Featured Is repentance needed for salvation?

Repentance is a result of God graciously saving.
"For by grace you are saved."
Twice, God repeats this truth.
Nowhere does God say "By repentance you are saved." Yet, twice, in succession, God says "By grace you are saved."

Now, how can we know that God has graciously saved us?

Because we stop thinking the gospel is foolishness. We stop rebelling against the King. We turn away from (repent) our idols and turn to God.

In 1 Thessalonians we see this in clear example.

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you 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, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

1 Thessalonians finishes with this.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

If you preach a message that a dead in trespasses and sins person must first repent before God will save, you preach salvation by human works first, before God can extend grace. Basically, you're teaching Roman Catholicism.

 

No one, who has not believed a thing, does not believe that thing, without first changing one's mind or point of view.

So prior to believing anything one must first repent of that non belief in order to believe.

A repentance always precedes any faith in anything.

 

If you preach a message that a dead in trespasses and sins person must first repent before God will save, you preach salvation by human works first, before God can extend grace. Basically, you're teaching Roman Catholicism.

 

You must first be made alive with Christ.
Notice the great revival in 1 Thessalonians 1, where Paul remarks about how pagans are talking of the Thessalonian believers turning to God from idols. That repentance is ongoing in the believer...not in the non-believer. A non-believer will not repent....because...they don't believe.

 

You are making my point as you completely misunderstand 2 Peter 3:9.

 

I think repentance is absolutely necessary for all and on all occasions. How possibly a person can be forgiven without repentance? We sin intentionally and not intentionally every single day and every day we should repent before the Lord if we sin knowingly or unknowingly.

Look at Job, he even offered to Lord sacrifices every time his sons and daughters gathered together for a party as a sign of repentance. He did it just in case if they may said or deed something inappropriate before the Lord during their feast.

Genesis 15.16
(16. The iniquity of the Amorites. "Amorite" denotes the inhabitants of Canaan generally. Some of their abominations are enumerated in Leviticus 18.21-30. The postponement of the penalty indicates Divine forbearance. GOD would give the Canaanites full time to repent. Hence he sent Abraham, who "proclaimed the Lord," and, with his disciples and descendants, taught by precept and example "the way of the Lord to do justice and mercy." meanwhile, the gradually accumulating guilt of the Amorites rendered dire punishment inevitable. GOD'S prescience was certain that their hearts were forever turned from Him.)
The Pentateuch and Haftorahs. Edited by Dr. J. H. Hertz, C.H.


Exodus 7.3
(3. Pharaoh, being a man accustomed to the abuse of power, he steeled himself against all sense of justice and mercy. In Romans 1.24 GOD is said to have given up immoral men to the path they were determined to follow. In the same way GOD allowed pharaoh to follow the course he was determined to follow. GOD did not force him to act in an evil way nor did He by divine decree determine that pharaoh would not repent if he so chose.)
KSB, Spiros Zodhiates. P-85-86.


Exodus 32.33
(33. *Him will I blot out of My Book. GOD will not permit Moses to suffer vicariously for others. Judaism recognizes neither vicarious punishment nor vicarious atonement. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die," - unless by repentance and good deeds it gains the Divine forgiveness.)
The Pentateuch and Haftorahs. Edited by Dr. J. H. Hertz, C.H.


1Kings 8.46-47.49-50
46.When they sin against You, for there is no man who does not sin, and You angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near,

47.if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive saying, 'We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly,'

49.then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause,
50.and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and make them object of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them.


And another thing I would like to mention here. Why some folks always mention salvation with almost every action related to GOD? Will we be save if we repent? Will we be saved if we Love? Will we be saved if we have Faith? Will we be saved if we Pray? And so on.

Salvation consists of many things joined together in the bundle, not a single entity lead to salvation, it is a combination of godly qualities that put to action.

Is salvation of our souls is the only factor to appreciate, admire, obey, and love our Lord? Is for anything else we can appreciate, admire, obey, and love our GOD?

How we would conduct ourselves toward GOD if for example Jesus Christ would never die on the cross, and our life will end, and will be no eternal life for us in Heaven or on Earth?

 

Whenever you require a human work for salvation, you have denied God's grace and inserted human effort.

Repentance certainly happens, but it is an effect of God's saving work, not a cause that activates God's saving work.

 

All of these verses make my point. God causes people, whom he chooses, to repent. A person cannot repent first and therefore cause God to act. God must cause the person to repent. Your quoted verses point this out.
Before a person can repent, they must be made alive with Christ by God's gracious work.

Why is it so hard for you to accept that God is the cause agent?

