The question stated is a loaded one: Romans 2:4 tells us that the goodness or kindness of God is meant to lead us to repentance; God grants repentance according to 2 Tim. 2:24 according to His will and in Acts 5:31 He gives repentance to Israel; likewise, in Acts 11:18 God grants the Gentiles repentance unto life; in Luke 24:47 the Great Commission is given in terms of repentance: "[And] that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all generations."
What then is repentance? From the Koine, metanoia means a change of mind or to rethink. It is more than eating humble pie or coming clean or feeling sorry about something, or even of having remorse like Judas did. There are attrition and contrition; God only honors contrition (cf. Psalm 51:17 about God not despising a contrite heart), which is a change of heart, mind, and will or in feelings, intellect and knowledge of it (i.e., changing your mind and attitude, not just opinions), and deciding and determining not to repeat it and go in the opposite direction--doing a 180, a U-turn, or a radical about-face, you might say. One needs emotion but repentance isn't emotionalism. He needs to agree with God about his sin and say the same thing and get a conviction, which is the domain of the Holy Spirit.
You can't do it part way, but must renounce sin making the commitment, to turn from sin which is the evil principle in us. Attrition is spurious and basically only feeling bad about the result and consequence--like what Esau had after selling his birthright to Jacob for a meal. Repentance, it is agreed, is a prerequisite of salvation. It is not the cause, but the result because God works it in our hearts with faith so that we become transformed from the inside out--He puts a new man in the suit, not a new suit on the man. Attrition, on the other hand, is basically motivated by fear of punishment or getting a ticket out of hell, or fire insurance, you could say.
Repentance is an imperative or a mandate and there is no salvation without it. Conversion consists of both repentance and faith, but they are the flip side of each other and can be distinguished, but not separated. They say you have believing repentance or penitent faith! Don't try to justify yourself or offer excuses, but make a resolution to turn to from your former ways to God's way. Repentance is not a one-time event or experience but must be on-going and progressive--renewed daily to walk with the Lord. The command to repent is given in Ezekiel 18:30 as follows: Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin." Paul says in Acts 17:30 (ESV) in the same vein: "...[B]ut now he commands people everywhere to repent."
We must see that repentance and faith go hand in hand and are complementary--the one is turning from sin and the other is turning to God! Repentance is one of the recurring motifs of Scripture and Jesus opened His ministry preaching it as did John the Baptist. Jesus said, "Repent, or you will likewise perish" (cf. Luke 13:5). In the final analysis, we must own up to our wrongdoing. There is no genuine repentance without saving faith; therefore, if you have one you also have the other. When one repents he sees himself as a sinner (the sinner's prayer in Luke 18:13 is relevant: "God be merciful to me, the sinner."). When one has done this, he is good to go!
Now note that repentance and faith are not conditions of salvation, but the result of it: A man who is spiritually dead cannot do the work of God which takes the efficacious grace of God to melt his heart and make him willing to believe and change his life--a complete turnaround in repudiating sin! Job confessed quite appropriately: "I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." If he saw sin in his life, how much more should we in comparison to one of the three most righteous men in the Bible (Noah, Daniel, and Job according to the Word).
And in conclusion: if you have genuine repentance, you must have saving faith simultaneously. You can be assured of salvation, therefore, but it is God that saves through faith in Christ, by grace alone--it is the object of the faith, not the faith which saves (which would be fideism--faith in faith). Repentance is the condition, but it is a work of grace in the heart, mind, and will of the sinner--"Apart from Me you can do nothing" (cf. John 15:5). The problem lies in the order of salvation or ordo salutis in Latin, all done by the grace of God so that God alone gets the glory (Soli Deo Gloria!): regeneration, repentance, faith, justification, sanctification, and the terminus is final glorification. Soli Deo Gloria!
What then is repentance? From the Koine, metanoia means a change of mind or to rethink. It is more than eating humble pie or coming clean or feeling sorry about something, or even of having remorse like Judas did. There are attrition and contrition; God only honors contrition (cf. Psalm 51:17 about God not despising a contrite heart), which is a change of heart, mind, and will or in feelings, intellect and knowledge of it (i.e., changing your mind and attitude, not just opinions), and deciding and determining not to repeat it and go in the opposite direction--doing a 180, a U-turn, or a radical about-face, you might say. One needs emotion but repentance isn't emotionalism. He needs to agree with God about his sin and say the same thing and get a conviction, which is the domain of the Holy Spirit.
You can't do it part way, but must renounce sin making the commitment, to turn from sin which is the evil principle in us. Attrition is spurious and basically only feeling bad about the result and consequence--like what Esau had after selling his birthright to Jacob for a meal. Repentance, it is agreed, is a prerequisite of salvation. It is not the cause, but the result because God works it in our hearts with faith so that we become transformed from the inside out--He puts a new man in the suit, not a new suit on the man. Attrition, on the other hand, is basically motivated by fear of punishment or getting a ticket out of hell, or fire insurance, you could say.
Repentance is an imperative or a mandate and there is no salvation without it. Conversion consists of both repentance and faith, but they are the flip side of each other and can be distinguished, but not separated. They say you have believing repentance or penitent faith! Don't try to justify yourself or offer excuses, but make a resolution to turn to from your former ways to God's way. Repentance is not a one-time event or experience but must be on-going and progressive--renewed daily to walk with the Lord. The command to repent is given in Ezekiel 18:30 as follows: Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin." Paul says in Acts 17:30 (ESV) in the same vein: "...[B]ut now he commands people everywhere to repent."
We must see that repentance and faith go hand in hand and are complementary--the one is turning from sin and the other is turning to God! Repentance is one of the recurring motifs of Scripture and Jesus opened His ministry preaching it as did John the Baptist. Jesus said, "Repent, or you will likewise perish" (cf. Luke 13:5). In the final analysis, we must own up to our wrongdoing. There is no genuine repentance without saving faith; therefore, if you have one you also have the other. When one repents he sees himself as a sinner (the sinner's prayer in Luke 18:13 is relevant: "God be merciful to me, the sinner."). When one has done this, he is good to go!
Now note that repentance and faith are not conditions of salvation, but the result of it: A man who is spiritually dead cannot do the work of God which takes the efficacious grace of God to melt his heart and make him willing to believe and change his life--a complete turnaround in repudiating sin! Job confessed quite appropriately: "I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." If he saw sin in his life, how much more should we in comparison to one of the three most righteous men in the Bible (Noah, Daniel, and Job according to the Word).
And in conclusion: if you have genuine repentance, you must have saving faith simultaneously. You can be assured of salvation, therefore, but it is God that saves through faith in Christ, by grace alone--it is the object of the faith, not the faith which saves (which would be fideism--faith in faith). Repentance is the condition, but it is a work of grace in the heart, mind, and will of the sinner--"Apart from Me you can do nothing" (cf. John 15:5). The problem lies in the order of salvation or ordo salutis in Latin, all done by the grace of God so that God alone gets the glory (Soli Deo Gloria!): regeneration, repentance, faith, justification, sanctification, and the terminus is final glorification. Soli Deo Gloria!
No comments:
Post a Comment