Introduction: Understanding Repentance
Contrary to John 3:16, Eph 2:8-9, the account of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16: 25-34), the account of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14), the account of the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43), and a host of other pertinent salvation Scriptures, well-meaning yet misguided professing Christians everywhere have put the cart before the horse and have inadvertently replaced pinnacle salvation grade repentance (repenting of having any other gods before God) with the much lesser discipleship grade repentance (repentance of far lesser sins by comparison). As important and good as it is to repent of one's sins in general, nevertheless, it is unbiblical to pair this with the Gospel as a requirement of salvation for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that general sins-repentance pertains to one's walk as a Christian, not their salvation.
Ask yourself this: if repentance of assorted personal sins was really required for salvation, then how then could anyone ever know for sure that they have repented enough, surrendered enough, forsaken enough, carried their cross enough. etc. as some excellent authors and teachers have rightly pointed out? Suddenly and ironically, the very thing that Christian evangelists are supposed to be looking for from potential converts: total trust in Jesus Christ and total reliance upon Him is suddenly and completely undermined by the idea of attaining to a certain level of repentance of sin in order to achieve merit, as well as self-evaluation and personal performance being turned into a gauge of salvation. Self trust is amplified rather than diminished in this aberrant view. Just like in every religion except Christianity, trust in personal merit is emphasized rather than diminished.
What we see overall today is on-going works-centered messages masquerading as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The teachers who say that "it is by faith and repentance that we are saved" are correct, but they are usually very confused as to exactly what type of repentance is required. And due to the widespread misunderstanding of the meaning of the word repentance in this context, much confusion results when the "by faith and repentance" statement is made with no further explanation. When people hear that it is by faith and repentance that we are saved, they automatically assume the word repentance is referring to general personal sins. That is not what the Bible teaches.
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Contrary to John 3:16, Eph 2:8-9, the account of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16: 25-34), the account of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14), the account of the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43), and a host of other pertinent salvation Scriptures, well-meaning yet misguided professing Christians everywhere have put the cart before the horse and have inadvertently replaced pinnacle salvation grade repentance (repenting of having any other gods before God) with the much lesser discipleship grade repentance (repentance of far lesser sins by comparison). As important and good as it is to repent of one's sins in general, nevertheless, it is unbiblical to pair this with the Gospel as a requirement of salvation for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that general sins-repentance pertains to one's walk as a Christian, not their salvation.
Ask yourself this: if repentance of assorted personal sins was really required for salvation, then how then could anyone ever know for sure that they have repented enough, surrendered enough, forsaken enough, carried their cross enough. etc. as some excellent authors and teachers have rightly pointed out? Suddenly and ironically, the very thing that Christian evangelists are supposed to be looking for from potential converts: total trust in Jesus Christ and total reliance upon Him is suddenly and completely undermined by the idea of attaining to a certain level of repentance of sin in order to achieve merit, as well as self-evaluation and personal performance being turned into a gauge of salvation. Self trust is amplified rather than diminished in this aberrant view. Just like in every religion except Christianity, trust in personal merit is emphasized rather than diminished.
What we see overall today is on-going works-centered messages masquerading as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The teachers who say that "it is by faith and repentance that we are saved" are correct, but they are usually very confused as to exactly what type of repentance is required. And due to the widespread misunderstanding of the meaning of the word repentance in this context, much confusion results when the "by faith and repentance" statement is made with no further explanation. When people hear that it is by faith and repentance that we are saved, they automatically assume the word repentance is referring to general personal sins. That is not what the Bible teaches.
ChristiansFree.com