 

The verses above did not make your point Austin, because you use word Faith without its context, substance, and meaning. Confession is the beginning of Faith.

The verse above exactly point to that Hobie presented that repentance is absolutely necessary for forgiveness of sins, other wise how a person can be forgiven and saved without confession of own sins?

If you do not confess your sins to the Lord, you remains a sinner, and sinner as we all very well know do not inherit Kingdom of GOD and eternal life.

Yes, this is true, that in some instances GOD causes us to repent, but not in the way that you think and the way you presented it, we certainly Repent when He whack us with disease, famine, natural disasters, or war, and only then we repent, all true.

Should we wait until it happens to us, then wrath of GOD will hit us and we are in pain, in agony, and in complete despair?

Actually there is another word identical in meaning to the word REPENT, which is CONFESSION.

In some passages of the Bible CONFESSION also means as PROCLOMATION.

Nehemiah 9.2
2.And the descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

Daniel 9.4.20-21
4.And I prayed to the Lord my GOD and confessed and said, 'Alas O Lord, the great and awesome GOD, Who keeps His Covenant and loving-kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments.
20.Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my GOD in behalf of the holy mountain of my GOD...


Below we have verses that reveal voluntarily confessions without pressure from GOD.

Confession-Repentance according to the Law.

Leviticus 5.5
5.So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned.

Leviticus 16.21
21.Then Aaron shall lay booth of his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel.

Numbers 5.7
7.then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong, and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.


GOD give opportunity to people to confess.

Leviticus 26.40
40.If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me...

Voluntarily confessions.

Nehemiah 1.6
6.let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant, which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You, and my father's house have sinned.

Ezra 10.1.11
1.Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the House of GOD, a very large assembly, men, women, and children, gathered to him from Israel, the people wept bitterly.

11.Now therefore, make confession to the Lord GOD of your fathers, and do His will, and separate yourselves from the people of the land and from the foreign wives.

Psalm 32.5
5.I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide, I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord", and You forgive the guilt of my sin.

Psalm 38.18
18.I confess my iniquity, I am full of anxiety because of my sin.

Proverbs 28.13
13.He who conceal his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them (transgressions), will find compassion.

Matthew 3.6
6.and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

Mark 1.5
5.and all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

Acts 19.18
18.Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.

James 5.16
16.Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

1John 1.9
9.If we confess out sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

Faith is the beginning of confession.

However, let us differentiate between the person who confesses out of remorse rather than faith.

An unrepentant sinner may feel remorse because they have had their sin exposed and that creates a social problem for them. In that situation they confess in order to get out of any punishment that may be meted out by society. They need to make it look good. If they do a good job, they may even get people to feel sorry for them and thus keep their social status or even improve it. Remorse is not a turning from, towards God. Remorse is a self-preservation and manipulation technique to maintain control. Remorse is what the unredeemed do. The unredeemed don't repent.

Repentance is an effect of a person being redeemed and being shown the depth of their wickedness so that the person abandons all hope of control and falls at the mercy of God. Why do they repent? Because they are face to face with the King and they realize they are doomed. They see the King and they repent because the King has shown them their sin.

Why do you seek to glorify human will while you downplay the work of God in redemption? Do you really think your verses prop up human will as the cause agent of repentance?

 

I think you are equating regeneration with salvation. Regeneration is from God and enables us to believe. Repentance and faith in Jesus are our response to God’s grace in enabling us to believe, and some see those as God’s gifts as well.

Many times folks will speak of a “logical order” in the salvation process, but it shouldn’t be separated into a “chronological order” trying to determine when exactly “in time” does a person pass from unsaved to saved.

peace to you

 

If you read my second paragraph, you would see that I understand repentance to be a natural response after a person has been made new, in Christ.
The person who is dead in their trespasses and sins will not repent. Indeed, their rebellious state makes it impossible to repent.
Anyone stating that repentance must happen as the agent that causes God to save a person is preaching a gospel of works, apart from grace.

 

Salvation without repentance is like making bread without flour.
It doesn’t matter the order you put the ingredients in the bowl as long as it’s in there.

Rob

 

Just ask yourself if the Ninevites were saved unto eternity or only spared physical death for a season.
It is a foolish comparison to use the city of Nineveh to show eternal salvation with God being their Redeemer.
Hobie, what would possess a person, bent on destruction and rebellion to repent? Look at Saul on the road to Damascus for your answer. God must strike us down and call out our names so that we fall and cry out "Yes Lord." No human will repent unless God causes them to repent. God is the cause agent. God does not wait for the summer to repent before He can act in salvation. Such a thought is from hell.