"We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations on behalf of HIs name including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling" (Rom. 1:5-6, HCSB).
"...[T]o advance the obedience of faith among all nations" (Rom. 16:26, HCSB).
Salvation via repentance stressed:
"...[T]hat he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins" (Acts 5:31, NIV).
"...'So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life'" (Acts 11:18, NIV).
"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance..." (Luke 3:8, NIV). "... But unless you repent you too will perish" (Luke 13:5, NIV).
"I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32, HCSB).
".... Repent and believe in the good news!" (Mark 1:15, HCSB).
"... 'So God has granted repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles'" (Acts 11:18, HCSB).
"God exalted this Man to His right hand as ruler and Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5:31, HCSB).
"The best measure of a spiritual life is not its ecstasies but its obedience." --Oswald Chambers
NOTE: ALL ITALICS MINE.
The old controversy of Lordship-salvation, prevalent since days of the rise of Evangelicalism, is still unclear and unsettled in the dogma of some so-called evangelical churches. Dietrich Bonhoeffer articulated it as far back as the Nazi era: "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." Hebrews 11:8 says, "By faith Abraham ... obeyed." The two go hand in hand and might be considered two sides of the same coin--you can only distinguish them--they are inseparable! Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey Him--obviously, believing in Him is to be obedient: It is vain to serve God without faith, (cf. Heb. 11:6) for this is merely dead faith that cannot save (cf. James 2:26).
Note that a tree is known by its fruit! God looks for fruit, not foliage! Good soil produces fruit! Only faith pleases God and this must be real faith that produces works and we can do nothing apart from Christ--I repeat for emphasis: Apart from Him, we can do nothing, not believe, not repent, not bear fruit! (Cf. Heb. 11:6; John 15:5).
We must not only come to faith in Him but be obedient to the faith and that starts with being obedient to the gospel! That entails a penitent faith! Repentance is a gift of God along with the faith that God grants the believer (cf. Acts 18:27, 2 Pet. 1:1; Phil. 1:29 with: 2 Tim. 2:25; Acts 5:31, 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:24-25). Those are also two mindsets that go hand in hand. We either are saved by penitent faith or believing repentance if you will. The two works of grace are juxtaposed in Acts 20:21, HCSB, ("I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus" ) and used interchangeably in Scripture. Salvation is often seen as from the point of view of repentance: "...that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance" (Acts 26:20, HCSB).
In essence, Israel already believed in God and needed repentance concerning Christ; while the Gentiles needed to exercise faith! But God commands all people everywhere to repent (cf. Acts 17:30). "[A]nd repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name..." (Luke 24:47, HCSB). And so obedient faith produces the fruit or works of repentance and good deeds as a witness! In repentance, we are turning from our sin, and in our act of faith, we turn from self to God.
Faith and obedience are linked and juxtaposed in Scripture: Hebrews 3:18-19 says they didn't enter His rest due to unbelief, and also due to disobedience in parallel. Indeed, Christ is a Lord to be obeyed from servants. He owns us as our Master and we are the slaves--we belong to Him; we don't merely serve Him. We must not divorce faith and obedience! They can be distinguished but not separated! God made this Jesus, who was crucified, both Lord and Christ according to Acts 2:36 and we must accept Him for who He is!
We must bow and bend the knee! We must submit to His Lordship over us and unashamedly own Him as Lord. The Father has granted Him all authority and He is Lord of all (cf. Matt. 28:18; Acts 10:36; Rom. 10:12). We cannot dichotomize His offices and only accept a Savior without denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Him in discipleship (cf. Mark 8:34). We either accept Him for who He is or we have rejected Him--this is the mistake of easy-believism that seems to be in vogue, that wants to domesticate the gospel in order to make it palatable to the sinner and requiring no sacrifice or commitment whatsoever.
The thing that qualifies Him to be Savior is that He's Lord, but we don't make Him Lord, He IS LORD! We must acknowledge His authority over our lives and we must get in line with God's will and present ourselves to His sovereignty and plan over our lives as we become "living sacrifices" (cf. Rom. 12:1). In short, to accept His Lordship over our lives is to commit to following Him in discipleship and to obey Him! As Hosea puts it: "Let us follow on to know the Lord" (Hos. 6:3)! Soli Deo Gloria!
