The Impenitent Sinner's Hope

Repentance is a prerequisite to salvation as well as its accompanying faith.  We must have a radical change of heart, will, and mind with fruits bearing witness to it--it must be proven by our lives in real-time or in our actions.  We don't just change our opinions but our wills are affected enough to renounce our sin.  But we must acknowledge our sin first as Job One.  We must also feel contrition or genuine remorse, not simple regret that we are sorry but not sorry enough to quit.   Once more, our repentance is progressive and we must always keep short accounts with God and not conceal or hide our sin from God (no repentance without confession, which we willingly confess in order to obtain mercy).

NB: Martin Luther's first thesis was that it's not a one-time event but an ongoing lifelong continuing resolution or process of renewal and recommitment.   Repentance is not fire-insurance or a security blanket, but a sign of regeneration.

There can be no genuine repentance without saving faith as the flip side--they go hand in hand and are distinguished but not separated (juxtaposed in Heb. 6:1; Acts 20:21).  That's why Reformed theologians refer to penitent faith or believing repentance as the instrumental means of salvation.  NB:  Repentance, like faith, is the result of the regenerative work of God and act of grace in our hearts.  Often we don't feel up to repentance, but we repent not when we feel like it, but so we will feel like it. 

Some people feel that they cannot repent and something is wrong with them.  But we can do nothing apart from God's grace ("Apart from me you can do nothing," --John 15:5).  The real reason they can not repent is they don't trust God, they are trying to please God in their own right. We must trust, not try!  But the bigger our God, the more we can trust!  Due to the juxtaposition of faith and repentance and the terms linked in Scripture, when we cannot repent it's probable that we lack faith, and if we lack faith, we probably are unrepentant.  We all experience both extremes of the spectrum at times and must learn by them.

Repentance is a mandate or imperative and must be evident in fruit to be genuine.  Bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance!  (cf. Luke 3:8).  When we show contrition, and this the sacrifice that pleases God, we are cleansed of all wrongdoing, our slate is cleaned, and God's memory bank about it deleted.  We shouldn't keep drudging up old sins because God says, "What sin?"  As far as the east is from the west (cf. Psalm 103:12), God just blots out our sin and forgets (cf. Isa. 43:25), and like a mist that is swept away (cf. Isa. 44:22); and our sins are cast into the depths of the sea (cf. Micah 7:19)--they couldn't be more neutralized than that!  Why do we get hang-ups about them or let them make us feel guilty then?

The motif of repentance is common in the Old and the New Testaments.  The thankless job of the prophets during the dark ages of Israel was to call them to repentance.  The New Testament opens with John the Baptist preaching a baptism of repentance, while Jesus opened His ministry preaching repentance and belief in the gospel.  Repentance is from the Greek metanoia or to change one's mind.  We must not only make an about-face, U-turn, 180-degree turnaround, New Year's resolution, or turn over a new leaf, but our hearts must be renewed in Christ's image and from the inside out.  Times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord (cf. Acts. 3:19).

The heart in tune with repentance echoes David's prayer of contrition in Psalm 51 after the prophet Nathan told him of his sin with Bathsheba.  Finally, repentance is by grace:  "... 'So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life'" (Acts 11:18, NIV; cf. 5:31).  God commands repentance be preached (cf. Luke 24:47) and we must repent now (cf. Acts 17:30; 3:19; 2:38).

In sum, we are never good enough to be saved; however, we are all bad enough to need salvation.  And in order to realize how bad we are, we must try to be good, and we cannot be good without realizing how bad we are--the catch-22.  Actually, the closer we get to God, the more cognizance of our sin; like when Peter said, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man" (cf. Luke 5:8).   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Great Exchange

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21, NIV). 
"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance..." (Luke 3:*, NIV).  
"By faith Abraham... obeyed" (cf. Hebrews 11:8).  
"... [T]o advance the obedience of faith among all nations"  (Rom. 16:26, HCSB).
"The best measure of a spiritual life is not its ecstasies but its obedience." --Oswald Chambers
"True faith manifests itself in obedience only."  --John MacArthur
"Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." --Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"Faith is not believing in spite of the evidence, but obeying despite the consequences."  --source unknown 
"Faith is not how much we believe, but how well we obey."  --source unknown


Religion is defined as tit for tat:  good works in exchange for salvation! You must earn it by good deeds outweighing bad ones.  But you can never know where you stand!  Legalism is defined as works plus faith in exchange for salvation.  While antinomianism or libertinism is defined as faith in exchange for salvation minus works; (in other words, works are not a part of the fruit nor authenticate salvation) in contrast to orthodox Reformed doctrine that faith is given in exchange for salvation plus works (works will always be the fruit and evidence!).  

The only way of assurance is for everything to be grace!  It's not a matter of us, nor of God and us in any combination, but of God alone ("Salvation is of the LORD," Jonah 2:9).  The rub is that if we had to do anything, we'd fail.  There's nothing we can do!  For those hoping their good works will amount to anything, they are never good enough in God's estimation.

