DEDICATED TO THE QUIZ WHO STILL DOESN'T UNDERSTAND BIBLICAL SALVATION
Posted : 4 Dec, 2021 02:52 PM
What is repentance and is it necessary for salvation?
video
From Got Questions
Many understand the term repentance to mean “a turning from sin.” Regretting sin and turning from it is related to repentance, but it is not the precise meaning of the word. In the Bible, the word repent means “to change one’s mind.” The Bible also tells us that true repentance will result in a change of actions (Luke 3:8–14; Acts 3:19). In summarizing his ministry, Paul declares, “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20). The full biblical definition of repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action.
What, then, is the connection between repentance and salvation? The book of Acts especially focuses on repentance in regard to salvation (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 26:20). To repent, in relation to salvation, is to change your mind regarding sin and Jesus Christ. In Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2), he concludes with a call for the people to repent (Acts 2:38). Repent from what? Peter is calling the people who rejected Jesus (Acts 2:36) to change their minds about that sin and to change their minds about Christ Himself, recognizing that He is indeed “Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Peter is calling the people to change their minds, to abhor their past rejection of Christ, and to embrace faith in Him as both Messiah and Savior.
Repentance involves recognizing that you have thought wrongly in the past and determining to think rightly in the future. The repentant person has “second thoughts” about the mindset he formerly embraced. There is a change of disposition and a new way of thinking about God, about sin, about holiness, and about doing God’s will. True repentance is prompted by “godly sorrow,” and it “leads to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Repentance and faith can be understood as two sides of the same coin. It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first changing your mind about your sin and about who Jesus is and what He has done. Whether it is repentance from willful rejection or repentance from ignorance or disinterest, it is a change of mind. Biblical repentance, in relation to salvation, is changing your mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ.
Repentance is not a work we do to earn salvation. No one can repent and come to God unless God pulls that person to Himself (John 6:44). Repentance is something God gives—it is only possible because of His grace (Acts 5:31; 11:18). No one can repent unless God grants repentance. All of salvation, including repentance and faith, is a result of God drawing us, opening our eyes, and changing our hearts. God’s longsuffering leads us to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), as does His kindness (Romans 2:4).
While repentance is not a work that earns salvation, repentance unto salvation does result in works. It is impossible to truly change your mind without that causing a change in action. In the Bible, repentance results in a change in behavior. That is why John the Baptist called people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). A person who has truly repented of his sin and exercised faith in Christ will give evidence of a changed life (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:19–23; James 2:14–26).
To see what repentance looks like in real life, all we need to do is turn to the story of Zacchaeus. Here was a man who cheated and stole and lived lavishly on his ill-gotten gains—until he met Jesus. At that point he had a radical change of mind: “Look, Lord!” said Zacchaeus. “Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (Luke 19:8). Jesus happily proclaimed that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’s house, and that even the tax collector was now “a son of Abraham” (verse 9)—a reference to Zacchaeus’s faith. The cheat became a philanthropist; the thief made restitution. That’s repentance, coupled with faith in Christ.
Repentance, properly defined, is necessary for salvation. Biblical repentance is changing your mind about your sin—no longer is sin something to toy with; it is something to be forsaken as we “flee from the coming wrath” (Matthew 3:7). It is also changing your mind about Jesus Christ—no longer is He to be mocked, discounted, or ignored; He is the Savior to be clung to; He is the Lord to be worshiped and adored.
DEDICATED TO THE QUIZ WHO STILL DOESN'T UNDERSTAND BIBLICAL SALVATION
Posted : 6 Dec, 2021 05:37 PM
@dave
Dave, this is the last time i will posf this, if you still do not understand, then you never understand Salvation.
Most people are told that,
1. They need to know that they are a sinner.
2. They need to repent of their sin.
3. They need to trust Messiah to save them.
4. They need to confess their sin.
Dave, would you agree, that, that is the FORMULA used to tell people how to be saved.
What is written in the Scriptures.
Acts 16 verses 25-34
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly a strong earthquake shook the foundations of the prison. At once all the doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose.
27When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, presuming that the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself! We are all here!”
29Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. 33At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized. 34Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.
John 3 verses 14- 18
14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.d
16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and onlye Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Romans 4 verses 1-10
1What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has discovered? 2If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. 3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”a
4Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation. 5However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”b
9Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before.
Quiz,
Dave, a person trust Messiah to save them, before they repent of any sin, what are they repenting of sin, or UNBELIEF,unbelief.
After trusting Messiah is a person then empowered of the Holy Spirit to repent of any sin.
DEDICATED TO THE QUIZ WHO STILL DOESN'T UNDERSTAND BIBLICAL SALVATION
Posted : 8 Dec, 2021 03:20 PM
Quiz, why do you need to quote verses out of context in order to support your unbiblical notions about repentance??
