A rare thing, but I take a mediating view of the whole matter of "Lordship Salvation." When McArthur first published The Gospel According to Jesus, I thought it an excellent corrective to the idea that I had seen preached thoughout my entire life among Evangelical Christians. I refer to the aforementioned "heresy" of "the divided Christ" in the words of A.W. Tozer.
On the other hand, I find McArthur often trips himself up over and traps himself in his own words (another example came along about the same time as LS, and that was the controversy of McArthur's position of "The Blood of Christ as a Metontym," which is a thread topic for another day).
As a "Reformed Arminian," I would summarize my position this way:
(1) Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin, "elementary principles of the gospel," and are thus are required for salvation;
(2) One who does not repent has not truly placed faith in Jesus Christ, and is not saved, for salvation is a change of mind and of heart that, by the power of the Holy Spirit MUST lead to a change of life;
(3) The question of whether one can accept Jesus as Savior but not Lord is moot -- Scripture allows for no such division of Christ. Christ is Savior AND Lord, and any less of a concept is scripturally and doctrinally deficient;
(4) That one accepts Christ as Savior and Lord DOES NOT imply that the saved individual does not, or cannot sin in thought, word and deed -- in fact, to claim that one (even a Christian) cannot sin is not borne out in Scripture. Because we are still in the flesh and still retain the "old nature" we are indeed "prone to wander."
(5) As the life of a Disciple of Jesus is one of spiritual growth from infancy to maturity, one yields to His "Lordship" in the sense that he yields all he is to the Sovereign Lord as a conscious act, allowing Christ to live through him/her (Again, not presupposing we ALWAYS keep this mindset, but that we mature in it, grow into it and return to it when we err).
(6) As we mature, our attitude, our "minds" are "transformed" so that we become MORE Christlike until the time of our departure from this life, when we enter into His Presence, glorified and made perfect.
(7) This concept of Lordship does NOT in any way declare that works are necessary FOR salvation, but it DOES declare with all of Scripture that if we ARE truly Disciples of Jesus, Christ has saved us for the purpose of good works, and that is inevitably a result of His supernatural work in the lives of His followers -- UNLESS one is NOT truly saved, or has forfeited faith and apostasized. This also DOES NOT create a burden on the believer, for works flow naturally FROM US as we yield TO HIM!
That's just what I believe the Scriptures teach in this regard.
JDale