Featured Man's Ability to Repent

God commands the sinner to repent of trying to get saved by own efforts, for Jesus did that for them, but if it really means to repent of all sinning before coming to Jesus, none of us here would be saved!

 

Think about it. They are the same thing. If I repent of sin or I repent of my sins it comes out the same. If I repent of sin in my life, then the singular form represents all the sins I have committed, including my sinful lifestyle. The singular and plural tenses are used interchangeably all the time. But let us dispense with confusion over the matter, shall we? Win a sinner repents he is repenting of his sins, whether itemized or not. Why does the sinner not have to remember all his sins and itemize them in order to to be saved?

1 Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Jesus Christ bore our sins (plural). They were all laid on Him. Ergo, we do not have to itemize our sins in order to be forgiven. We repent en toto of our sins. Without repentance there is no salvation. Without faith there is no salvation.

Why are you saying this? Who ever said sins have to be itemized and confessed as though someone was placing a catalog order? I do not believe that. No Monergist I know believes that. I honestly think you think we believe that, but that thinking on your part is wrong. I guess I have to be redundant in order to make any sense. We repent of our sins and our sin. We repent of the sinful deeds we have done, but there is no need to catalog them since Christ knows them intimately well, for He died for them. Our sinful lifestyle (call it being in the state of sin, if you will) is part and parcel of repenting of our sins.

Matthew Henry on "repent" in Acts 17:30

From a very scholarly Lexicon, Louw-Nida, on repent:

Another Lexicon on "repent":

Does repentance include a change of mind? Absolutely. But does repentance only mean a change of mind? No. It also means a change of behavior. Louw-Nida call it a "total change". And that is what repentance is. It is a total change of mind and behavior. It is a turning from self to God. How can one claim to believe in God, through Christ, and continue in the same sinful direction? They cannot.

 

How is that any different than what I already said?

 

I say it because I have experienced it and am therefore careful in what I say about salvation. Having worked with people of various backgrounds it is easy for a person to think they must start "confessing sins" when that expression is used, so why use it? You think "sin" and "sins" mean the same, and perhaps in your thinking and theology they do. But that doesn't mean they mean the same to the uneducated unsaved person who simply needs to know that he is a lost sinner in need of a savior. In his lost condition he deserves to be permanently separated from God because of his sinfulness. But Christ paid the penalty for him that in stead of eternal separation he might have eternal life. He can have that gift of eternal life by accepting it by faith.
(If one accepts Christ by faith then Christ becomes the object of his life and he automatically is turning from sin and the world to Christ and submission to him, which is repentance.)
Faith and repentance go hand in hand with each other. You can't have one without the other.

 

And when you do that, you repent of your sin...or sins...however you state it. When you turn to God you turn from self. When you turn from self, you turn from sin...or sins...however you state it....

 

DHK, you just gave me a subjective opinion based on your experiences. There is nothing I can say to that because it is subjective. My understanding is based on what I believe the Word of God says on the issue, and is aided by the testimony and scholarship of godly men who have also labored in this area of study.

 

Let us hope that we are agreed. Considering that you and I agree on so little, it would memorable indeed.

 

I think we do. It is only a small matter of semantics or being too picky over some definitions of some words.