This is an important nuance because the correct Reformed formula for salvation is that "we are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone!"  The "Five Only's" include by grace alone and by faith alone!   Faith and faithfulness (making good on our faith) cannot be divorced! These two can be distinguished but not separated more than you can distinguish your body and soul but if you separate them you're dead!  Paul and James both saw the two flip sides of the spiritual equation: Paul would say that he would show you his works by his faith; while James (cf. James 2:16) would counter that he would show you his faith by his works; the point is that they are not contrary nor contradictory statements but just two ways at looking at the one truth of our salvation by a faith that produces evidence in good deeds as fruit.

Salvation is not an imagined or figurative righteousness but actually forensic and totally by grace from beginning till end.  Our contribution to the cross was our sin and God exchanged that for the righteousness of Christ on our behalf to our account to use business jargon.  It was credited Christ's deeds to our account and that's why they say justification is "just-as-if-I'd-done-it!"  When God looks at us in our sinful nature all He sees is Christ's righteousness as it's imputed to our new nature in Christ--the new man.  It's not a new suit on the man, but a new man in the suit!

The point about this great exchange is that we must see our need for it.  The necessary condition for salvation is to realize we aren't worthy of it.  You could say it goes to the lowest bidder!  We don't realize how sinful we are till we've tried to be good and we cannot be good without realizing our sin! Sort of like quitting to smoke.   This is the catch-22 of salvation that is solved only by the mystery of how grace works in our hearts to kindle faith and awaken repentance and regenerate us into new creatures in Christ.

In coming to Christ, we must come in penitent faith or believing repentance which is granted by a work of grace--we exercise this making Christ real to us.  We cannot come of our own power but must be wooed or actually drawn by Christ (elko used here in Greek doesn't mean to woo but to drag, but Arminians don't want to make God out to be forceful and they are trying to protect His honor or reputation).  John 6:44 says "no man can come to [Christ] unless the Father who sent [Him] draws him, and verse 65 says similarly that it must be "granted of the Father."

Many see salvation is something that God owes them for their faith or repentance in a tit for tat arrangement or exchange.  However, if that were true, it wouldn't be by grace but justice; the point is that God owes no one salvation and didn't have to save anyone to remain holy!  We don't earn our salvation by our faith because faith is not a work, as the Roman Catholics believe, and a meritorious one at that-- but don't think grace is enough but add merit to grace, works to faith, the Church to Scripture, and the Pope to Christ.

Faith must be in the right object (we aren't saved by faith in faith--it must be directed in Christ), Christ saves--not faith!  It isn't how much faith we have in the church or in the priest or pastor!  If faith is a work, then we are saved by works!  But we are saved from beginning to end by grace--grace is not only necessary but sufficient (it's all we need).  He saved us by grace (cf. Eph. 2:8-9), He keeps us by grace (cf. Jude 21), and He's coming for us and gives us victory by grace (cf. Phil. 2:13).  We must become totally grace-oriented to appreciate our salvation in its totality.

Now our "righteousness is as filthy rags" in God's eyes and only what's done in Christ is worthy of God's stamp of approval, imprimatur, and reward in heaven.  Paul counted all his deeds in the flesh as "dung."  We must see our faith as God's gift to us, not our gift to God.  We must never attain the mindset that God owes us and we're doing Him a favor! We are simply vessels of honor that God is using for His glory and purpose.  For this is the "chief end of man," according to The Westminster Shorter Catechism, "is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."  John Piper adds that it should really read "by enjoying Him forever."  Our righteousness is God's gift to us and is the grand exchange for our sin.

That's grace:  we are forever in God's debt and will never be able to reimburse or pay Him back, and we never can earn it nor did we, and we certainly didn't deserve it and never will, much less we cannot add anything (nada!) to grace (not Jesus plus "churchmanship," Jesus plus "Churchianity," Jesus plus emotion (emotionalism or sentimentality); Jesus plus knowledge (Gnosticism or intellectualism); Jesus plus knowing the rules (legalism); nor Jesus plus being a do-gooder (moralism).  We must realize that grace means just that--the free gift of God we cannot even give back!  And God certainly won't ever take back His gift to us, for gifts are given and God will not repent concerning them:  "For God's gifts and his call are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:29, NIV).

In sum, we may think we are not that bad but God doesn't grade on a scale or curve and the closer we get to salvation and to God, the more we realize our own unworthiness and sinfulness.  Paul called himself the "chief of sinners" and William Jay of Bath said that he was a great sinner, but he had a great Savior.  No one is too far gone for God's grace and, in effect, we are all hopeless  (cf. Eph. 2:12) without it, no one cuts the mustard or meets the standards because Christ raised the bar to perfection, fulfilling the Law.

A word to the wise is sufficient:  We're predestined by grace, called by grace, saved and justified by grace, kept by grace, sanctified by grace, glorified by grace! By grace, no one is lost in the shuffle.   Soli Deo Gloria!