, because they changed the definition of what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ, and use it to convince people that the Church is not needed, which is contrary to doctrine.

The problem with most PEND’s doctrines is that BOTH truth and lies go hand in hand. In extreme cases, they use the truth to appear to expel other truths especially those held by the catholic Church.

Asking Jesus as our “personal saviour and Lord” is correct, even within the Catholic theology (i guess, and just as choy explained above). First because each faithful of the Church experiences the saving grace of Christ uniquely and hence personally. As such, there is a need to accept the fact that Jesus is the Lord within the personal level. In essence this brings about the idea that anyone’s sin is a personal sin.

However, if the argument stays there, there ends the truth. The lies come with the ignorance that the life with God has at least three dimensions: (1) relationship with the Trinity; (2) relationship with oneself; and (3) relationship with others. If one centers in the phrase “personal saviour and Lord” and ends there, the third dimension is ignored. This is a spiritual lie that every Catholic should recognize.

God never intended Man to be alone even in the beginning (c.f. Genesis 1 and 2). We must live our relationship with the Triune God together with the entire community of believers (“community of Saints”). It is at this point that the third dimension takes shape. The third dimension gives meaning to the Christian belief in “the communion of Saints” and the idea that we “must love our neighbors as we love ourselves” or that “we love each other as Christ loved us.”

The third dimension requires a church. Because all faithful is one in “faith and baptism” we become a member of one Church. It is because God is one, that the entire community has to be one as well; just as Christ prayed to the Father that “they may be one, as we are one.” Another lie is that we has to live ONLY spiritually and ignore the physical life. As such we are blinded by the lie that the Church is purely spiritual. It is the catholic Church that offers BOTH spiritual unity (faith) and bodily unity through the Eucharist (the body of Christ himself).

The last straw of lie within the doctrine of PEND is in the conclusion that we can and should force God to let us enter heaven after death. This conclusion of “assured salvation” is against the Lordship of Christ itself – Christ being Lord has always the final decision whether to accept you in Heaven or not – that is, we can only BEG for Mercy. Even the “Scriptures” (NT) yields Peter saying “depart from me, a sinner.”

 

[choy]

I have always been puzzled by the question, “Have I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior”? Somehow some evangelicals think that is the criteria for salvation? My standard answer has been, “You can not emagine how close a Catholic is to Jesus at the moment they receive Him in the Eucharist”. That’s a personal relationship with Jesus as we accept Jesus into our hearts, body, blood, soul and devinity. I always thought that many protestants have a real need to have that “personal relationship” as many no longer have a Eucharistic meal and even when they do it may be more a communial meal and not anything like our perpetual celebration of Christs dying and rising to gain our salvation,establishing the new Covenent with the Father. Many protestant sects gave up the Mass simply because they did not know what it is. May God have mercy on us if we don’t pass along the truths of our faith especially the Eucharist and Mass to our faithful.

it is true what is said of the Protestants, that they some SOME of the truths. in this case, yes, a relationship with God is essential for salvation. but by ignoring the need of a Church, that we as a people must become one within the Church and the Church becomes one with Jesus, then the fullness of the relationship with God is not fulfilled.

 

[antoniont1]

Catholics are called by name when they are baptized (I can’t remember well, but I think Protestants also have that). But more importantly, we personally receive Jesus into our hearts when we receive Communion. How can Protestants have it more personal than us?

 

[CWBetts]

Catholics are called by name when they are baptized (I can’t remember well, but I think Protestants also have that). But more importantly, we personally receive Jesus into our hearts when we receive Communion. How can Protestants have it more personal than us?

That is a very good point! I guess you can say that a “personal relationship” goes deeper than the "sinner’s prayer (which, by the way, is a good spiritual communion when you are unable to receive)

 

[TommyWommy]

I couldn’t speak to the origin of the phrase, “Personal Lord and Savior,” but after being in Protestant, Evangelical circles for 20 years and then returning to Catholicism I can say this much: The phrase is primarily used as an appeal to be in relationship with Christ rather than to simply be “religious.”

To the unchurched, the phrase is a short way of saying, “Hey, did you know that God is not just some distant higher power? You can actually KNOW Him, and He is Jesus Christ!”

To the churched, the phrase is used as a short way of saying, "You can’t just go through the motions of your religion (Protestant or Catholic) and expect to be saved. You have to KNOW Jesus, not simply know ABOUT Jesus. In other words, is Jesus YOUR Lord and Savior, or are you in church by default because Jesus was the Lord and Savior of some ancestor or family member of yours? Another way of saying it would be that you can’t get saved by riding into Heaven on the coat tails of your parents. YOU PERSONALLY have to be converted.

The phrase is particularly directed at Catholics because of the liturgical nature of our worship which, to many outsiders, seems full of “religion” but void of “relationship.” Of course, this is a misconception partly fueled by a large percentage of Catholics who don’t know their faith, are in church only because they were brought up Catholic, and who can’t respond adequately when asked the question, "If you died today, would you go to Heaven or to Hell? When Catholics answer with something like, “Umm…I hope I would go to heaven…” the Evangelical responds, “Wow, you must have only “religion” without a “personal relationship,” because if you really KNEW Jesus you would know that you are on your way to Heaven!” Many, many Catholics are drawn away from the Church and into Evangelical Protestantism because of this. They don’t know their own faith well enough to realize that there is no better way than Catholicism to know Christ personally.

 

[pieuse]

Well, since you spoke personally, I think I will as well. Though the two thoughts might be arrived at from different inference, it’s a rather fine hair you’re splitting. Personally, I don’t see how in practical terms one idea could be true without the other being true as well.

Nope, I don’t think so if you consider all the Nominal Catholics that go to Church but forget all the the most important and only worship the L’ord with teir lips not their hearts. They are still teh children of G-d thansk to the L’ord’s sacrifice. But even the L’ord may reject them unless they convert truly before they die. Some do, thanks G-d! So You can only be one or united with J’esus if you are truly His.

Pieuse

 

[pieuse]

I forgot to explain what do I mean by being one or united to the L’ord which much more than a mere relationship with the L’ord. It is to acccept and obey the will of G-d. It is to live ith love and in intimacy with Him as one would with a spiouse (with chastity concerning the L’ord obviously). That is teh reason I don’t believe many are truly living like this as it is to become saints, to live holy and G-dly lives with a deep love for the L’ord that will transpire our relationship to everyone else. And yes it is not easy and nealy impossible if teh Holy Spirit was not there to help us to do it every day. That is the fulfillement of:

“You shall love the L’ord, your G-d with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
Do you see e difference now?