"...[T]o advance the obedience of faith among all nations" (Rom. 16:26, HCSB).
Salvation via repentance stressed:
"...[T]hat he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins" (Acts 5:31, NIV).
"...'So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life'" (Acts 11:18, NIV).
"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance..." (Luke 3:8, NIV). "... But unless you repent you too will perish" (Luke 13:5, NIV).
"I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32, HCSB).
".... Repent and believe in the good news!" (Mark 1:15, HCSB).
"... 'So God has granted repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles'" (Acts 11:18, HCSB).
"God exalted this Man to His right hand as ruler and Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5:31, HCSB).
"The best measure of a spiritual life is not its ecstasies but its obedience." --Oswald Chambers
NOTE: ALL ITALICS MINE.
The old controversy of Lordship-salvation, prevalent since days of the rise of Evangelicalism, is still unclear and unsettled in the dogma of some so-called evangelical churches. Dietrich Bonhoeffer articulated it as far back as the Nazi era: "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." Hebrews 11:8 says, "By faith Abraham ... obeyed." The two go hand in hand and might be considered two sides of the same coin--you can only distinguish them--they are inseparable! Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey Him--obviously, believing in Him is to be obedient: It is vain to serve God without faith, (cf. Heb. 11:6) for this is merely dead faith that cannot save (cf. James 2:26).
Note that a tree is known by its fruit! God looks for fruit, not foliage! Good soil produces fruit! Only faith pleases God and this must be real faith that produces works and we can do nothing apart from Christ--I repeat for emphasis: Apart from Him, we can do nothing, not believe, not repent, not bear fruit! (Cf. Heb. 11:6; John 15:5).
We must not only come to faith in Him but be obedient to the faith and that starts with being obedient to the gospel! That entails a penitent faith! Repentance is a gift of God along with the faith that God grants the believer (cf. Acts 18:27, 2 Pet. 1:1; Phil. 1:29 with: 2 Tim. 2:25; Acts 5:31, 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:24-25). Those are also two mindsets that go hand in hand. We either are saved by penitent faith or believing repentance if you will. The two works of grace are juxtaposed in Acts 20:21, HCSB, ("I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus" ) and used interchangeably in Scripture. Salvation is often seen as from the point of view of repentance: "...that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance" (Acts 26:20, HCSB).
In essence, Israel already believed in God and needed repentance concerning Christ; while the Gentiles needed to exercise faith! But God commands all people everywhere to repent (cf. Acts 17:30). "[A]nd repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name..." (Luke 24:47, HCSB). And so obedient faith produces the fruit or works of repentance and good deeds as a witness! In repentance, we are turning from our sin, and in our act of faith, we turn from self to God.
Faith and obedience are linked and juxtaposed in Scripture: Hebrews 3:18-19 says they didn't enter His rest due to unbelief, and also due to disobedience in parallel. Indeed, Christ is a Lord to be obeyed from servants. He owns us as our Master and we are the slaves--we belong to Him; we don't merely serve Him. We must not divorce faith and obedience! They can be distinguished but not separated! God made this Jesus, who was crucified, both Lord and Christ according to Acts 2:36 and we must accept Him for who He is!
We must bow and bend the knee! We must submit to His Lordship over us and unashamedly own Him as Lord. The Father has granted Him all authority and He is Lord of all (cf. Matt. 28:18; Acts 10:36; Rom. 10:12). We cannot dichotomize His offices and only accept a Savior without denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Him in discipleship (cf. Mark 8:34). We either accept Him for who He is or we have rejected Him--this is the mistake of easy-believism that seems to be in vogue, that wants to domesticate the gospel in order to make it palatable to the sinner and requiring no sacrifice or commitment whatsoever.
The thing that qualifies Him to be Savior is that He's Lord, but we don't make Him Lord, He IS LORD! We must acknowledge His authority over our lives and we must get in line with God's will and present ourselves to His sovereignty and plan over our lives as we become "living sacrifices" (cf. Rom. 12:1). In short, to accept His Lordship over our lives is to commit to following Him in discipleship and to obey Him! As Hosea puts it: "Let us follow on to know the Lord" (Hos. 6:3)! Soli Deo Gloria!
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