Does the TeddyBug know you’ve been posting without checking in with him first to receive his counsel???
I know the only works of men you like are your own man-made doctrines but I’ll post an article about Paul’s teaching concerning repentance for other readers so they can avoid the trap you’ve fallen head over heels for.
DID PAUL FAIL TO PREACH REPENTANCE?
JUNE 4, 2016 / MICHAELBATTLE65
One of the arguments of those who claim that Paul’s teachings contradicted the teachings of Jesus is that Paul taught justification by faith alone without repentance.
Is this true?
To begin, consider Paul’s words to the elders of the church of Ephesus:
… Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ Acts 20:18-20
Notice that Paul says that he taught “repentance toward God.”
In Acts 26, Paul testified of Jesus as he stood on trial before King Agrippa, and recounts how he previously lived as a zealous Pharisee who persecuted and put to death some of the followers of Jesus (v.4-11). Beginning in verse 12 Paul recounts his experience on the road to Damascus where he was confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ (v 12-18). Paul then says the following:
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. ~ Acts 26:19-20
Those who say that Paul did not teach repentance claim that Paul taught justification through faith alone and cite verses like Romans 4:4-5
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. ~ Romans 4:4-5
The context, to which the verses above belong, actually begins in chapter 1. Throughout Romans, Paul expounds on justification through Christ, in contrast to boasting in the works of the Law which separated the Jews from Gentiles.
To claim that Paul is teaching a salvation with no repentance in Romans 4 is the result of careless proof-texting. Paul has already spoken of the necessity of repentance in the second chapter of Romans
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Paul taught that the goodness of God leads ungodly men to repentance.
In Acts 13, Paul preached to the people and reminded them how John the Baptist had first preached repentance to all the people of Israel (v.24).
When Paul was in the city of Athens (Acts 17), he was stirred in his spirit because he saw that the whole city was give over to idolatry. When Paul found that they had made an altar with the inscription – TO THE UNKNOWN GOD – Paul used it to preach the gospel to them. Paul’s message can be read beginning in verse 22. In verses 30-31 we read the following:
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. ~ Acts 17:30-31
Notice that Paul says that God has commanded “all men, everywhere to repent.” Paul says this within the context of the coming Day of Judgment, wherein God is going to judge men through Jesus Christ.
While at Lystra (Acts 14) Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel to the people and a man who had been crippled all his life was healed. This caused quite a stirring among the idolatrous people at Lystra who then attempted to worship Barnabas and Paul.
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the Living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein… ~ Acts 14:11-15.
Notice that Barnabas and Paul preached to the people to turn from their idolatrous practices and serve the living God. Turning from idolatry to serve the Living God is repentance.
In Acts 15, the Jerusalem counsel (of which Paul and Barnabas were a part) concluded that the Gentiles in Antioch were brethren in Christ because they had “turned to God.”
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. ~ Acts 15:18-20
When Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, Jesus said the following to Paul:
… I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. ~ Acts 26:16-18
Paul interprets this commission by Jesus as preaching repentance and that is why he says:
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. ~ Acts 26:19-20
Turning from sin and idols to serve the Living God is core to Paul’s doctrine regarding salvation through Jesus Christ. In Romans 11:26 Paul refers to Jesus as the deliverer who shall come out of Zion and shall turn ungodliness from Jacob.
Paul also says the following to the Thessalonians:
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the Living and True God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10
Later, in chapter 4 Paul says the following to the Thessalonians:
Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7
These words to the Thessalonians regarding sanctification are consistent with Paul’s gospel which calls men not only to repentance, but to live holy and godly lives. Paul’s preaching and teaching of repentance is well documented throughout the New Testament, not only in the book of Acts, but in the epistles as well.
In 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, Paul confronts the Corinthians for the sin of fornication in their midst.
It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. ~1 Corinthians 5:1-2
Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthians moved them to repentance. In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul says the following to them:
For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. ~ 2 Corinthians 7:8-11
Paul later expresses his concern about the lack of repentance of some among them.
For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:20-21
Paul did not preach a gospel void of repentance, nor did he teach doctrine void of repentance. In his letter to Titus Paul says the following:
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. ~ Titus 2:11-15
Notice that Paul tells Titus that the saving grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts by living soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. This is consistent with the commission given to Paul by Jesus in the book of Acts, “… I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” ~ Acts 26:16-18
One only needs to read what Paul actually said (examples, Ephesians 4:21-32, Ephesians 5:3-13, Colossians 3:5-10, Romans 6) to understand that Paul’s gospel was not void of repentance and that Paul taught that we are to turn from sin and live godly and holy lives in the fear of the Lord.
