Featured Repentance

Repentance not only means to "to be sorry for", but it also means, primarily, "To turn from". So it has to be a 100% turning away from sin and giving your life to Christ. If we're not for Christ 100% we're against him since you can only have one master if your life.

 

2 Corinthians 7:10

For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.​

One cannot have appropriate repentance without godly sorrow.

It isn't so much the "repentance" but the source of the repentance that results in salvation.

That statement does not diminish "repentance" but places "repentance" into the sphere that it is God who brings about the means and not mere mortal mental gymnastics resulting in salvation.

Some would actually teach that repentance of sin is all that is necessary, and it just isn't the truth.

 

Repent means turn, correct?

Let's look at it in the natural. If you are going down Main Street and headed to North Street, (the next "T" intersection) and you get a call on your cell phone that you should be going to South Street (the "T" intersection 2 miles behind you) and should make a "U" turn, will 5° get you to South Street?, 10°? 20°?

Back to the Spiritual, if we are headed away from God while in sin, how can a 5" turn take us to Him? Even a 99° will cause us to miss where we are supposed to be going.

 

A 100° turn will make you miss too! :tongue3:

 

True. has to be 180°.

 

Since repentance in a salvific sense is turning TO God, it is 100%. One cannot turn from sin unless regenerated via faith, so the notion one must turn from sin for salvation is not only impossible without the indwelling Spirit, it is nothing more than front loaded works salvation.

 

How can one turn TO God without turning AWAY from sin?

 

Great post....Amen

 

Huh....I dont know of any Christian who says this....perhaps Im wrong so help me out here.....who says this?

 

As God as my witness, I was thinking about this on the way home from work this morning, that very same verse, too. Santification, justification, repentance all go along to bring salvation.

 

The raw semantic meaning of the NT word "repentance" (metanoia) is to change one's mind.

I had a huge change of mind when I first came to Christ and then several others followed as I grew in the Lord.

Did they involve "turning" well I guess so, I changed my mind about swearing, cursing and blasphemies and by the grace of God turned from a fowl mouth and a spirit of anger.

I know people have differing opinions about repentance but in the bottom line meaning of the word repentance to me should be a way of life for Christians as we are being transformed throughout our walk.

NKJV 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed (metamorphoo) into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.​

HankD​

 

The only way to turn from sin is by turning to God. Explain how one without a new nature and heart can turn from sin on their own.

 

Think that we have to first define repentance from bible perspective!

NOT feeling soory for things done, not having a "change of heasrt" and try to do better, not just asking God to forgive w/o becoming saved also...

NOT confessing all known sins, trying to " clean up our act"...

IS a change of heart/mind granted from the Lord that allows us to realise tht we are sinners, cannot save ourselves by good works/efforts, and that MUST totally see jesus as ONLY way to be saved from our sin state!

Basically changing from seeing thatIi can save myself,to only He can save me!

 

Acts 26
20 but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.


I couldn't find a verse that says one must be a believer in order to repent. Repent means to have a change of mind. Without the indwelling Spirit we don't have the power to stop sinning, but before conversion, we can and must have a change of mind about sin and this is a work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts before God saves us. This is what causes us to turn TO God for forgiveness. No one is going to go to God for forgiveness until he recognizes he's a sinner in need of forgiveness.
Repentance doesn't mean he has stopped his sin. It means he has changed his mind about it.

 

repentance is a gift from the Lord towards us, much as faith and grace, as we need to see that we are indeed sinners before Holy God, and whose works/efforts are NOT able to save us, and that jesus is only One who can!

repenting from our works to save us to faith in Him to save us!

 

Repenting and turning to God is the same action in this text, two sides of the same coin (repentance, faith).

Me neither, which is probably why I never said that You initially said one must turn from sin in order to turn to God, which my reply was geared towards.

Agreed :thumbs:

Not sure I agree with this. I would counter that he has changed his mind about his condition which stems from sin. The old nature is not vanquished until death, hence the desire is never fully extinguished. The difference is now as a "new creation", having God's Spirit residing in us we can reject sin.

 

Bro. WD and Sissy Amy, I think you two are in pretty close agreement with each other. Now hug and shake hands b4 this gets out of hand. :laugh:

 

God requires a sinner to call upon the name of the Lord jesus to be saved...

repenting involves agreeing with God unable to save ourselves, as we are sinners and good works are nothing to save us with before God!

Think some confuse repenting as meaning being sorry for sins, agree to try harder, to stop sinning!

God definition appears to be repenting from our own works/efforts to save us to jesus doing it!

 

Agreed :thumbs: